The MAC champs and CUSA champs square off in Orlando.
Two of the nine winners on conference championship weekend will square off in Orlando.
The MAC champion Ohio Bobcats (10-3, 7-1 MAC) and the Conference USA champion Jacksonville State Gamecocks (9-4, 7-1 MAC) are set to battle in the 2024 StaffDNA Cure Bowl from Orlando, FL on Friday, Dec. 20.
It is the first bowl matchup announced pitting conference champions together, and it will be the first meeting between the Bobcats and Gamecocks in history.
Both teams posted dominant performances in their respective conference championship games, getting revenge for regular season losses and making history in the process.
Jacksonville State demolished Western Kentucky, 52-12, on its homefield Friday night to secure its first-ever CUSA championship. The Gamecocks are a second-year FBS program and will bowl for the second time, earning a waiver to participate in 2023 due to a lack of eligible teams. Head coach Rich Rodriguez and his Gamecocks outlasted Louisiana 34-31 in overtime of the 2023 New Orleans Bowl, and now they can complete their first 10-win season at the FBS level with another win.
Ohio followed up Saturday by shellacking Miami (OH), 38-3, in Detroit to claim its first MAC title since 1968. The Bobcats were previously 0-5 in MAC Championship Games but left no doubt against their in-state rival, dropping 38 unanswered to rule the conference. However, Ohio will be without head coach Tim Albin who accepted the Charlotte head coaching job after a 20-year stint in Athens, OH (16 years as offensive coordinator, four as head coach). The Bobcats clinched their third-straight 10-win season under Albin, and they were 2-0 in bowls under their former headman. Ohio has emerged victorious in each of its last five bowl games, dating back to 2017. No interim head coach has been named yet for the upcoming game.
Both teams will make their first Cure Bowl appearance — a bowl which first launched in 2015. Jacksonville State is the second CUSA champion to land in the Cure Bowl, following in the footsteps of 2022 UTSA, while Ohio is the third MAC champion in the last four years to draw a bid. Northern Illinois (2021) and Miami (OH) (2023) also ended their seasons in the Cure Bowl after winning the MAC title in Detroit. But both lost, as the MAC champion is 2-10 in bowl games since 2012.
The Cure Bowl has rotated between three different Orlando venues, but the 2024 edition will take place in the largest of the three — Camping World Stadium, for the first time since 2020. Ohio and Jacksonville State kick off their game at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN on Friday, Dec. 20. It will be the first of three bowls that day, which concludes with the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff game.