ASU receives Cure to bowl uncertainty
Arkansas State has known its season would likely extend to a bowl game for a sixth consecutive season since it beat Troy on national TV less than three weeks ago.
The question of where ASU would end up and which team it would play was a matter of conjecture until its matchup was set Sunday.
The Red Wolves are going to Disney World.
ASU will play Central Florida of the American Athletic Conference in the Cure
Bowl on Dec. 17 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
ASU (7-5), which won a share of the Sun Belt Conference title, will try to win an eighth game for the fifth time in the last six seasons with a victory over the Knights (6-6), who are in a bowl for the fourth time in the past five seasons.
ASU Athletic Director Terry Mohajir and Coach Blake Anderson both said it’s an attractive destination against an opponent ASU fans have not seen the Red Wolves play in more than two decades.
“It’s a really good opportunity for our league and our team,” Mohajir said. “They’re a conference that’s in our footprint and it’s a chance for a good regional matchup that gets fans on both sides excited.”
“It would be a great step in the right direction to go into the offseason with a quality win and to finish off the season well,” said Anderson, whose team went 7-1 in the Sun Belt after an 0-4 start.
Mohajir said that when ASU beat Troy on Nov. 17 to become bowl eligible, it was
thought to have three possible options: the New Orleans Bowl, the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Ala., and the Cure Bowl.
The Mobile, Ala.-based Dollar General Bowl, Mohajir was, was focused on Troy, which it selected to play Ohio on Sunday.
ASU’s 24-19 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette on Nov. 26 helped eliminate New Orleans from consideration. When Louisiana-Lafayette beat Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday to get bowl eligible, it was selected by New Orleans to play Southern Miss. The Ragin’ Cajuns have played in the four highest-attended New Orleans Bowl since it was formed in 2001.
The Camellia Bowl, which is owned by ESPN Events,
also became a long shot when it was clear that Toledo would be the Mid-America Conference representative. ASU has played Toledo three times, all losses, in Anderson’s three seasons at ASU.
“I don’t think a Toledo-Arkansas State matchup was something that [ESPN] really wanted,” Mohajir said. “Obviously, we’ve played a lot.”
There was a time over the weekend, Mohajir said, that it appeared ASU was headed to the Arizona Bowl to play a Mountain West team.
“We kind of preferred going to Orlando,” Mohajir said. “Just from a geography standpoint at this particular time, it’s a little closer for our fans.”
The Arizona Bowl ended up selecting South Alabama,
which needed a waiver from the NCAA to get eligible, to play Air Force, while Idaho went to the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl to play Colorado State.
ASU, meanwhile, will play Central Florida, which finished third in the AAC East Division and is back in a bowl game under first-year Coach Scott Frost, who was a 2014 Broyles Award finalist.
Anderson said he’s never met Frost, but is familiar with the Knights and Orlando. Anderson coached in four victories over Central Florida while he was offensive coordinator at Southern Miss and the schools were Conference USA rivals in 2008-2011.
“Big battles, physical battles,” Anderson said. “It’s a different team actually, and a different coach, but I can’t imagine the environment has changed a whole lot.”
The Cure Bowl is technically a neutral site, but it will be played in the same town as UCF’s sprawling campus. In fact, Brighthouse Network stadium, the on-campus venue where the Knights play their home games, is less than 20 miles east of where the bowl will be played.
Mohajir said that was never a deterrent in discussions.
“It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “No reservations at all.”