| Game Name: | Cure Bowl |
| Game Link: | Cure Bowl |
| Subheader: | 2nd Cure Bowl |
| Title Sponsor: | AutoNation |
| Date Game Played: | December 17 |
| Year Game Played: | 2016 |
| Football Season: | 2016 |
| Stadium: | Camping World Stadium |
| City: | Orlando, Florida |
| Visitor School: | Arkansas State University |
| Visitor Name Short: | Arkansas State |
| Visitor Nickname: | Red Wolves |
| Visitor Record: | 7–5 |
| Visitor Conference: | Sun Belt |
| Visitor Coach: | Blake Anderson |
| Visitor 1Q: | 17 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 7 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 7 |
| Home School: | University of Central Florida |
| Home Name Short: | UCF |
| Home Nickname: | Knights |
| Home Record: | 6–6 |
| Home Conference: | The American |
| Home Coach: | Scott Frost |
| Home 1Q: | 0 |
| Home 2Q: | 10 |
| Home 3Q: | 3 |
| Home 4Q: | 0 |
| Odds: | UCF by 7[1] |
| Mvp: | Arkansas State WR Kendall Sanders[2] |
| Anthem: | Girl Scouts of Citrus[3] |
| Referee: | Kevin Mar (Mtn. West) |
| Attendance: | 27,213 |
| Payout: | 1,350,000[4] |
| Us Network: | CBSSN Touchdown Radio |
| Us Announcers: | Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor, & Jenny Dell (CBSSN) Bernie Guenther, Gino Torretta, & Jamie Seh (Touchdown Radio) |
The 2016 Cure Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 17, 2016 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The second annual edition of the Cure Bowl is one of the 2016–17 bowl games that concludes the 2016 FBS football season. Sponsored by automotive retailer AutoNation, the game is officially known as the AutoNation Cure Bowl. Notably, the UCF Knights would not lose another game until the 2019 Fiesta Bowl.
The game features teams from the American Athletic Conference and Sun Belt Conference. On December 4, 2016, it was announced that the 2016 matchup would feature the UCF Knights taking on the Arkansas State Red Wolves.[5] The two teams have only played each other once before, with the Knights defeating the Indians (as ASU was then known as) at Centennial Bank Stadium 31-20 in 1991.
See also: 2016 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team and 2016 Sun Belt Conference football season. After finishing the season with a 7-5 record, the Red Wolves will be appearing in their sixth straight bowl game.[6] Arkansas State last played at Camping World Stadium in the 1954 Tangerine Bowl, when the stadium was called the Tangerine Bowl. The Red Wolves' on-campus stadium, Centennial Bank Stadium, is a drive from Camping World Stadium.[7]
See also: 2016 UCF Knights football team and 2016 American Athletic Conference football season. Following the winless 2015 season,[8] first year coach Scott Frost led the team to a 6-6 record with wins over South Carolina State, FIU, East Carolina, Connecticut, Tulane, and Cincinnati. The Knights have not played at Camping World Stadium since the opening of the on-campus Bright House Networks Stadium following their 2006 season.[9] Prior to that, the team had used the Citrus Bowl (the previous name of Camping World Stadium), which is a drive from Bright House Networks Stadium,[10] as their home stadium for the previous 30 years.[11]
The officials from the game came from the Mountain West Conference.
Referee: Kevin MarUmpire: Stuart Schake
Head Linesman: George Shoup
Line Judge: David Young
Side Judge: Steve Heiman
Field Judge: Robert "Scooter" Asel
Back Judge: Robert Lewis
Center Judge: Darren Winkley
Replay Official: Judson Howard
Communicator: Bob Bahne
Alternate Official: Tim Crowley[12]
Source: [13]
| Statistics | ASU | UCF |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 8 | 17 |
| Plays–yards | 64–234 | 78–223 |
| Rushes–yards | 38–29 (0.8) | 30–12 (0.4) |
| Passing yards | 205 | 175 |
| Passing: Comp–Att–Int | 12–26–0 | 26–48–0 |
| Time of possession | 31:17 | 28:43 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASU | Passing | Justice Hansen | 12/26, 205 yds, 3 TD |
| Rushing | Daryl Rollins-Davis | 5 car, 32 yds | |
| Receiving | Kendall Sanders | 5 rec, 127 yds, 3 TD | |
| UCF | Passing | McKenzie Milton | 22/39, 175 yds, 1 TD |
| Rushing | Jawon Hamilton | 10 car, 14 yds | |
| Receiving | Taylor Oldham | 5 rec, 56 yds, 1 TD |