| Game Name: | Cure Bowl |
| Game Link: | Cure Bowl |
| Subheader: | 3rd Cure bowl |
| Title Sponsor: | AutoNation |
| Date Game Played: | December 16 |
| Year Game Played: | 2017 |
| Football Season: | 2017 |
| Stadium: | Camping World Stadium |
| City: | Orlando, Florida |
| Visitor School: | Western Kentucky University |
| Visitor Name Short: | Western Kentucky |
| Visitor Nickname: | Hilltoppers |
| Visitor Record: | 6–6 |
| Visitor Conference: | C-USA |
| Visitor Coach: | Mike Sanford Jr. |
| Visitor 1Q: | 7 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 3 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 7 |
| Home School: | Georgia State University |
| Home Name Short: | Georgia State |
| Home Nickname: | Panthers |
| Home Record: | 6–5 |
| Home Conference: | Sun Belt |
| Home Coach: | Shawn Elliott |
| Home 1Q: | 10 |
| Home 2Q: | 3 |
| Home 3Q: | 7 |
| Home 4Q: | 7 |
| Mvp: | Georgia State QB Conner Manning[1] |
| Anthem: | Girl Scouts Citrus Singers[2] |
| Referee: | Mike Roche (American) |
| Attendance: | 19,585[3] |
| Us Network: | CBSSN |
| Us Announcers: | Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor and Jenny Dell |
The 2017 Cure Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 16, 2017, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, with kickoff at 2:30 p.m. local time.[4] The third annual edition of the Cure Bowl, the game was one of the 2017–18 bowl games that concludes the 2017 FBS football season. Sponsored by automotive retailer AutoNation, the game was officially known as the AutoNation Cure Bowl.
The game featured Georgia State Panthers of the Sun Belt Conference and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers of Conference USA. Georgia State beat Western Kentucky by a score of 27–17.
See also: 2017 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football team and 2017 Conference USA football season.
This was the Hilltoppers' fifth bowl game and their fourth consecutive. They previously won the 2014 Bahamas Bowl, 2015 Miami Beach Bowl and 2016 Boca Raton Bowl. This was their first Cure Bowl appearance.
See also: 2017 Georgia State Panthers football team and 2017 Sun Belt Conference football season.
This was the Panthers' second bowl and second Cure Bowl appearance in school history. They previously lost to San Jose State in 2015.
| Statistics | WKU | GSU |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 17 | 21 |
| Plays–yards | 61–349 | 71–419 |
| Rushes–yards | 21– -2 | 43–143 |
| Passing yards | 351 | 419 |
| Passing: Comp–Att–Int | 26–40–2 | 20–28–0 |
| Time of possession | 24:39 | 35:21 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Western Kentucky | Passing | 26/39, 351 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT | |
| Rushing | Jakairi Moses | 7 car, 19 yds | |
| Receiving | 5 rec, 112 yds, 2 TD | ||
| Georgia State | Passing | Conner Manning | 20/28, 276 yds, 1 TD |
| Rushing | Glenn Smith | 23 car, 73 yds | |
| Receiving | Roger Carter | 4 rec, 85 yds, 1 TD |