MOBILE, Ala. — On a November afternoon in 2005, Arkansas State University did something it hadn’t done in 35 years.
“All the hexes died in Texas,” the first sentence read in the Nov. 25 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette the morning after ASU beat North Texas 31-24 to earn a bowl bid for the first time since its 1970 Pecan Bowl victory over Central Missouri.
The drought seemed like a hex, or it at least perplexed supporters who had grown used to seeing the state’s other NCAA Division I football team, the Arkansas Razorbacks, play postseason football.
Now, bowl bids have become routine for the Red Wolves, who have played in a bowl game every year since Hugh Freeze coached ASU to a 10-3 season in 2011 with a 63-44 loss to Toledo in the GoDaddy.