It’s been a whirlwind of a week – likely longer – for Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl executive director Kym Adair, who spent Saturday in frigid Boise, Idaho preparing for the announcement of her bowl’s participants.
It was so crazy she was about just a minute or two in time for Sunday’s announcement of Arkansas State (8-4) and Nevada (7-5) as this year’s participants of the Tucson-based game.
Kickoff is set for 11:15 a.m. on Dec. 29 at Arizona Stadium. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network. Bowl officials are hoping to sell out the stadium with 50,000-plus fans.
Adair said the two teams have “very enthusiastic fan bases that we feel will travel well to Tucson. For the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl, it’s never been about teams and the fans that are traveling here it’s about this being Tucson’s football festival and the fan base embracing it and showing up to the stadium year after year. This is about giving back money to local charities. The more the locals come to support the game the better we have to fill up Arizona Stadium. It’s going to be a great atmosphere for these two teams.”
Arkansas State was announced last week while Nevada was announced on Sunday. The Wolf Pack finished in a tie for second place in the Mountain West Conference’s West Division.
As for Adair, she was in warmer climes on Sunday and very happy with the selection of Arkansas State and Nevada, a team UA picked over San Diego State and Wyoming.
“Nevada has been in the picture for the last two to three weeks,” Adair said. “We’ve been paying attention to Nevada for some time.”
The Wolfpack returns to the site of its last bowl game. Nevada played in the inaugural Arizona Bowl in 2015. It left a victor over Colorado State.
“We are honored to have this awesome opportunity to play in the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl,” Nevada head coach Jay Norvell said in a news release. “Arkansas State is a terrific program and we are excited for the challenge of playing them. I’m thrilled for our 17 seniors to have a chance to play in one more college game in their careers.”
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