ORLANDO, Fla. -- Kareem Hunt ran wild, Kentrell Brothers picked off passes, Kenneth Dixon took over, and Tremon Smith starred on defense and special teams.
Those four led Toledo, Missouri, Louisiana Tech and Central Arkansas, respectively, in their meetings with Arkansas State while providing the source of Blake Anderson's toughest moments as a head coach.
Cure Bowl
ARKANSAS STATE VS. CENTRAL FLORIDA
WHEN 4:30 p.m. Central
WHERE Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Fla.
RECORDS Arkansas State 7-5; Central Florida 6-6
COACHES Blake Anderson (23-15 in third season at ASU and overall); Scott Frost (6-6 in first season at UCF and overall)
LINE Central Florida by 6
TV CBS Sports Network
RADIO KASR-FM, 92.7, in Little Rock/Conway; KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro
Nonconference woes
• Arkansas State is 23-15 in the past three seasons, with many of those losses coming against nonconference teams. The Red Wolves are 20-4 against Sun Belt teams, but 3-11 against every one else, including 1-10 against FBS nonconference teams.
DATE;OPPONENT;RESULT
Aug. 30, 2014;Montana State;W, 37-10%
Sept. 6, 2014;at Tennessee;L, 34-19
Sept. 13, 2014;at Miami;L, 41-20
Sept. 20, 2014;Utah State;W, 21-14, OT
Jan. 4, 2015;Toledo;L, 63-44*
Sept. 5, 2015;at USC;L, 55-6
Sept. 12, 2015;Missouri;L, 27-20
Sept. 19, 2015;Missouri State;W, 70-7%
Sept. 26, 2015; at Toledo;L, 37-7
Dec. 19, 2015;Louisiana Tech;L, 47-28^
Sept. 2, 2016;Toledo;L, 31-10
Sept. 10, 2016;at Auburn;L, 51-14
Sept. 16, 2016;at Utah State;L, 34-20
Sept. 24, 2016;Central Arkansas;L, 28-23%
*GoDaddy Bowl
^New Orleans Bowl
%FCS opponent
Anderson, 23-15 in three seasons, has led ASU to an outright Sun Belt Conference title, a share of another and a 20-4 record against league teams. But when ASU has stepped out of conference, it's as if the program's resurgence in the past six years never happened.
Last week, Anderson called his 3-11 record against nonconference teams the "most disappointing" aspect of his three years at ASU. He said it's "something that we've got to get fixed."
Another chance comes today in the Cure Bowl against Central Florida (6-6), which finished third in the American Athletic Conference East Division.
ASU will take the field at Camping World Stadium having lost six nonconference games in a row, and eight in a row to nonconference FBS teams. In three seasons, ASU's only nonconference victory over an FBS team came in 2014 over Utah State in overtime.
"They should have beat us," Anderson said this week.
The Red Wolves are 1-10 in nonconference FBS games under Anderson. ASU's 1-10 mark in nonconference FBS games is tied for worst in the Sun Belt since 2014 with New Mexico State, a team ASU has beaten 68-35, 52-28 and 41-22 the past three seasons.
Anderson and his players maintain all games are important, whether Sun Belt or not.
"Every game we've lined up for in three years we've tried to win," Anderson said. "We've won a couple we weren't supposed to, we've lost a couple that we weren't supposed to. To me, we've got to put all of that out of the way and focus on what it's going to take to beat these guys and that's enough."
But judging by last week's comments, the record has been on his mind. Why has it happened?
"Different games, different things, different eras at different times," said senior linebacker Xavier Woodson-Luster, who has played in 11 of them. "I really can't pinpoint an exact reason for each game."
Five of those losses came to teams from Power Five conferences, a group in which ASU has just one victory since moving to the FBS in 1992. Four others have come in match-ups with successful teams from the Group of Five conferences.
Toledo has beaten ASU by a combined 70 points in each of the past three seasons while it has compiled a 28-9 record. Louisiana Tech turned a halftime tie in last season's New Orleans Bowl into a 49-27 runaway with three players now in the NFL on its roster, including Dixon (Strong). But those are the types of teams Anderson wants his program to compete against.
"Look, we want to compete with all of them," Anderson said. "We're not built like Toledo yet. I want to be. But we're not. I'm disappointed, too, in the out of conference. I'm really disappointed."
The two latest losses sting the most. ASU lost at Utah State, 34-20, on Sept. 16 and to UCA a week later at home, 28-23. Utah State finished 3-9, and while UCA went 10-3 and advanced to the second round of the FCS playoffs, Anderson is still perturbed by the four turnovers in that game, three of which came in the fourth quarter.
With victories in those games, ASU's season take on a whole different look.
"We should have beat Utah State this year, and we should have beat UCA," Anderson said. "We win those two games, I'm not satisfied, but I can see progress."
Instead, ASU fell to 0-4 after the loss to UCA, a long way from the Cotton Bowl, which Anderson mentioned in July as a possibility if all things broke correctly. That chance was thwarted on opening night in a 31-10 loss to Toledo.
Today offers another chance to change the narrative.
Like Toledo two years ago and Louisiana Tech last season, Central Florida offers a challenge against an unfamiliar team.
ASU's schedule this week has been similar to its past two bowl trips. The Red Wolves held a light workout at a local high school Wednesday, a longer one Thursday and a walk-through at Camping World Stadium on Friday.
"We just want to make a statement," junior tight end Blake Mack said. "So, we're just giving it all we got. Everybody has a great energy, and we're all hungry for a win."
Woodson-Luster, a senior who will leave with three Sun Belt title rings, said he and other seniors have called this week "the last journey." It's one that would feel incomplete without ending the nonconference slide.
"We'd like to at least get one under our belt before we leave," he said. "It would mean a lot to us all."
Sports on 12/17/2016