Miami Hurricanes going to Orlando for Pop-Tarts Bowl. What to know about the matchup
The Miami Hurricanes missed out on the 12-team College Football Playoff and a chance to compete for a national championship.
Their consolation prize: An in-state bowl game named for a toaster pastry with an edible mascot.
The Hurricanes, No. 13 in the College Football Playoff rankings and No. 15 in the AP top 25 poll, will play No. 18 Iowa State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Kickoff from Orlando’s Camping World Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 28.
This will be the first-ever meeting between Miami and Iowa State and a chance for Miami to win its first bowl game since 2016.
Both just miss out on playoff
The Hurricanes knew they were on the outside looking in of the 12-team College Football Playoff entering conference championship weekend despite being 10-2 with their lone losses being on the road to Georgia Tech and Syracuse by a combined nine points.
On Tuesday, the committee had Miami as the first team out of the field, one spot behind a three-loss Alabama team, with selection committee chairman Warde Manuel saying there would be no re-ranking of teams that did not play in conference championship games because there would not be an extra data point with those teams for the committee to evaluate.
Any chance for the committee to have a change of heart and for Miami to have a chance for that final spot was dashed on Saturday night when three-loss Clemson beat SMU in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game to secure an auto-bid into the field and force SMU to make the field as an at-large and take the final spot in the field for which Alabama and Miami were contending.
Iowa State (10-3), meanwhile, had a chance for an automatic bid into the field but lost 45-19 to Arizona State in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday.
Those two outcomes have these two former playoff hopefuls now set to face each other in Orlando to wrap up their seasons.
“Our focus on everything, regardless of the bracket or whatnot, is to go win our next game,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “I think everyone that doesn’t get in feels disappointment, but moreso we feel the onus of just doing better, go forward, have an opportunity to get better.”
The 12-team playoff field consists of the five highest-ranked conference championships followed by the next seven highest-ranked teams who make it as at-large teams.
The top four seeds in the field will be given to the highest four ranked conference champions, regardless of their actual ranking and receive a first-round bye.
The Nos. 1-4 seeds for the first-ever 12-team playoff are the Big Ten’s Oregon Ducks (No. 1 overall ranking), Southeastern Conference’s Georgia Bulldogs (No. 2 overall ranking, second-highest ranked conference champion), the Mountain West’s Boise State Broncos (No. 9 overall ranking, third-highest ranked conference champion) and the Big 12’s Arizona State (No. 12 overall ranking, fourth-highest ranked conference champion).
Clemson, ranked No. 16 overall, received the fifth auto-bid after winning the ACC championship and will be seeded No. 12.
The seven teams that made the field as at-larges: Texas (No. 3 overall ranking, No. 5 seed), Penn State (No. 4 overall ranking, No. 6 seed), Notre Dame (No. 5 overall ranking, No. 7 seed), Ohio State (No. 6 overall ranking, No. 8 seed), Tennessee (No. 7 overall ranking, No. 9 seed), Indiana (No. 8 overall ranking, No. 10 seed) and SMU (No. 10 overall ranking, No. 11 seed).
Hurricanes athletic director Dan Radkovich posted on X that while he was “disappointed” Miami did not make the playoff field, he was “encouraged by progress in Mario Cristobal’s 3rd season.” Miami went 5-7 in Cristobal’s first season in 2022, 7-6 in 2023 and have a chance for an 11th win this season.
“10 wins for 1st time in 7 years and chance with bowl victory to post 11 wins for 1st time since 2003,” the post continued. “Look forward to building on our success #GoCanes”
Pop-Tarts Bowl history
This is the second season in which Pop-Tarts has been the brand name for a bowl game, with Kansas State beating NC State in the 2023 matchup.
The game received notoriety last year with what was deemed the “first-ever edible mascot” — an anthropomorphic Pop-Tart named “Strawberry” that was lowered into a giant toaster and an edible replica eaten by the winning team after the game following the game.
This year, the bowl will have three edible mascots — Wild Berry, Hot Fudge Sundae and Frosted Cinnamon Roll. The game’s MVP will decide which of the three mascots will be eaten.
While the Hurricanes haven’t played in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, they have played in different iterations of this bowl game held in Orlando.
They played in the Cheez-It Bowl in 2020 (a 37-34 loss to Oklahoma State) the Russell Athletic Bowl in 2016 (a 31-14 win over West Virginia for UM’s most recent bowl win) and 2013 (a 36-9 loss to Louisville) and the Champs Sports Bowl in 2009 (a 20-14 loss to Wisconsin).
Two more Hurricanes intend to transfer
Twin brothers Bobby and Robby Washington plan to enter the transfer portal when it opens on Monday, according to reports.
The redshirt freshmen were used sparingly during their time at Miami.
They are the fourth and fifth Hurricanes players whose intentions to transfer have been made public, joining quarterback Reese Poffenberger, running back Chris Johnson and offensive lineman Antonio Tripp.
On3’s Hayes Fawcett first reported the Washington brothers’ decision.
This story was originally published December 8, 2024 at 2:45 PM.
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