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,” said Keith Gill, Sun Belt Conference Commissioner. “We were able to safely play more than 97 percent of our conference schedule and had many impressive non-conference wins. These post-season opportunities are well deserved and a great reward for our student-athletes and football programs.”

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 No. 9/12 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (11-0) against the No. 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.

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DALLAS – Conference USA has announced the league’s bowl lineup that will span the six-year cycle from 2020-25. The conference is guaranteed seven bowl appearances in each year of the new cycle.

“We are very pleased with our future bowl lineup,” said C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod. “Our teams will continue to have postseason opportunities in outstanding destinations that are very accessible to our schools and their fans. We are also excited to have additional flexibility to create great matchups.”

As part of the new bowl cycle, C-USA will annually send teams to the Bahamas Bowl against a Mid-American Conference opponent, and to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, against a Sun Belt Conference school. The league has participated in all six Bahamas Bowls and has placed a team in the New Orleans Bowl 14 times in its first 18 years.

As previously announced, the league will continue its relationship with the Independence Bowl. C-USA is guaranteed to send a team to the Shreveport, Louisiana-based bowl in 2021 and 2025, while holding a secondary agreement with the bowl in the other years of the cycle.

C-USA will also continue its long-standing relationship with the Hawai’i Bowl. The league is set to participate in the Honolulu-based game in 2020, 2022 and 2024.

The conference’s remaining guaranteed selections in the cycle (either 4 or 5 per season) will include the LendingTree Bowl (Mobile, Alabama) and the following games which are owned and operated by ESPN Events:

1. Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas)
2. TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl (Birmingham, Alabama)
3. Boca Raton Bowl (Boca Raton, Florida)
4. Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Alabama)
5. Cure Bowl (Orlando, Florida)
6. Fenway Bowl (Boston, Massachusetts)
7. SERVPRO First Responder Bowl (Dallas, Texas)
8. Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl (Frisco, Texas)
9. Gasparilla Bowl (Tampa, Florida)
10. Myrtle Beach Bowl (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina)
11. New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

“We are excited about extending our relationship with Conference USA,” said Pete Derzis, ESPN senior vice president of programming and ESPN Events. “We look forward to continuing to feature the conference’s top programs, student-athletes, coaches and fans in our bowl games across ESPN’s networks.”

C-USA’s 25th football season is scheduled to begin on Saturday, Aug. 29. The league’s 16th annual football championship game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 5.

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