With the introduction of the College Football Playoff, there has been plenty of talk of the traditional second-tier bowl games becoming irrelevant.

Maybe they will, in time. But for now, they’re still providing plenty of stupid, quirky fun to fill December and early January. From Pop Tart cults to brawls, the Sun Belt conference trolling the SEC and sideline collisions, there was plenty of fun to be had from these supposedly meaningless games.

Here were some of the best you might have missed:

• There was plenty of action on the sidelines in Thursday’s games, and not in the good way.

In the Sugar Bowl, an official ran into Georgia cornerback Parker Jones — a sophomore backup dressed in street clothes — on a long pass play. Georgia received a 15-yard penalty that might have cost them a touchdown.

Later Thursday, in the Gator Bowl, an oblivious security guard was standing too close to the field and with his back turned on a deep pass play. He first collided with an official, then was knocked down by a Duke defender.

This connection ⚡️@JaxsonDart ➡️ @jordantwatkins pic.twitter.com/KuFZEmZH4p

— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) January 3, 2025

Earlier in the Gator Bowl, Ole Miss receiver Dae’Quan Wright caught a 21-yard touchdown pass as he was running toward the sideline. Once he crossed the boundary he ran into three photographers, including one who was sent flying by a hard shoulder-to-shoulder hit.

Wright then proceeded to begin his touchdown dance.

Nice play, Dae’Quan, but it’s good etiquette to at least check on the guy you might have sent to the hospital before starting your celebration.

Wright on the money 🤑@DaequanWright | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/3qnjMLW3tD

— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) January 3, 2025

• In the very first FBS bowl game of the season, South Alabama beat Western Michigan 30-23 in the Salute to Veterans Bowl on Dec. 14. Then, it waited.

After Alabama lost to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Eve, South Alabama’s social media team posted a Tweet of a fake newspaper with the headline “South Alabama Jaguars: Only team in Alabama to win a bowl game this season.”

True. And well played, Jaguars. Well played. It’s not often a Sun Belt team gets to poke an SEC juggernaut.

Ending 2024 on top 😎 pic.twitter.com/quFxVypcre

— South Alabama Football 🏈 (@SouthAlabamaFB) December 31, 2024

• There was a big brawl at the end of the Military Bowl between in-state rivals East Carolina and North Carolina State that left an official with a cut under his eye.

In the Citrus Bowl, coaches Bret Bielema of Illinois and Shane Beamer of South Carolina nearly came to blows. It seems Bielema didn’t like a trick play South Carolina ran earlier in the game, then taunted them about it later on.

To quote “Rocky IV,” “This is supposed to be an exhibition!”

• Southern California started its season by scoring the winning touchdown with eight seconds left to beat an SEC team in Las Vegas.

Southern California ended its season by scoring the winning touchdown with eight seconds left to beat an SEC team in Las Vegas, when it topped Texas A&M 35-31 in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Nice symmetry, Trojans.

• Nebraska beat Boston College 20-15 in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in New York. In the fourth quarter, Nebraska was leading 20-2 and on its own goal line. It ran a running play that barely escaped the end zone and was a huge missed opportunity.

Although the score probably wouldn’t have ended up that way, it’s not often you get to see a team with four points on the scoreboard. T’was a Christmas wish denied.

• The Florida bowls embraced the weirdness this season.

Tampa’s Gasparilla Bowl took on a pirate theme that included really cool treasure maps painted in the end zones for its match-up of Florida and Tulane.

Orlando had the Pop Tarts Bowl, which started quirky and this year got bizarre.

In 2023, a Pop Tart mascot was lowered into a toaster and a cooked, human-sized Pop Tart came out the bottom. The winning team then happily feasted on the corpse.

In 2024, there were Pop Tart mascots all over the place. Between quarters, last year’s Tart showed up atop the stadium and in the upper deck as the mascots on the field paid tribute.

It now seems less like a cute bowl gimmick and more like the unfolding saga of the Pop Tart cult. If it becomes “The Pop Tarts Bowl presented by Kool-Aid,” watch out.

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Ernest Bowker is the sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com

He is risen! #PopTartsBowl pic.twitter.com/kT0ZHyNH6U

— Pop-Tarts Bowl (@PopTartsBowl) December 28, 2024