Postseason college football bowl game
Annual NCAA football game
The 2021 Cure Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 17, 2021, at Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida . The seventh edition of the Cure Bowl , the game featured the Northern Illinois Huskies of the Mid-American Conference and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers of the Sun Belt Conference . The game began at 6:00 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN2 . It was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season . Sponsored by digital marketplace Tailgreeter, the game was officially known as the Tailgreeter Cure Bowl . Coastal Carolina defeated Northern Illinois 47–41, to claim their first bowl win in program history.[3]
Teams [ ]
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game featured the Northern Illinois Huskies from the Mid-American Conference and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers from the Sun Belt Conference ; the bowl has an additional tie-in with the American Athletic Conference that was not used.[4] This was the first meeting ever between the two teams.[5] This was Northern Illinois' first appearance in the Cure Bowl and its 14th bowl appearance overall,[6] while Coastal Carolina made its second Cure Bowl appearance, having lost the 2020 edition , which was also its only other bowl appearance in program history.[5]
Northern Illinois Huskies [ ]
After compiling a record of 0–6 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Northern Illinois Huskies achieved a dramatic turnaround in 2021, finishing the season as the champions of the Mid-American Conference .[7] The Huskies began their season with an upset victory against Georgia Tech , winning off of a two-point conversion with less than a minute remaining in the game.[8] NIU was not able to keep up the momentum; they fell in their next two games, against Wyoming [9] and No. 25 Michigan .[10] From there, Northern Illinois began a streak of five consecutive wins that saw them achieve bowl eligibility by the end of October. The Huskies defeated Maine [11] and Eastern Michigan ,[12] the latter on homecoming, before hitting the road to beat Toledo .[13] They returned home, defeating Bowling Green ,[14] before beating Central Michigan to secure their place in a bowl.[15] NIU suffered their third loss to begin the month of November; they fell on the road against Kent State ,[16] but rebounded with wins against Ball State [17] and Buffalo .[18] They concluded their regular season with a loss to Western Michigan ,[19] but they had already secured their place in the 2021 MAC Championship Game , where they defeated Kent State in a rematch the following week to win the MAC Championship.[20] Northern Illinois accepted its Cure Bowl bid the following day, on December 5, 2021; it entered with a record of 9–4 and a 6–2 record in conference play.[21]
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers [ ]
Game summary [ ]
2021 Tailgreeter Cure Bowl
1
2
3 4 Total
Northern Illinois
10
14
14 3 41
Coastal Carolina
6
13
14 14 47
at Exploria Stadium • Orlando, Florida
Date : Friday, December 17, 2021Game time : 6:00 p.m. EST Game weather : • Temperature : 74 °F (23 °C) • Wind : E 8mphGame attendance : 9,784Referee : Scott HardinTV announcers (ESPN2 ) : Mike Morgan (play-by-play), Kirk Morrison (analyst) and Dawn Davenport (sideline)Box score
Game information
First quarter
(9:51) NIU – Cole Tucker 5 yard pass from Rocky Lombardi, Joh Richardson kick (Drive: 11 plays, 75 yards, 5:09; Northern Illinois 7–0 )
(5:13) CCU – Braydon Bennett 13 yard run, Massimo Biscardi kick blocked (Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 4:38; Northern Illinois 7–6 )
(1:43) NIU – Joh Richardson 41 yard field goal (Drive: 8 plays, 34 yards, 3:30; Northern Illinois 10–6 )
Second quarter
(13:46) CCU – Aaron Bedgood 40 yard pass from Grayson McCall , Massimo Biscardi kick (Drive: 9 plays, 79 yards, 2:57; Coastal Carolina 13–10 )
(8:35) NIU – Clin Ratkovich 2 yard run, Joh Richardson kick (Drive: 9 plays, 68 yards, 5:11; Northern Illinois 17–13 )
(5:48) CCU – Massimo Biscardi 27 yard field goal (Drive: 8 plays, 58 yards, 2:47; Northern Illinois 17–16 )
(1:12) NIU – Miles Joiner 12 yard pass from Rocky Lombardi, Joh Richardson kick (Drive: 10 plays, 67 yards, 4:36; Northern Illinois 24–16 )
(00:05) CCU – Massimo Biscardi 43 yard field goal (Drive: 10 plays, 44 yards, 1:07; Northern Illinois 24–19 )
Third quarter
(12:34) CCU – Isaiah Likely 27 yard pass from Grayson McCall , Massimo Biscardi kick (Drive: 5 plays, 75 yards, 2:26; Coastal Carolina 26–24 )
(10:08) NIU – Rocky Lombardi 1 yard run, Joh Richardson kick (Drive: 5 plays, 79 yards, 2:26; Northern Illinois 31–26 )
(9:27) CCU – Braydon Bennett 60 yard run, Massimo Biscardi kick (Drive: 2 plays, 75 yards, 0:41; Coastal Carolina 33–31 )
(3:13) NIU – Antario Brown 7 yard run, Joh Richardson kick (Drive: 10 plays, 67 yards, 6:14; Northern Illinois 38–33 )
Fourth quarter
(11:51) NIU – Joh Richardson 45 yard field goal (Drive: 9 plays, 28 yards, 4:03; Northern Illinois 41–33 )
(9:07) CCU – Isaiah Likely 40 yard pass from Grayson McCall , Grayson McCall pass failed (Drive: 6 plays, 64 yards, 2:44; Northern Illinois 41–39 )
(6:40) CCU – Braydon Bennett 34 yard pass from Grayson McCall ,Isaiah Likely pass failed (Drive: 1 plays, 34 yards, 0:09; Coastal Carolina 47–41 )
Statistics [ ]
Statistics
NIU
CCU
First downs
26
20
Plays–yards
88–516
55–514
Rushes–yards
55–335
25–199
Passing yards
181
315
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
20–33–0
22–30–0
Time of possession
39:20
20:40
Team
Category
Player
Statistics
Northern Illinois
Passing
Rocky Lombardi
20/33, 181 yards, 2 TD
Rushing
Jay Ducker
24 carries, 146 yards
Receiving
Cole Tucker
6 receptions, 87 yards, TD
Coastal Carolina
Passing
Grayson McCall
22/30, 315 yards, 4 TD
Rushing
Braydon Bennett
6 carries, 108 yards, TD
Receiving
Isaiah Likely
7 receptions, 96 yards, 2 TD
References [ ]
^ Fawkes, Ben. "Odds for College Football Playoff, every bowl game" . vsin.com . Retrieved December 8, 2021 .
^ "2021–22 bowl officiating assignments" . footballzebras.com . December 2021. Retrieved December 17, 2021 .
^ Blondin, Alan (December 18, 2021). "Coastal Carolina stuffs Northern Illinois, wins its first bowl game as an FBS program" . The Sun News . Archived from the original on December 19, 2021. Retrieved December 19, 2021 .
^ "Cure Bowl Partners" . The Cure Bowl . Retrieved December 14, 2021 .
^ a b "Chanticleer Football Game Notes - Cure Bowl" (PDF) . Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Football . Retrieved December 14, 2021 .
^ "2021 Huskie Football Game Notes - Cure Bowl" (PDF) . Northern Illinois Huskies Football . Retrieved 14 December 2021 .
^ Good, Gavin (December 16, 2021). "Thomas Hammock's Belief in His Northern Illinois Team Never Wavered During a Winless 2020. Now the Huskies Are Enjoying One of the Best Turnarounds in FBS History" . Chicago Tribune . Retrieved December 16, 2021 .
^ Sherwin, Collin (4 September 2021). "Northern Illinois goes for two and gets it to upset Georgia Tech" . DraftKings Nation . Retrieved December 14, 2021 .
^ "Chambers late TD, Wyoming pulls out 50-43 win at N. Illinois" . CBS Sports . September 11, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2021 .
^ Plocher, Daniel (September 18, 2021). "Michigan plays nearly perfect game against Northern Illinois in pulverizing 63-10 win" . SB Nation . Retrieved December 14, 2021 .
^ Drury, Dave (September 25, 2021). "2021 MAC Football Week 4 Game Recap: NIU 41, Maine 14" . SB Nation . Retrieved December 14, 2021 .
^ "Northern Illinois holds off Eastern Michigan 27-20" . CBS Sports . 2 October 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021 .
^ "Richardson's 5 FGs lifts Northern Illinois over Toledo 22-20" . ESPN . October 9, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2021 .
^ "Ducker's 210 yards rushing leads NIU past Bowling Green" . CBS Sports . 16 October 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021 .
^ "Northern Illinois rallies in the final minute to beat Central Michigan 39-38" . Chicago Tribune . 23 October 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021 .
^ "Kent State scores 31 points in 2nd quarter, beats NIU 52-47" . CBS Sports . 3 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021 .
^ "Ball State Drops Heartbreaker at Northern Illinois" . Ball State University Athletics . 10 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021 .
^ "N. Illinois uses OT to beat Buffalo 33-27" . CBS Sports . 17 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021 .
^ "Eskridge helps Western Michigan rally for 30-27 victory" . ESPN . 28 November 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021 .
^ "N. Illinois wins MAC Championship 41-23 over Kent State" . ESPN . 4 December 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2021 .
^ Hogan, Brandon (December 5, 2021). "Teams announced for Cure Bowl at Exploria Stadium in Orlando" . WKMG . Retrieved December 14, 2021 .
External links [ ]