| 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 34th Pop-Tarts Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 28, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Camping World Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Orlando, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Avery Johnson (QB, Kansas State)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Kansas State by 3.5[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Larry Smith (Big 10)[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 31,111 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN ESPN Radio | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Andre Ware (analyst), and Paul Carcaterra (sideline) (ESPN) Sean Kelley (play-by-play) and Rene Ingoglia (analyst) (ESPN Radio) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 28, 2023, at Camping World StadiuminOrlando, Florida. The 34th annual Pop-Tarts Bowl (although the first under that name) featured NC State from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Kansas State from the Big 12 Conference. The bowl was ranked 9th in the fbs, the game began at approximately 5:45 p.m. EST and was aired on ESPN.[4][5] The Pop-Tarts Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The bowl game's title sponsor was Kellanova (formerly Kellogg's) through their Pop-Tarts brand.
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the bowl featured the NC State Wolfpack of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) against the Kansas State Wildcats of the Big 12 Conference.
This was the first time that NC State and Kansas State played each other.[6]
The Wolfpack entered the game with a 9–3 record (6–2 in the ACC), having finished in third place in the conference and 18th in the College Football Playoff rankings.
This was NC State's sixth Pop-Tarts Bowl, tying Miami (FL) for the most appearances in the game. The Wolfpack had a 3–2 record in prior editions of the game, most recently appearing in the 2010 Champs Sports Bowl (when the bowl was played under that name), which they won.
The Wildcats entered the game with an 8–4 record (6–3 in the Big 12), tied for fourth place in their conference and 25th in the College Football Playoff rankings.
This was Kansas State's first Pop-Tarts Bowl.
2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl
| Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
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| No. 18 NC State | 0 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 19 |
| No. 25 Kansas State | 7 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 28 |
atCamping World Stadium • Orlando, Florida
| Game information |
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| Statistics | NCSU | KSU |
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| First downs | 17 | 22 |
| Plays–yards | 62–399 | 71–435 |
| Rushes–yards | 33–235 | 40–257 |
| Passing yards | 164 | 178 |
| Passing: comp–att–int | 14–29–1 | 14–31–0 |
| Time of possession | 29:06 | 30:54 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
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| NC State | Passing | Brennan Armstrong | 14/28, 164 yards, INT |
| Rushing | Brennan Armstrong | 17 carries, 121 yards, TD | |
| Receiving | Kevin Concepcion | 7 catches, 72 yards | |
| Kansas State | Passing | Avery Johnson | 14/31, 178 yards, 2 TD |
| Rushing | DJ Giddens | 28 carries, 151 yards, TD | |
| Receiving | Jayce Brown | 5 catches, 52 yards, TD |
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Formerly known as the Blockbuster / Carquest / MicronPC / Tangerine / Champs Sports / Russell Athletic / Camping World / Cheez-It Bowl | |
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