Bowl Central
NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt Conference announced on Sunday the first two of its 2020 football postseason bowl matchups:
App State (8-3) will take on North Texas at the Myrtle Beach Bowl on December 21, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. CT/2:30 p.m. ET at Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina.
Georgia State (5-4) will face Western Kentucky at the LendingTree Bowl on December 26, 2020 at 2:30 p.m. CT/3:30 p.m. ET at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama.
Both games will be televised by ESPN.
The Sun Belt's new postseason bowl lineup includes placement in three ESPN Events owned-and-operated bowl games, as well as participation in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and the LendingTree Bowl on an annual basis.
"We are proud of the football success the Sun Belt experienced this season. We were able to safely play more than 97% of our conference schedule and had many impressive non-conference wins. These postseason opportunities are well deserved and a great reward for our student-athletes and football programs," said Keith Gill, Sun Belt Conference Commissioner.
In addition to the league's five bowl tie-ins, the Sun Belt champion has access annually to the New Year's Six bowls - managed by the College Football Playoff - should the champion be selected as one of the top four teams overall by the CFP selection committee or ranked by the committee as the top champion among the Group of Five conference champions.
The 2020 Sun Belt Football Championship Game will pit #9/12 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (11-0) against the #17/18 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (9-1). Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT/3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, December 19 at Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina. The game will be televised by ESPN.
App State Earns Invite to First-Year Myrtle Beach Bowl
BOONE, N.C. — App State is going bowling again, this time at the beach.
After capping an 8-3 regular season with a 34-26 win at rival Georgia Southern, the Mountaineers have accepted an invitation to play North Texas (4-5) in the first Myrtle Beach Bowl on Monday, Dec. 21.
The game at Coastal Carolina's Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C., is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Information on ticket availability will be finalized in the coming days.
App State will be making its program-record eighth national television appearance of the season and its sixth bowl appearance in as many postseason-eligible FBS seasons. With a 5-0 bowl record since the 2014 transition, it is the only FBS program with no losses or ties in at least five appearances.
The Mountaineers and North Texas Mean Green will meet for the first time. UNT, coached by Seth Littrell, went 4-5 in the regular season, including a 3-4 mark in Conference USA games to finish fourth in the West division. App State is 2-0 in bowl games against C-USA opponents (2018 vs. Middle Tennessee and 2019 vs. UAB in the New Orleans Bowl).
Panthers Earn LendingTree Bowl Berth for Fourth Bowl Trip in Six Years
ATLANTA -- Earning a bowl bid for the fourth time in six years, Georgia State has accepted an invitation to the LendingTree Bowl, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 26 in Mobile, Ala., where the Panthers will face Conference USA foe Western Kentucky.
The LendingTree Bowl will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET at Ladd-Peebles Stadium and be nationally televised on ESPN, along with coverage on the Georgia State Radio Network.
Ticket information can be found at GeorgiaStateSports.com/bowls when it becomes available.
Georgia State won three of its last four games to finish the regular season at 5-4 overall, 4-4 in the Sun Belt Conference and achieve a bowl game for the second straight year and third time in four seasons under head coach Shawn Elliott.
The Panthers are seeking their second bowl victory against the same WKU team that they defeated for their first bowl win, a 27-17 victory over the Hilltoppers in the 2017 AutoNation Cure Bowl in Elliott's first season. WKU is 5-6, 4-3 C-USA.
"I'm so proud of our players for their commitment and hard work to persevere through this season and earn our fourth bowl berth," Elliott said. "We talk about doing things for the first time, and back-to-back bowl games is another first for our program.
"We are excited to go the LendingTree Bowl for the first time and return to Mobile, where we had a great win over South Alabama a few weeks ago," he continued. "We look forward to an exciting matchup with Western Kentucky."