7th bowl in a row in reach for ASU

Arkansas State receiver Chris Murray (14) attempts to haul in a pass while SMU’s Justin Guy-Robinson reaches to knock down the ball Sept. 23 in Dallas.
Arkansas State receiver Chris Murray (14) attempts to haul in a pass while SMU’s Justin Guy-Robinson reaches to knock down the ball Sept. 23 in Dallas.

MOBILE, Ala. — On a November afternoon in 2005, Arkansas State University did something it hadn’t done in 35 years.

“All the hexes died in Texas,” the first sentence read in the Nov. 25 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the morning after ASU beat North Texas 31-24 to earn a bowl bid for the first time since its 1970 Pecan Bowl victory over Central Missouri.

The drought seemed like a hex, or it at least perplexed supporters who had grown used to seeing the state’s other NCAA Division I football team, the Arkansas Razorbacks, play postseason football.

Now, bowl bids have become routine for the Red Wolves, who have played in a bowl game every year since Hugh Freeze coached ASU to a 10-3 season in 2011 with a 63-44 loss to Toledo in the GoDaddy.com Bowl.

If ASU (5-2, 4-0 Sun Belt Conference) wins at South Alabama (3-6, 2-3) today, the Red Wolves will become eligible for a seventh consecutive bowl game — more than any other Arkansas program in history.

According to records, four Arkansas collegiate programs have played in NCAA-sanctioned bowl games, including the University of Central Arkansas and Ouachita Baptist University.

OBU lost 40-12 to Hardin-Simmons in the 1948 Shrine Bowl, which was played in War Memorial Stadium.

UCA, previously named Arkansas State Teachers College, lost 27-26 to Fresno State in the 1937 Charity Bowl in Los Angeles. The program also lost 39-20 to Hardin-Simmons in the 1947 Kickapoo Bowl in Wichita, Texas.

All three bowl games are now defunct.

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville has played in the most bowl games (42), and the Razorbacks have had three separate streaks of six consecutive bowl games — most recently from 1998-2003 under coach Houston Nutt.

ASU has played in 14 bowl games, and seven were played in the old “College Division,” which became Division II and Division III in 1973.

Its current streak of six bowl games ranks 13th in the nation — far behind Florida State’s all-time record of 35.

The Red Wolves have four more games to earn its sixth victory of the season. That would be done with one less game on the schedule, since the Sept. 9 home game against Miami was canceled due to Hurricane Irma making landfall in Florida.

The Red Wolves also are seeking their third consecutive Sun Belt title, which would make ASU the first NCAA Division I program in Arkansas to win three consecutive conference titles since UA won Southwest Conference titles from 1959-1961.

ASU Coach Blake Anderson said that “every game gets bigger” as the Red Wolves enter the final stretch of the season. The previous four opponents had a combined .265 winning percentage, but the next four have a combined .444 winning percentage — including Troy (7-2, 4-1) in the final game of the regular season.

“Every game is more pressure-packed because of the situation we’re in,” Anderson said. “But that’s how we want it, because that means we’re playing for something that matters. I’d much rather be in that situation than somebody that’s just finishing up the year.

“I came here knowing that was the standard. That’s the standard we have. I want every game to be a playoff game, from beginning to end.”

Today’s game

ARKANSAS STATE at SOUTH ALABAMA

WHEN 4 p.m. Central

WHERE Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Ala.

RECORDS Arkansas State 5-2, 4-0 Sun Belt; South Alabama 3-6, 2-3

INTERNET ESPN3

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