The 2024 Cure Bowl was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

played on December 20, 2024, at

Camping World Stadium Camping World Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Orlando, Florida, Orlando, Florida, United States located in the West Lakes neighborhood of Downtown Orlando, west of new sports and entertainment facilities including the Kia Center, the Dr. Phil ...

located in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

. The tenth annual Cure Bowl, the game featured

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

and Jacksonville State. The game began at approximately 12:00 noon. EST and aired on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. The Cure Bowl was one of the 2024–25 bowl games concluding the 2024 FBS football season. The bowl was sponsored by the health care employment website StaffDNA and officially known as the StaffDNA Cure Bowl. Ohio held on after a 20 point a halftime lead to win 30–27. The win gave Brian Smith his first ever win, Ohio its first ever 11 win season, and extended Ohio's bowl winning streak to six games.

Teams

Based on conference tie-ins, the game was expected to feature teams from the

Group of Five conferences In college football, the Group of Five (G5) are five athletic conferences whose members are part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdiv ...

. The teams were announced on December 7 as Ohio from the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

(MAC) and Jacksonville State from

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

(C-USA), both teams having won their respective conference title games. This was the first time that the Bobcats and Gamecocks ever played each other.

Ohio Bobcats

Ohio entered the bowl with a 10–3 overall record (7–1 in conference). The Bobcats had three regular-season losses, to

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, and Miami (OH). The team qualified for the

MAC Championship Game The MAC Football Championship Game is an annual postseason college football game played to determine the champion of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). History The game has been played since 1997, when the conference was first divided into div ...

, a rematch with Miami (OH), which the Bobcats won, 38–3. Ohio did not face any ranked teams during the season. This was the Bobcat's third consecutive season appearing in a bowl game. Ohio's new head coach for the bowl game was Brian Smith—he was named interim head coach after

Tim Albin Tim Albin (born September 13, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head football coach at Charlotte. He previously served as the head football coach at Ohio University from 2021 to 2024, where he led them to a ...

resigned to take another coaching position, then was subsequently named as the program's next head coach.

Jacksonville State Gamecocks

Jacksonville State entered the bowl with a 9–4 overall record (7–1 in conference). They began their regular season with three losses—to Coastal Carolina,

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, and

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal school (teachers' ...

—then won eight games in a row before ending their regular season with a loss to Western Kentucky. The Gamecocks then had a rematch with Western Kentucky in the Conference USA Championship Game, which Jacksonville State won, 52–12. Louisville was the only ranked team that the Gamecocks faced. This was Jacksonville State's second consecutive season appearing in a bowl game. The Gamecocks' interim head coach was Rod Smith, as

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at West Virginia Mountaineers football, West Virginia University, his second sti ...

resigned to take another coaching position.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

* Game statistics a
statbroadcast.com
{{Jacksonville State Gamecocks bowl game navbox Cure Bowl Cure Bowl Cure Bowl Cure Bowl Ohio Bobcats football bowl games Jacksonville State Gamecocks football bowl games