2016 Cure Bowl final score: Arkansas State beats UCF in a long game in Orlando

Arkansas State beat UCF in Saturday’s Cure Bowl in Orlando, 31-13. The Red Wolves capped an 8-5 season that also included a Sun Belt co-championship, while the Knights finished 6-7 with a loss in what was, basically, a home game. Arkansas State won eight of nine games after starting its season 0-4.

The Red Wolves had the advantage all game. They took a 17-0 first-quarter lead, and while the game settled way down after that, UCF never climbed far enough back. The Knights made it 17-10 at one point, but Arkansas State responded by scoring a couple of touchdowns (with a UCF field goal in between them) to put the game back out of reach. The game didn’t have a ton of suspense at any point.

The festivities took longer than most likely preferred. The listed kickoff time was 5:30 p.m. ET. The game started, in reality, at 5:39, then took a full four hours to wrap up, ending at 9:38 on the dot. Maybe that had something to do with the CBS Sports Network only getting one bowl game broadcast and this one being that game, and there only being so many chances to sell commercials during live college football games. Who knows?

Both programs have gotten drastically more used to postseason play over the last decade or so. The Cure was UCF’s eighth bowl appearance in program history, but the seventh in the last 10 years and the first, obviously, under new head coach Scott Frost.

The game marked a school-record sixth bowl appearance in a row for Arkansas State, which has done it with a series of head coaches, including current boss Blake Andersen. ASU has now been in bowls in nine of 12 seasons, out of 14 in program history.

The Cure Bowl is still new, and it’s just about the most remote of all college football bowl games. But it’s for a good cause — finding a cure for breast cancer — and finds ways to be a pretty cool event.