Looking Back on Arkansas State's Nine-Year Bowl Streak

The Arkansas State Red Wolves are bowl eligible for a school-record ninth consecutive season and will be heading to the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. After all the adversity the team has faced this season, reaching the postseason is — win or lose — an overwhelming accomplishment.

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For a team that has faced as much adversity — from tragedy to coaching turnover and a plethora of injuries — as the 2019 Arkansas State Red Wolves to reach bowl eligibility is a testament the resiliency and never-give-up attitude instilled in the young men putting their bodies on the line every weekend. It speaks volumes to the culture established in Jonesboro and the leadership by head coach Blake Anderson and his crew. It encompasses what it means to be a Red Wolf.

Though recent history has shown incredible favor toward the Red Wolves, such has not always been the case. Since joining the Sun Belt in 2001, Arkansas State reached the postseason just once prior to the 2011-12 season. In 2005, the Arkansas State Indians received a bid to play in the New Orleans Bowl against the Southern Miss Eagles. They lost the contest 31-19, but just reaching the postseason was a phenomenal feat at the time.

Now, earning a trip to a bowl game is the minimum standard at Arkansas State. The Red Wolves have not missed the postseason since the end of the 2010-11 season, and that record is still intact this season.

Over the past eight years, the Red Wolves have played in the Lending Tree Bowl (formerly the GoDaddy.com and GoDaddy Bowl) four times, with one trip each to the New Orleans Bowl, Cure Bowl, Camellia Bowl, and most recently the Arizona Bowl. In that span, the Red Wolves are 3-5, with two wins in Mobile and another in Orlando.

Those teams set a very high bar for the future of Red Wolf football, as they laid the foundation for the winning tradition in Jonesboro today.

The 2011 Red Wolves will always be remembered as the team that shattered the glass ceiling. Prior to the season, Arkansas State had never won more than six games as a Division I football team. Then, some magic happened.

Longtime head coach Steve Roberts was fired at the conclusion of the 2010 season and offensive coordinator Hugh Freeze was promoted to head coach. In his first three games, Arkansas State posted just a 1-3 record with losses at Illinois and Virginia Tech (ranked 12th at the time), but a blowout home win over Memphis 47-3 was enough to keep fans invested.

The Red Wolves then reeled off nine-straight victories, posting a perfect record in Sun Belt play. They survived close calls with Western Kentucky (26-22), ULM (24-19), and Louisiana (30-21), but dominated the rest of the competition, earning a Sun Belt Championship along the way.

The first home game of the season was a sellout domination over Memphis, and the final curtain was a 45-14 thumping of the Troy Trojans. That’s the stuff of a dream season in Jonesboro.

At the conclusion of the season, Freeze was awarded Sun Belt Coach of the Year, Ryan Aplin won Sun Belt Player of the Year, and Brandon Joiner won Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year.

The Red Wolves received a bid to the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, but before A-State could make the trip, Freeze accepted a job to coach the Ole Miss Rebels. David Gunn took over as interim coach for the bowl game.

Despite their best efforts, the Red Wolves fell 20-38 to the Northern Illinois Huskies in their first bowl game since 2005. Arkansas State finished their season 10-3, by far the best season in school history to that point.

The next season, Gus Malzahn took over as head coach of the Red Wolves, and excitement hit a new all-time high in Jonesboro.

The season opened on a sour note as the 5th-ranked Oregon Ducks dominated the Red Wolves in Eugene, 57-34. Then, the Red Wolves went on to lose two of their next four games as well, falling to 2-3 on the season. Another home win over Memphis was great, but a home loss to Western Kentucky nearly threw the season into a spiral. After all the preseason hype, a losing record through five games seemed abysmal.

Then, the Red Wolves found their stride.

They reeled off seven-straight wins to finish the regular season, including signature wins over ULM, Louisiana, Troy, and a 45-0 domination of Middle Tennessee. For the second year in a row, the Red Wolves were Sun Belt Champions and heading to Mobile for the GoDaddy.com Bowl.

Also, though, for the second year in a row, they would be without a head coach for the bowl game. Malzahn left town for the Auburn Tigers at the conclusion of the regular season, leaving John Thompson in charge in his wake.

This time, the trip to Mobile was much more successful. The Red Wolves outlasted the 25th-ranked Kent State Flashes 17-13 to notch their first bowl win in school history. The game came down to the wire, but Qushaun Lee made a shoestring tackle to seal the deal with just 52 seconds left, leaving the Red Wolves victorious.

At the conclusion of the season, Aplin was once again named Sun Belt Player of the Year, and J.D. McKissic took home Sun Belt Freshman of the Year.

The 2013 season was another of re-shuffling for the Red Wolves as they welcomed their fourth coach in as many seasons. This time, it was Bryan Harsin. Fresh off of two 10-win seasons and subsequent Sun Belt titles, expectations were as high as ever in Jonesboro.

The season got off to a rather rocky start with losses at Auburn, Memphis, and Missouri within the first five games. A home win over Troy was enough to keep fans excited about conference play, but a later loss to Louisiana left a sour taste.

Through seven games, the Red Wolves were in unfamiliar territory (at least since 2011), sitting at 3-4 (1-1 Sun Belt). In their next game, they survived a scare from the South Alabama Jaguars and notched a win in Mobile, 17-16. From there, the Red Wolves caught fire and reeled off three more wins in a row to earn bowl eligibility for the third-straight year. They went into their final contest with Western Kentucky with a 7-4 record but lost a heartbreaker in Bowling Green, 31-34.

Despite the loss, the Red Wolves still found themselves as co-Sun Belt Champions, their third conference title in as many years.

The Red Wolves earned a third-straight bid to the GoDaddy Bowl, and for the third time, they would be without their head coach. Harsin accepted an offer to be the head coach at Boise State and departed before bowl season started.

This time, A-State was pitted against Ball State in Mobile.

The game was a back-and-forth field goal fest with just three touchdowns in the first 59 minutes of the game. A-State kicker Brian Davis drilled three field goals while Scott Secor of Ball State made two of his own. A 9-yard touchdown reception from Keith Wenning to Willie Snead and a 1-yard run from A-State’s Sirgregory Thornton were the only touchdowns prior to the fourth quarter.

The Red Wolves fell into an early 10-3 hole but were able to regroup and take a 16-10 lead into the final period. After Sector’s second field goal went through the uprights, things got interesting.

Ball State took the lead with just 1:33 left in the game on the back of a 16-play, 80-yard drive that was capped off with a 1-yard score from Jahwan Edwards. The Red Wolves had just over a minute and a half to make a comeback.

They did just that, as Fredi Knighten led his team down the field in just 1:01. The Red Wolves went 59 yards in just five plays, scoring from 13 yards out as Knighten found Allen Muse for a lead-changing touchdown. With just 32 seconds to play, A-State held a 23-20 lead.

Ball State had one last chance to send it to overtime, but the Red Wolves blocked their field goal attempt as time expired to seal the deal. A-State won 23-20.

In 2014, there was another new face at the helm. At this point, the Red Wolves had gone through an unprecedented five head coaches in five seasons. This time, Blake Anderson took the reigns as leader of the pack.

Anderson’s tenure got off to a solid start despite early losses at Tennessee and Miami (FL). Home wins over Utah State, ULM, and. Georgia State gave the Red Wolves a solid 4-2 record out of the gate. A loss at Louisiana set the Red Wolves back a bit, but they came back to win their next two at Idaho and at home versus South Alabama.

Through nine games, the Red Wolves had already reached bowl eligibility for the fourth time in a row with a 6-3 record.

However, they fell hard at the finish line. Over the final three games of the season, the Red Wolves notched just one more win, a home victory over New Mexico State. They fell to Appalachian State in Jonesboro and then on the road at Texas State to finish the season 7-5.

For the first time since the end of the Steve Roberts era, the Red Wolves were not atop the Sun Belt standings at season’s close. They finished tied for fourth place in the league in Anderson’s first year.

They still kept the bowl streak alive, however, with their fourth trip to Mobile for the GoDaddy Bowl. Their cold skid carried over into bowl season, though, as the Red Wolves fell to the Toledo Rockets by a final score of 63-44.

The 2015 season was uncharted territory for the Red Wolves as they retained a head coach for the first time since 2010. Blake Anderson was back for his second season and ready to re-take the top spot in the Sun Belt.

His team would do just that.

Despite starting the season 1-3 with losses to USC, Missouri, and Toledo, the Red Wolves were still hopeful for a solid season. They beat Missouri State early but took a losing non-conference record into Sun Belt play.

From there, though, the Red Wolves went on one of their most dominant streaks to date. They reeled off eight-straight wins, including a huge road win against Appalachian State in the pseudo-Championship game. They would finish the regular season with a phenomenal 9-3 record and a perfect 8-0 Sun Belt mark.

For the fourth time in five years, the Red Wolves were Sun Belt Champions, and for the fifth year in a row, they would go bowling.

This time, the location changed to New Orleans where the Red Wolves would face off against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. They fell well short of victory, though, as they were handed a 47-28 loss to finish the season 9-4.

The 2016 season could not have gotten off to a worse start. Not only did the Red Wolves start the year with a dismal 0-4 record, but one of those losses was at home to in-state Central Arkansas.

However, the Red Wolves demonstrated overwhelming resiliency, spurring off six-straight wins after perhaps the worst loss in recent memory. They outlasted Georgia Southern 27-26, knocked off South Alabama 17-7, dominated ULM 51-10, and took care of Georgia State and New Mexico State to climb above the .500 mark on the season at 5-4.

Then, they traveled to 25th-ranked Troy. The Trojans were the first Sun Belt team to ever be ranked in the football AP Poll, and the Red Wolves were their first opponent as a top-25 team. In the contest, Arkansas State left AP voters with no doubt as to whether the Trojans would carry that ranking into a second week. The Red Wolves demolished the Trojans in a 35-3 beatdown that included a 35-0 run by the Red Wolves after Troy kicked a field goal in the opening period and an 11-minute fourth-quarter drive to put the game on ice. It is still held in high regard as potentially the greatest victory in A-State history at the DI level.

The win gave the Red Wolves a six-win season for the sixth time in as many years, all but securing another bowl bid. Despite a loss in Lafayette the next week — snapping a 15-game Sun Belt win streak — the Red Wolves took care of business in San Marcos to finish the season 8-5 overall with a 7-1 Sun Belt mark, good enough for the fifth conference championship in six years.

The Red Wolves found themselves in the Cure Bowl in Orlando where they would face off against the hometown UCF Knights. The Knights went 0-12 in the year prior but managed a 6-6 record in 2016 leading up to the bowl game.

For the first time in the Anderson era, the Red Wolves found themselves victorious in the postseason with a dominating 31-13 win over the Knights. From there, the Knights would go on to win 25-consecutive games over the next two seasons, coining a popular trivia question. Who was the last team to beat UCF? The Arkansas State Red Wolves, that’s who.

The 2017 season got off to a strange start as the Red Wolves came up just short of a huge win at Nebraska, but had a home bout with the Miami Hurricanes canceled — ironically — to Hurricane Irma. The canceled game later went to court, with the two parties eventually settling on a $400,000 settlement.

The Red Wolves finished non-conference play with a 1-2 record with a blowout win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff but losses to Nebraska and SMU. However, they continued their Sun Belt success, winning their next four contests by a combined score of 178-66. To that point, A-State had won 19 of 20 Sun Belt contests dating back to the 2014 season.

Then, the Red Wolves stumbled in Mobile, losing to South Alabama on the last play of the game. They won the next two contests over Texas State and ULM, with the latter going down as one of the most entertaining (or stressful, depending on how you look at it) games to date, as A-State out-gunned the Warhawks 67-50 in an absolute shootout.

Finally, the Red Wolves hosted the Troy Trojans in the season finale. The Trojans still had the 2016 domination fresh on their minds as the two squads battled for a Sun Belt championship. App State finished the season 7-1 in Sun Belt play, while both Troy and A-State were 6-1. The winner would share the title with the Mountaineers while the loser would finish third overall.

This one, too, came down to the wire as the Trojans scored with just 17 seconds remaining, all but setting the final at 32-35. The Red Wolves would finish the season just two plays away from a perfect Sun Belt record, and just one away from a conference championship.

They went on to face former conference foe Middle Tennessee State in the Camellia Bowl, but ultimately fell in another close call, this time 35-30. The season would live on as the one that could have been but never was, as the Red Wolves finished 7-5.

The 2018 season fell victim to itself before the first snap. Expectations were at an all-time high for the Red Wolves, as many predicted a 10- or 11-win regular season based purely on preseason hype. Talks of a New Year’s Six Bowl berth flooded the airwaves in Jonesboro as A-State prepared for the greatest season in school history.

Until it wasn’t.

A 3-1 non-conference slate was a great start, with a lone loss coming on the road at the hands of top-ranked Alabama. The Crimson Tide would go all the way to the national championship game before suffering their lone loss of the season so that one was a given. However, a road win at Tulsa and a home win against UNLV in a monsoon left fans hopeful the year would still pan out as expected.

Then, conference play started.

The Red Wolves fumbled right out of the gate, dropping back-to-back contests against Georgia Southern and Appalachian State. The Eagles won the game on a 50+ yard reverse on their final drive to notch a 28-21 victory, while App State dominated from start to finish in Jonesboro in a 35-9 domination.

A-State recovered a bit with a home win over Georgia State but then went on to lose to the Ragin’ Cajuns on the road in yet another nail biter. The Cajuns punched in the game-winning touchdown with just 78 seconds left, and the Red Wolves failed to overcome the 47-43 deficit.

They rallied well to finish the season, winning their final five games by a combined score of 146-54 to finish the regular season with a solid 8-4 record. However, they missed out on the inaugural Sun Belt Championship Game and finished well short of the sky-high expectations placed on them in the preseason.

They still had a chance for a ninth win with an Arizona Bowl appearance versus the Nevada Wolfpack, but for seemingly the 100th time, they came up just a hair short. Despite leading 7-3 for nearly the entire second half, the Wolfpack managed a 10-play, 74-yard drive late in the fourth quarter to take a 10-7 lead with just over a minute to play. The A-State offense finally showed up, though, getting into field goal range just in time for Blake Grupe to drill a game-tying chip shot as time expired.

Grupe came up clutch again in overtime to give the Red Wolves a 13-10 lead, but the defense faltered for just the second time in the contest, giving up an 11-yard touchdown to seal a Nevada victory, 16-13.

Now, for the ninth time in as many years, the Red Wolves are headed to a bowl game. They will face the FIU Panthers in the 2019 Camellia Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 21. Red Wolf Report will continue to bring complete coverage of the game, so make sure to check back for any updates. You can read all other bowl-related content here in the meantime.

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