2016 Cure Bowl

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.

2016 AutoNation Cure Bowl
2nd Cure Bowl
The field prior to kickoff
Arkansas State Red Wolves UCF Knights (7–5) (6–6) Sun Belt The American 31 13 Head coach:  Blake Anderson Head coach:  Scott Frost
1 2 3 4 Total Arkansas State 17 0 7 7 31 UCF 0 10 3 0 13
Date	December 17, 2016
Season	2016
Stadium	Camping World Stadium
Location	Orlando, Florida
MVP	Arkansas State WR Kendall Sanders[1]
Favorite	UCF by 7[2]
National anthem	Girl Scouts of Citrus[3]
Referee	Kevin Mar (Mtn. West)[4]
Attendance	27,213[4]
Payout	US$1,350,000[5]
United States TV coverage
Network	CBSSN Touchdown Radio
Announcers	Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor, & Jenny Dell (CBSSN) Bernie Guenther, Gino Torretta, & Jamie Seh (Touchdown Radio)
Cure Bowl  < 2015  2017 >

Teams

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.^[6][7] 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.^[8]

Arkansas State

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.^[8] 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 886 miles (1,426 km) drive from Camping World Stadium.^[9]

UCF

See also: 2016 UCF Knights football team and 2016 American Athletic Conference football season

Following the winless 2015 season,^[10] 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.^[7] Prior to that, the team had used the Citrus Bowl (the previous name of Camping World Stadium), which is a 17.7 miles (28.5 km) drive from Bright House Networks Stadium,^[11] as their home stadium for the previous 30 years.^[12]

Officials

The officials from the game came from the Mountain West Conference.

Referee: Kevin Mar

Umpire: 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^[13]

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP ASU UCF 1 10:59 ASU B.J. Edmonds recovers blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown, Sawyer Williams kick good 7 0 1 4:24 6 70 1:54 ASU 22-yard field goal by Sawyer Williams 10 0 1 2:48 3 16 1:36 ASU Kendall Sanders 28-yard touchdown reception from Justice Hansen, Sawyer Williams kick good 17 0 2 9:31 4 48 1:25 UCF Taylor Oldham 11-yard touchdown reception from McKenzie Milton, Matthew Wright kick good 17 7 2 1:04 4 3 1:02 UCF 45-yard field goal by Matthew Wright 17 10 3 14:09 3 73 0:51 ASU Kendall Sanders 75-yard touchdown reception from Justice Hansen, Sawyer Williams kick good 24 10 3 4:52 7 32 2:05 UCF 34-yard field goal by Matthew Wright 24 13 4 14:54 3 37 0:37 ASU Kendall Sanders 17-yard touchdown reception from Justice Hansen, Sawyer Williams kick good 31 13 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 31 13

Source: ^[4]

Statistics

Statistics[4]	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