Cure Bowl 2016, UCF vs. Arkansas State: Time, radio streaming, TV schedule, and 3 things to know

The Cure Bowl is a pretty neat college football thing.

It is not, by any stretch, a big deal. It came into existence only last season, when San Jose State beat Georgia State, 27-16, in front of an announced crowd of 18,536 in Orlando. It is one of the least significant of all bowl games, at least in terms of prestige. And yet, the Cure Bowl is sort of amazing.

The most amazing thing about the Cure Bowl is that it tries to live up to its name. The game benefits grantees of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Many bowl games have at least some charitable element, but finding a cure for breast cancer is the central theme of this game, and its money goes to the cause. That’s cool, and it makes this game worth having as part of college football.

The matchup this year pits hometown UCF against Arkansas State. Alan Gooch, the executive director of the agency that runs the game, happened to play for UCF and coach on the Knights’ staff for more than two decades. It’s a happy coincidence, and it makes a fun and nice thing even more fun and nice. Sound good?

TV: 5:30 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network. The announcers on the broadcast are Carter Blackburn, Aaron Taylor, and Jenny Dell.

Radio: UCF and Arkansas State

There’s no live video stream for this game, unfortunately.

Spread: UCF is favored by just less than a touchdown and an extra point at most books — about 6 points.

Make friends: SB Nation’s Underdog Dynasty covers the American Athletic and Sun Belt in detail, including UCF, ASU, and a bunch of other cool stuff.

1. Scott Frost has quietly done quite a turnaround job at UCF. The former Oregon offensive coordinator under Mark Helfrich got to Orlando this year to take over an 0-12 team. UCF isn’t a finished product yet, but the Knights made enormous progress in his first year, getting to a bowl with a good chance to up their win total to seven. It’s a hell of a time for FBS head coaching in the state of Florida, and Frost is as big a part of its progress as anybody. He’s done a quality job.

2. Blake Anderson’s Arkansas State is awfully impressive, too. The Red Wolves claimed a share of the Sun Belt championship this year — the fifth time they’ve done at least that in the past six seasons. This makes six bowls in a row for ASU and three under Anderson. (The first three came under Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, and Bryan Harsin.) Arkansas State’s had a lot of coaching turnover, but it has been for the right reason: coaches doing well and moving up. Anderson was a rumored candidate for Baylor’s coaching job earlier this month, but the Red Wolves should be relieved he’ll apparently be back in Jonesboro for another year.

3. The matchup here isn’t bad at all. It’s not quite a toss-up, with both Vegas and computers giving UCF a better-than-even chance to win. Arkansas State had been known for its offense in Anderson’s first two years there, but this has been a more defensive season. The Knights don’t have a great offense, but the question for the Red Wolves is if they can score enough on a good UCF defense to win a game in the teens or 20s. That might be tricky, especially in a de facto road game.