The Arkansas State Red Wolves will be heading to Tucson, Arizona for the Nova Arizona Bowl on December 29th against a team to be determined from the Mountain West Conference. The official announcement from the Sun Belt Conference is below.
NEW ORLEANS – Arkansas State has accepted an invitation to play in the 2018 NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 29, at 12:15 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.
The Red Wolves (8-4, 5-3 Sun Belt), in their first NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl appearance, are slated to take on a team from the Mountain West Conference in the fourth edition of the bowl game held at the University of Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Ariz.
“The NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl is an excellent postseason destination for Arkansas State,” said Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson. “In just three years, the bowl game has taken off and been warmly embraced by the city of Tucson. The Red Wolves are guaranteed a tremendous time and we are happy to make this announcement today to give extra planning time to the fans, student-athletes and athletic department.”
Arkansas State is making its eighth consecutive and ninth overall bowl appearance as a NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision program. The Red Wolves hold three bowl wins all-time with their last win coming in a 31-13 victory over UCF in the 2016 AutoNation Cure Bowl.
“We are thrilled to welcome Arkansas State and the Red Wolves family to Tucson to compete in the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl,” said bowl Executive Director Kym Adair. “Arkansas State’s rich tradition of playing football at the highest levels as shown by their eight consecutive bowl game appearances. We look forward to sharing our Tucson hospitality and beautiful warm, winter weather with the teams and fans of Arkansas State on December 29th.”
This season, Arkansas State closed the regular season with four-straight Sun Belt Conference wins and boasted non-conference triumphs over Tulsa and UNLV.
"We're excited to continue our season at the Arizona Bowl," said A-State head coach Blake Anderson. "This will obviously be our first appearance in this bowl game, so it will give our team a new experience at a beautiful destination and stadium where we haven't played before. We know we will face a great opponent that will present a tough challenge, but we're looking forward to the opportunity to win our ninth game of the season."
"This is another excellent opportunity for our guys to experience a great bowl setting against a strong opponent," said A-State Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics Terry Mohajir. "In addition, it gives our alumni and fans attending the game more time to plan their trip to an outstanding destination.
During the last two seasons, the Sun Belt tied its record for wins in the postseason with four wins in both 2016 and 2017. The Sun Belt finished second in bowl winning percentage among all 10 FBS conferences in each of those years while also finishing fourth in 2015. Reaching back to the 2014 season, no conference has a better total bowl winning percentage (.611) than the Sun Belt Conference. Further, the Sun Belt has won more games during that four-year period (11) than its peers: the American Athletic Conference (10) and the Mid-American Conference (6). That fact is staggering when considering the Sun Belt has reached its win mark despite those conferences having more opportunities to win games (AAC – 27, MAC – 23, Sun Belt – 17).
About the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl
The NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl is a NCAA-certified football bowl game that matches up teams from the Mountain West and Sun Belt conferences. The game is nationally televised on CBS Sports Network and will be played on December 29, 2018 at 11:15 am MST at the University of Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona. As a 501©(3) non-profit organization, the Bowl’s primary focus is to donate all net proceeds to local charities, provide a significant impact to economic development in the region and give the teams playing in the game a first class bowl experience.
