# Cure Bowl

The Cure Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played in December of each year since 2015 in Orlando, Florida. It is currently held at Camping World Stadium, and in the past has been held at FBC Mortgage Stadium and Exploria Stadium. The Cure Bowl is so named to promote awareness and research of breast cancer, with proceeds going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The Cure Bowl usually features teams from the American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt Conference. Since 2024, it has been sponsored by the health care employment website StaffDNA and officially known as the StaffDNA Cure Bowl; previous sponsors include AutoNation (2014–2018), FBC Mortgage (2019–2020), Tailgreeter (2021), Duluth Trading Company (2022), and Avocados from Mexico (2023).

## History

The game has tie-ins with the American Athletic Conference (The American) and the Sun Belt Conference. The inaugural game took place on December 19, 2015, featuring the San Jose State Spartans from the Mountain West Conference and the Georgia State Panthers of the Sun Belt Conference. A Mountain West team was invited to the bowl due to The American not having enough bowl-eligible teams to fill the tie-in.
During the planning stages, it was originally proposed to hold the game at Bright House Networks Stadium (now known as FBC Mortgage Stadium) on the campus of UCF. However, it was later decided to hold the game at the newly-renovated Camping World Stadium in downtown Orlando, joining the Camping World Bowl and the Citrus Bowl as annual bowl games at the venue. The game was at held Camping World Stadium in 2015–2018 and 2020, and at Exploria Stadium in 2019, 2021–2022. It moved to FBC Mortgage Stadium at UCF in 2023. It moved back to Camping World Stadium in 2024.
The game was acquired by ESPN Events in May 2020. The 2020 edition of the bowl, between Liberty and Coastal Carolina, became the first Cure Bowl to go to overtime.

### Sponsorship

From its inaugural playing in 2015 through 2018, the game was sponsored by AutoNation and was known as the AutoNation Cure Bowl. In December 2019, FBC Mortgage became the new title sponsor, making the game the FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl. In December 2020, FBC Mortgage renewed its sponsorship of the bowl. On December 2, 2021, digital marketplace Tailgreeter became the new sponsor of the bowl, making the game the Tailgreeter Cure Bowl. On June 29, 2022, Duluth Trading Company was announced as the new title sponsor for the Duluth Trading Cure Bowl. On October 31, 2023, Avocados From Mexico, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association, became the new title sponsor of the game. On May 28, 2024, StaffDNA became the new title sponsor of the game.

## Game results

All rankings are taken from the AP Poll prior to the game being played.
| Date | Winning Team | Winning Team | Losing Team | Losing Team | Venue | Attendance | Notes |
| December 19, 2015 | San Jose State | 27 | Georgia State | 16 | Camping World Stadium | 18,536 | notes |
| December 17, 2016 | Arkansas State | 31 | UCF | 13 | Camping World Stadium | 27,213 | notes |
| December 16, 2017 | Georgia State | 27 | Western Kentucky | 17 | Camping World Stadium | 19,585 | notes |
| December 15, 2018 | Tulane | 41 | Louisiana | 24 | Camping World Stadium | 19,066 | notes |
| December 21, 2019 | Liberty | 23 | Georgia Southern | 16 | Exploria Stadium | 18,158 | notes |
| December 26, 2020 | 23 Liberty | 37 | 9 Coastal Carolina | 34$^{OT}$ | Camping World Stadium | 4,488 | notes |
| December 17, 2021 | Coastal Carolina | 47 | Northern Illinois | 41 | Exploria Stadium | 9,784 | notes |
| December 16, 2022 | 23 Troy | 18 | 22 UTSA | 12 | Exploria Stadium | 11,911 | notes |
| December 16, 2023 | Appalachian State | 13 | Miami (OH) | 9 | FBC Mortgage Stadium | 11,121 | notes |
| December 20, 2024 | Ohio | 30 | Jacksonville State | 27 | Camping World Stadium | 10,518 | notes |
Source:

## MVPs

| Year | MVP | Team | Position |
| 2015 | Kenny Potter | San Jose State | QB |
| 2016 | Kendall Sanders | Arkansas State | WR |
| 2017 | Conner Manning | Georgia State | QB |
| 2018 | Darius Bradwell | Tulane | RB |
| 2019 | Jessie Lemonier | Liberty | DE |
| 2020 | Malik Willis | Liberty | QB |
| 2021 | Grayson McCall | Coastal Carolina | QB |
| 2022 | KJ Robertson | Troy | LB |
| 2023 | Anderson Castle | Appalachian State | RB |
| 2024 | Parker Navarro | Ohio | QB |
Source:

## Most appearances

Updated through the December 2024 edition (10 games, 20 total appearances).

### Teams with multiple appearances

| Team | Appearances | Record | Win pct. |
| Liberty | 2 | 2–0 | 1.000 |
| Georgia State | 2 | 1–1 | 0.500 |
| Coastal Carolina | 2 | 1–1 | 0.500 |

### Teams with a single appearance

Won (6): Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Ohio, San Jose State, Troy, Tulane
Lost (8): Georgia Southern, Jacksonville State, Louisiana, Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, UCF, UTSA, Western Kentucky

## Appearances by conference

Updated through the December 2024 edition (10 games, 20 total appearances).
| Conference | Record | Record | Record | Record | Appearances by season | Appearances by season |
| Conference | Games | W | L | Win pct. | Won | Lost |
| Sun Belt | 9 | 5 | 4 | .556 | 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 | 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020 |
| MAC | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | 2024 | 2021, 2023 |
| C-USA | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | | 2017, 2022, 2024 |
| Independents | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 2019, 2020 | |
| The American | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | 2018 | 2016 |
| Mountain West | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 2015 | |
Independent appearances: Liberty (2019, 2020)

## Game records

| Team | Performance vs. Opponent | Year |
| Most points scored | 47, Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois | 2021 |
| Fewest points allowed | 9, Miami (OH) vs. Appalachian State | 2023 |
| Margin of victory | 18, Arkansas State vs. UCF | 2016 |
| First downs | 29, shared by: Northern Illinois vs. Coastal Carolina Ohio vs. Jacksonville State | 2021 2024 |
| Total yards | 516, Northern Illinois vs. Coastal Carolina | 2021 |
| Rushing yards | 337, Tulane vs. Louisiana | 2018 |
| Passing yards | 362, Jacksonville State vs. Ohio | 2024 |
| Most points scored (losing team) | 41, Northern Illinois vs. Coastal Carolina | 2021 |
| Most points scored (both teams) | 88, Coastal Carolina vs. Northern Illinois | 2021 |
| Fewest yards allowed | 223, UCF vs. Arkansas State | 2016 |
| Fewest rushing yards allowed | -2, Western Kentucky vs. Georgia State | 2017 |
| Fewest passing yards allowed | 44, Miami (OH) vs. Appalachian State | 2023 |
| Individual | Player, Team | Year |
| All-Purpose Yards | 227, Tyler Ervin (San Jose State) | 2015 |
| Points scored | 24, shared by: Malik Willis (Liberty) Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina) Parker Navarro (Ohio) | 2020 2021 2024 |
| Passing touchdowns | 4, Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina) | 2021 |
| Rushing yards | 180, Rashad Amos (Miami (OH)) | 2023 |
| Passing yards | 362, Tyler Huff (Jacksonville State) | 2024 |
| Receiving yards | 184, Cam Vaughn (Jacksonville State) | 2024 |
| Receptions | 13, Jaivon Heiligh (Coastal Carolina) | 2020 |
| Rushing touchdowns | 4, Malik Willis (Liberty) | 2020 |
| Receiving touchdowns | 3, Kendall Sanders (Arkansas State) | 2016 |
| Tackles | 14, shared by: Demeitre Brim (UCF) Silas Kelly (Coastal Carolina) Carlton Martial (Troy) | 2016 2021 2022 |
| Sacks | 2.5, Curley Young Jr. (Jacksonville State) | 2024 |
| Interceptions | 1, by multiple players—most recent: Blake Leake (Ohio) Derek Carter (Jacksonville State) | 2024 |
| Long Plays | Record, Player, Team vs. Opponent | Year |
| Touchdown run | 60 yds., Braydon Bennett (Coastal Carolina) | 2021 |
| Touchdown pass | 75 yds., shared by: Justice Hansen to Kendall Sanders (Arkansas State) Tyler Huff to Cam Vaughn (Jacksonville State) | 2016 2024 |
| Kickoff return | 41 yds., Trayvon Rudolph (Northern Illinois) | 2018 |
| Punt return | 85 yds., Tyler Ervin (San Jose State) | 2015 |
| Interception return | 63 yds., Bralen Trahan (Louisiana) | 2018 |
| Fumble return | 8 yds., Dre Pinckney (Coastal Carolina) | 2021 |
| Punt | 70 yds., Wil Lutz (Georgia State) | 2015 |
| Field goal | 46 yds., Alex Probert (Liberty) | 2019 |
Source:

## Media coverage

The game was initially televised by CBS Sports Network, making it one of the few bowl games to not be televised by an ESPN network. Following the bowl's acquisition by ESPN Events in 2020, broadcasting moved to ESPN.