Sports
Incredible Iowa State Pop-Tarts Bowl Win Highlights Surprising Postseason
In the era of the College Football Playoff, it’s easy to write off traditional bowl games as meaningless. Just don’t tell that to the Iowa State Cyclones.
A Pop-Tarts Bowl matchup between Iowa State and the Miami Hurricanes had every excuse to devolve into a glorified spring game. The Cyclones’ dud in the Big 12 Championship Game and Miami’s Thanksgiving weekend loss at Syracuse denied both teams a spot in the 12-team Playoff, setting the stage for what could have been a forgettable bowl game.
Meanwhile, the game itself garnered the attention of college football pundits and social media users more for its ludicrous brand placement gimmicks—an edible mascot and a trophy with a built-in toaster oven—than for its on-field product. The pageantry and history of the Rose Bowl Game, it was not.
Instead, the Cyclones and Hurricanes delivered one of the most thrilling games in this first postseason of the expanded Playoff era. Iowa State’s 42–41 win marked this year’s 12th bowl game decided by a one-score margin.
The slate included Navy’s 21–20 Armed Forces Bowl win over Oklahoma, featuring Blake Horvath’s program-record 95-yard touchdown run; Kansas State’s 44–41 defeat of Rutgers in the Rate Bowl, highlighted by Dylan Edwards’ 196 rushing yards; and two-, five-, and six-overtime marathons in the Famous Idaho Potato, Hawai’i, and GameAbove Sports Bowls. These games provided more compelling football than any of the Playoff’s first-round matchups.
To be fair, bowl season didn’t need the Playoff’s expansion to dilute the postseason. One need not search archives long to find newspaper columns from as far back as the 1980s lamenting the proliferation of bowl games.
In more recent times, the growing prevalence of player opt-outs—by those preparing for the NFL Draft—preceded changes to NCAA transfer rules. Post-pandemic bowl games featuring lineups that hardly resemble the regular-season squads are not uncommon.
For Iowa State, however, the Pop-Tarts Bowl provided a backdrop for the Cyclones’ own piece of history—one largely untouched by such roster turnover. With Rocco Becht’s goal-line touchdown carry for his fourth score of the day, Iowa State secured the first 11-win season in the 134-year history of the program.
Cyclones coach Matt Campbell emphasized the significance of this milestone during the bowl’s introductory press conference on Dec. 8, saying:
“What made Iowa State really special is our ability to have great resiliency. I know our kids are super excited about the opportunity to finish off.”
In much the same way, it’s easy to dismiss bowls in the present age; one could chalk a sentiment like Campbell’s up to naivety. We live in a brave new college football world dominated by NIL money and marked by floods of transfers throughout the offseason.
But it became apparent Campbell was not spouting empty rhetoric when Iowa State’s upperclassmen committed to the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Jaylin Noel’s dedication proved vital to the win. The senior wide receiver caught eight passes for 117 yards and a crucial touchdown late in the third quarter, cutting a 10-point Miami lead to three.
“This meant the world to me, for me to be able to be a leader on this team,” an emotional Noel said about the bowl being his last game with Iowa State. “I had to play for them. Those guys come in every day and look up to me. If I wasn’t going to play, that’s just not what leaders do.”
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Noel said of the bowl game being his swan song at Iowa State. “I love this team so much. I love Coach [Campbell] for everything he’s done for me. And this team means the world to me. There’s no better way to go out than [as] a champion.”
Bowl season means more opportunities to go out as a champion, whether the trophy is the Playoff’s cylindrical golden prize or a Pop-Tarts Bowl trophy with a toaster on top. It’s part of what has made college football special for generations, and this year’s bowl games suggest the postseason can retain some of that mystique even in this new era.
Sports
No. 7 Florida drubs No. 20 Arkansas, wins SEC regular-season title
Florida forward Alex Condon (21) drives on Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile (7) during the first half of an NCAA basketball game at Steven C. O’Connell Center Exactek arena in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, February 28, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun] Thomas Haugh scored 22 points, Ruben Chinyelu had 12 points and 16 rebounds for his 17th double-double, and No. 7 Florida clinched the Southeastern Conference regular-season title with a 111-77 rout of No. 20 Arkansas in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday.
Alex Condon scored 17 points, Urban Klavzar and Boogie Fland scored 14 apiece and Xaivian Lee added 13 as the Gators (23-6, 14-2 SEC) placed seven players in double figures in their highest scoring game of the season.
The defending champion Gators lead second-place No. 17 Alabama (22-7, 12-4) by two games with two games left, and they own the tiebreaker after a 100-79 victory in their lone regular-season meeting.
Florida has won a season-high nine in a row — eight by at least 13 points — and is a projected No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Billy Richmond scored 22 points and Darius Acuff Jr. added 17 for the Razorbacks (21-8, 11-5), who had won five of six. They are a projected No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Acuff, the SEC’s leading scorer at 22.2 points per game, had a streak of nine straight 20-point games broken. He was 6 of 19 from the field.
Florida led by at least 24 in the final 15 minutes and stretched its advantage to 37 on Condon’s layup in the final three minutes.
The Gators secured their first regular-season title since 2013-14, when they also won the SEC tournament.
Florida shot 56.5% from the field and had a 51-31 rebounding advantage. Condon had six rebounds and Haugh had five. The Gators led the nation with a plus-14.1 rebound margin.
The Razorbacks shot 40.0% from the field.
Florida coach Todd Golden and Arkansas coach John Calipari were hit with double technical fouls with 17:27 left with the Gators holding a 23-point lead.
Klavzar kickstarted the Gators with two 3-pointers and Condon added a dunk in a 12-0 run to give Florida a 23-16 lead nine minutes in.
Lee made three layups later in the first half and Isaiah Brown (11 points) hit two 3-pointers and a transition dunk to push the Gators’ lead to 51-27 with 2:33 left in the first half.
Florida led 53-34 at half, when it totaled 32 points in the paint.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Thomas Muller's first-half brace leads Vancouver to rout of Toronto
Feb 28, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Whitecaps FC forward Thomas Muller (13) celebrates scoring on a corner kick from midfielder Sebastian Berhalter (16) (not pictured) against Toronto FC goalkeeper Luka Gavran (1) during the first half at BC Place. Mandatory Credit: Simon Fearn-Imagn Images Thomas Muller scored a first-half brace, leading the Whitecaps to a 3-0 victory over visiting Toronto FC on Saturday night in Vancouver.
Brian White also scored a first-half goal, while keeper Yohei Takaoka made three saves for his second consecutive clean sheet to open the MLS season.
With the victory, Vancouver (2-0-0, 6 points) improved to 4-0-1 in its last five regular-season matches against Toronto.
The Reds (0-2-0, 0 points) are now 6-9-4 in 19 MLS meetings against their Western Canadian rivals.
Trailing 3-0, Toronto had an excellent chance to cut into the lead early in the second half. Djordje Mihailovic thought he’d put Toronto on the board in the 55th minute, but the midfielder was caught offside.
Then in the 74th minute, Takaoka made a diving save off Toronto midfielder Jose Cifuentes – the Reds’ first shot on target of the match.
Vancouver controlled possession in the first half with five shots on target.
Aziel Jackson was awarded a penalty kick after being taken down in the area by Walker Zimmerman in the 24th minute. On the ensuing penalty kick, Muller opened the scoring, putting his right-footed strike in the bottom-left corner past Luka Gavran.
Muller added his second of the half 12 minutes later as Sebastian Berhalter’s corner was headed across to Muller by Mathias Laborda, and the German midfielder ripped his left-footed shot into an open goal.
In first-half stoppage time, off another Berhalter corner, Gavran was caught out of position, allowing White to score on a right-footed strike.
Up next, Vancouver travels to Portland for its first away match of the season next Saturday. Toronto visits Cincinnati next Sunday to wrap up a three-game road trip to open the season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Pelicans close 1st half strong to beat Jazz for 4th straight win
Feb 28, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Herbert Jones (2) dunks the ball during the second quarter against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-Imagn Images Saddiq Bey scored 24 points and the visiting New Orleans Pelicans defeated the Utah Jazz for the second time in three nights on Saturday, 115-105.
Bey, who scored a season-high 42 points in the Pelicans’ 129-118 victory Thursday night, was joined in double figures by rookie Jeremiah Fears (18), who added a season-high 11 rebounds, Bryce McGowens (18), Herb Jones (17), and Jordan Poole (11) as New Orleans won its fourth consecutive game.
Leading scorer Trey Murphy III missed his fifth consecutive game because of a right shoulder contusion, and second-leading scorer Zion Williamson had just four points in 11 minutes before leaving the game with a right ankle injury.
New Orleans still had plenty of firepower, leading by as many as 27 points just as it did two nights earlier.
Isaiah Collier scored 21, Keyonte George (ankle) returned from a six-game absence to score 17, Elijah Harkless added 14, Ace Bailey had 13, Kyle Filipowski had 12 and Brice Sensabaugh 10 to lead the Jazz, who lost their fifth straight game.
The Pelicans pushed their 25-point halftime to 27 with 3:57 left in the third quarter, but the Jazz climbed within 89-73 at the end of the period. Utah got as close as seven points early in the fourth quarter, but New Orleans scored the next eight points and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
The Pelicans scored the first nine points of the game as the Jazz went nearly five minutes before making their first field goal. Utah pulled even at 17 and 19 before New Orleans held a 27-22 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Yves Missi, returning from a five-game absence due to a calf strain, made a dunk to start the second-quarter scoring and Poole followed with a 3-pointer to expand the lead to 10 points.
Jones made two 3-pointers and Bey had five points during a 15-0 run that completed a 20-2 surge, giving New Orleans a 65-40 halftime lead. The Jazz didn’t make a field goal in the final 4:55.
–Field Level Media
No. 7 Florida drubs No. 20 Arkansas, wins SEC regular-season title
Thomas Muller's first-half brace leads Vancouver to rout of Toronto
