The 2016 Cure Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 17, 2016 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The second annual edition of the Cure Bowl is one of the 2016–17 bowl games that concludes the 2016 FBS football season. Sponsored by automotive retailer AutoNation, the game is officially known as the AutoNation Cure Bowl.

The game features teams from the American Athletic Conference and Sun Belt Conference. On December 4, 2016, it was announced that the 2016 matchup would feature the UCF Knights taking on the Arkansas State Red Wolves. The two teams have only played each other once before, with the Knights defeating the Indians (as ASU was then known as) at Centennial Bank Stadium 31-20 in 1991.

After finishing the season with a 7-5 record, the Red Wolves will be appearing in their sixth straight bowl game. Arkansas State last played at Camping World Stadium in the 1954 Tangerine Bowl, when the stadium was called the Tangerine Bowl. The Red Wolves' on-campus stadium, Centennial Bank Stadium, is a 886 miles (1,426 km) drive from Camping World Stadium.

Following the winless 2015 season, first year coach Scott Frost led the team to a 6-6 record with wins over South Carolina State, FIU, East Carolina, Connecticut, Tulane, and Cincinnati. The Knights have not played at Camping World Stadium since the opening of the on-campus Bright House Networks Stadium following their 2006 season. Prior to that, the team had used the Citrus Bowl (the previous name of Camping World Stadium), which is a 17.7 miles (28.5 km) drive from Bright House Networks Stadium, as their home stadium for the previous 30 years.

...
Wikipedia