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Photos by Kavin Mistry |
The San Jose State Spartans football team is headed to its first bowl game since 2012, when quarterback David Fales led them to the Military Bowl.
The Spartans will take on the Georgia State Panthers in the AutoNation Cure Bowl on Dec. 19 at 9 a.m. in Orlando, Florida.
SJSU boasts an all-time record of 6-3 in bowl games, including victories in its past three appearances. This will be the first bowl game for head coach Ron Caragher.
This will also be the first bowl game for the Georgia State program that began in 2010.
Scoring wise the Spartans and Panthers are nearly identical in their per game output on offense and defense.
The Spartans averaged 28.0 points per game on offense, while its defense surrenders 28.2 points per game.
Meanwhile, the Panthers averaged 27.8 points per game, and surrender an average of 28.4 points.
However, the offensive identities of the two teams are vastly different; the Spartans offense runs through senior running back Tyler Ervin, while the Panthers offense flows through the arm of quarterback Nick Arbuckle.
Ervin, who earned First Team All-Mountain West honors, rushed for 1,469 yards and managed 2,410 all-purpose yards for the season, ranking him second in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Arbuckle finished the season with 4,160 passing yards, 32 total touchdowns (26 passing), and averaged 346.7 passing yards per game for Georgia State.
As a compliment to their quarterback, Georgia State’s wide receivers Penny Hart and Robert Davis propel Georgia State’s aerial attack.
Hart led the Panthers with 71 receptions for 1,095 yards and eight touchdowns, including seven receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown in the team’s regular season finale against Georgia Southern on Saturday.
Davis added 60 receptions for 979 yards and six touchdowns.
The matchup to focus on will be the explosiveness of the Panthers receivers against the grit of the Spartans secondary.
SJSU’s defense held opponents to 153.6 passing yards per game this season, second fewest in the FBS.
Jimmy Pruitt and Cleveland Wallace III lead the Spartan secondary with three interceptions a piece.
The Spartans path to the Cure Bowl was unconventional; they were surprised that they were even being considered for a bowl after their final loss to Boise State clinched a losing season.
However, there were only 75 teams in the FBS that had at least six wins this season (which is the minimum to be considered for a bowl game) and there needs to be 80 teams to fill all the bowls.
Georgia State’s path to the Cure Bowl was through their emphatic upset victory over their rivals Georgia Southern in the final game of the season that propelled them to a 6-6 finish. Which was surprising because they started the season 1-5, but then hit their stride and won five of their last six games.
The inaugural AutoNation Cure Bowl will take place in the Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
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