As it sits right now, the 2025 Pop-Tarts Bowl will be remembered as the bowl game Notre Dame turned down after the Fighting Irish were left out of the College Football Playoff on Sunday.
Georgia Tech and No. 12 BYU, the schools that will be clashing on Dec. 27 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, hope to rewrite that narrative. That’s especially true of the No. 22 Yellow Jackets, who got the call after Notre Dame “wasn’t in the pool (of teams) when it came time to pick,” said Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan on Sunday evening.
“As soon as they gave us the pool (of eligible teams from the ACC), we jumped at the chance to take Georgia Tech,” Hogan said. “The fact that the opportunity to get BYU here to go with them is a special treat.”
While Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman and athletic director Pete Bevacqua were livid over the snub, BYU coach Kalani Sitake was not in the same boat, at least outwardly. A case could be made that BYU also deserved a more favorable ranking, even after the Cougars were drubbed 34-7 by Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game.
“I can’t really say anything other than they (the committee) did their best, and I’m looking forward to watching how the playoff plays out,” Sitake said, having already noted Saturday that Texas Tech is the best team in the country. “I think there’s some great teams in there. The unfortunate part is that there’s a bunch of teams that could play in it, and that’s what made it really difficult.”
For much of the season, it appeared that BYU and Georgia Tech were on track to make the 12-team playoff field, until the Cougars ran into the buzzsaw known Texas Tech twice and the Jackets lost three of their last four games, including a very competitive 16-9 loss to No. 3 Georgia the Friday after Thanksgiving.
“We get one of the first two teams out of the playoff going to play another ranked team,” Hogan said. Georgia Tech quarterback “Haynes King and coach (Brent) Key, these guys have put on a show this year.
They played Georgia very tough. This is, probably, next to the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl (pitting Texas and Michigan) one of the top games in the country outside of the CFP.”
Kickoff at Camping World Stadium is at 1:30 p.m. MST and the fifth all-time meeting between BYU and Georgia Tech will be televised by ABC.
“We are very happy with Georgia Tech,” Hogan said, after acknowledging the “rawness of the last few hours” for Notre Dame. “Georgia Tech vs. BYU was a game we were circling (weeks ago). … The opportunity (for Georgia Tech) to play those guys, BYU, someone on the (CFP) bubble, this will get intense as we get closer. Two class acts. Two really good football teams. Stars all over the field. We feel blessed.”
One of the storylines in the bowl dubbed as “The People’s National Championship” will be the quarterback battle pitting Tech’s 24-year-old King against BYU freshman Bear Bachmeier, who is 19. Of course, that is assuming King — an NFL draft prospect — doesn’t opt out and Bachmeier is healthy after sustaining a left ankle injury in the first quarter against Texas Tech.
“He’s a fast healer,” Sitake said of Bachmeier. “He will be fine.”
When Key was asked about the possibility of any of his players opting out, he shrugged off the notion as if he would be surprised if it happened.
“Regardless, we’re gonna have 11 people on each side of the football. We’re gonna go out there and compete,” Key said. “One of the four pillars of our program is commitment. And when you commit to something, you commit for the full time, and that’s my belief. That’s the way I feel, and that’s the way I am.”
After BYU’s loss in Arlington on Saturday, seniors Chase Roberts and Tanner Wall said they expected everybody on the team to finish out the season, whether it was in the playoffs or not.
“We all love each other so much. There’s just such a great culture that we’ve built, and the team that we have, we’re going to go out and we’re going to play our hearts out. We’re going to prepare the right way,” Roberts said. “The guys that are going to move on are going to want to showcase a better outing. At least for me, I want to be able to end on a bang and be able to showcase (my) skills. Then for the young guys, they will want to build something and create momentum going into the next season, like we did last year at the Alamo Bowl.”
BYU drubbed Colorado 36-14 in the Alamo Bowl last year. Georgia Tech lost 35-27 to Vanderbilt in the 2024 Birmingham Bowl.
The Orlando game will mark BYU’s 43rd bowl appearance, and the Cougars will be facing their 36th different bowl opponent.
The teams have one common opponent. Georgia Tech edged Colorado 27-20 in Week 1 in Boulder, while four weeks later the Cougars edged the Buffs 24-21 at Folsom Field. Georgia Tech was 8-0 after routing Syracuse 41-16 on Oct. 25, but lost 48-36 the following week at North Carolina State and never really recovered.
“Georgia Tech’s not an easy team to play,” Sitake said. “They do a lot of things that will be difficult for us, and I know they’re going to be at their best. … So there’s a sense of urgency to get that (bowl prep) going, and knowing that it could help us into next year. … We are just honored to play Georgia Tech.”
