Adorable Zoo Atlanta Panda Picks Michigan State Over Pittsburgh In Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl
While sometimes having animals predict things can be pretty hit-or-miss (looking at you, Punxsutawney Phil), we think this panda at Zoo Atlanta is really on to something...and yes, we are 100-percent biased here.
See, this panda was predicting the outcome of the upcoming Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl battle between Michigan State University and the University of Pittsburgh and, spoiler alert, it was an outcome Spartan fans will like.
The 2021 Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia
Before we talk our picks for the game, we should talk about the game itself as far as how it started and all the who's, what's, where's, sort of things.
The Peach Bowl has been a regular event in Atlanta since 1968, as Britannica shares, when the first-ever Peach Bowl was played in the on-campus stadium of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
According to Britanica, matchups were played in a few different stadiums and in 1992, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) agreed to make the Peach Bowl an annual thing between teams from each conference. In 2014, the game was added to the College Football Playoff system.
According to the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl website, the partnership between the famed franchise and the Peach Bowl was first established in 1996 and has been going steady ever since.
This year, the Peach Bowl will take place on Thursday, December 30th at 7 PM at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium (CLICK HERE for more details from ESPN), which is approximately 12 minutes from Zoo Atlanta.
Zoo Atlanta's Giant Pandas
Like any city when there is a major event happening nearby, Atlanta is gearing up and getting excited for this year's Peach Bowl matchup between the Michigan State Spartans and Pitt.
Now, Zoo Atlanta is another standing staple in good ol' "Hotlanta" and one of their animals with a bit of a "celebrity status" is Yang Yang the Giant Panda.
He was born in 1997 and Zoo Atlanta describes him as "playful and easygoing." They also share he has been at their zoo since 1999 and has fathered all seven giant panda cubs born there!
Yang Yang's Pick For Peach Bowl 2021
After having Yang Yang give his prediction for the outcome of the Peach Bowl in past years, on December 20th, 2021, just 10 days before the game gets underway, it was time to have him pick between this year's opponents.
They set up two boxes, one decked out for the Michigan State Spartans and another for Pitt. Whichever one Yang Yang went to and opened up would be his prediction for who was going to win the game.
See for yourself who he picked:
How Accurate is Yang Yang's Peach Bowl Prediction?
Now, back in 2020, Yang Yang picked the home team, the Georgia Bulldogs, to win the Peach Bowl matchup against the Cincinnati Bearcats, as reported by Saturday Down South.
According to ESPN, the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl winners were, in fact, the Georgia Bulldogs!
So, while we don't want to jinx anything here, it would appear Yang Yang is on to something and he is also a fan of the Spartans! Now, we just have to tune in on December 30th to watch it all unfold.
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