Camellia Bowl (2014–present)
Annual American college football postseason game
This article is about the current bowl game first played in December 2014. For the 1948 bowl game played in Lafayette, Louisiana, see
Camellia Bowl (1948) . For the college football playoff game, see
Camellia Bowl (1961–1980) .
College football bowl game
The Camellia Bowl is an annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned FBS college football bowl game played in Montgomery, Alabama , at the Cramton Bowl .[ 2] [ 3] The game features teams from the Sun Belt Conference and the Mid-American Conference (MAC).[ 2] [ 3] The bowl game was announced in August 2013 and first played in December 2014. The game is owned and managed by ESPN Events and is named after the camellia , which is the state flower of Alabama .
The bowl was sponsored at its inception by Raycom Media , a major owner of television stations in the southeastern United States with heavy involvement in college sports broadcasting, and was officially known as the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl .[ 4] In June 2018, Gray Television announced its intent to acquire Raycom[ 5] [ 6] The acquisition was completed in January 2019,[ 7] and the 2019 and 2020 editions of the bowl were played without a title sponsor.
On November 24, 2021, TaxAct was named as the new title sponsor of both the Camellia Bowl and the Texas Bowl .[ 8]
Game results
Date
Winning Team
Losing Team
Attendance
Notes
December 20, 2014
Bowling Green
33
South Alabama
28
20,256
notes
December 19, 2015
Appalachian State
31
Ohio
29
21,395
notes
December 17, 2016
Appalachian State
31
Toledo
28
20,300
notes
December 16, 2017
Middle Tennessee
35
Arkansas State
30
20,612
notes
December 15, 2018
Georgia Southern
23
Eastern Michigan
21
17,710
notes
December 21, 2019
Arkansas State
34
FIU
26
16,209
notes
December 25, 2020
Buffalo
17
Marshall
10
2,512
notes
December 25, 2021
Georgia State
51
Ball State
20
7,345
notes
December 27, 2022
Buffalo
23
Georgia Southern
21
15,322
notes
December 23, 2023
Northern Illinois
21
Arkansas State
19
11,310
notes
Source:[ 9] [ 10]
MVPs
The bowl's MVP receives the Bart Starr Most Valuable Player Award; Starr was born and raised in Montgomery, where the Camellia Bowl is played.[ 11]
Year
MVP
Team
Position
2014
James Knapke
Bowling Green
QB
2015
Marcus Cox
Appalachian State
RB
2016
Taylor Lamb
Appalachian State
QB
2017
Darius Harris
Middle Tennessee
OLB
2018
Shai Werts
Georgia Southern
QB
2019
Omar Bayless
Arkansas State
WR
2020
Kevin Marks
Buffalo
RB
2021
Darren Grainger
Georgia State
QB
2022
Justin Marshall
Buffalo
WR
2023
Rocky Lombardi
Northern Illinois
QB
Source:[ 12] [ 13] [ 14]
Most appearances
Updated through the December 2023 edition (10 games, 20 total appearances).
Teams with multiple appearances
Teams with a single appearance
Won (4): Bowling Green , Georgia State , Middle Tennessee , Northern Illinois
Lost (7): Ball State , Eastern Michigan , FIU , Marshall , Ohio , South Alabama , Toledo
Appearances by conference
Updated through the December 2023 edition (10 games, 20 total appearances).
Conference
Record
Appearances by season
Games
W
L
Win pct.
Won
Lost
Sun Belt
9
5
4
.556
2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021
2014, 2017, 2022, 2023
MAC
8
4
4
.500
2014, 2020, 2022, 2023
2015, 2016, 2018, 2021
C-USA
3
1
2
.333
2017
2019, 2020
Game records
Team
Record, Team vs. Opponent
Year
Most points scored (one team)
51 , Georgia State vs. Ball State
2021
Most points scored (losing team)
30 , Arkansas State vs. Middle Tennessee
2017
Most points scored (both teams)
71 , Georgia State vs. Ball State
2021
Fewest points allowed
10 , Marshall vs. Buffalo
2020
Largest margin of victory
31 , Georgia State vs. Ball State
2021
Total yards
525 , Arkansas State vs. FIU
2019
Rushing yards
331 , Georgia Southern vs. Eastern Michigan
2018
Passing yards
393 , Arkansas State vs. FIU
2019
First downs
31 , Arkansas State vs. FIU
2019
Fewest yards allowed
248 , Marshall vs. Buffalo
2020
Fewest rushing yards allowed
74 , Ball State vs. Georgia State
2021
Fewest passing yards allowed
33 , Eastern Michigan vs. Georgia Southern
2018
Individual
Record, Player, Team
Year
All-purpose yards
180 , Omar Bayless (Arkansas State)
2019
Touchdowns (all-purpose)
2 , multiple players—most recently: Corey Rucker (Arkansas State)
2023
Rushing yards
162 , Marcus Cox (Appalachian State)
2015
Rushing touchdowns
2 , multiple players—most recently: Shai Werts (Georgia Southern)
2018
Passing yards
393 , Layne Hatcher (Arkansas State)
2019
Passing touchdowns
4 , Layne Hatcher (Arkansas State)
2019
Receiving yards
180 , Omar Bayless (Arkansas State)
2019
Receiving touchdowns
2 , multiple players—most recently: Corey Rucker (Georgia State)
2023
Tackles
18 , Maleki Harris (South Alabama)
2014
Sacks
2 , shared by: Bryan Thomas (Bowling Green) Eric Black (Buffalo) Jamil Muhammad (Georgia State)
2014 2020 2021
Interceptions
2 , BJ Edmonds (Arkansas State)
2017
Long Plays
Record, Player, Team
Year
Touchdown run
45 yds. , Terelle West (Middle Tennessee)
2017
Touchdown pass
79 yds. , Joshua Thompson from Kyle Vantrease (Georgia Southern)
2022
Kickoff return
94 yds. , Darrynton Evans (Appalachian State)
2016
Punt return
25 yds. , Corey Jones (Toledo)
2016
Interception return
55 yds. , Antavious Lane (Georgia State)
2021
Fumble return
54 yds. , D. J. Sanders (Middle Tennessee)
2017
Punt
61 yds. , shared by: Cody Grace (Arkansas State) Robert LeFevre (Marshall) Anthony Venneri (Buffalo)
2017 2020 2022
Field goal
52 yds. , José Borregales (FIU)
2019
† For all-purpose yardage , the bowl's record book lists Murray's 179 yards (76 receiving, 103 kickoff return) despite Bayless having 180 yards (all receiving).
Source:[ 15] [ 16]
The bowl has been televised by ESPN since its inception.
References
^ "2019 Bowl Schedule" . collegefootballpoll.com . Retrieved December 13, 2019 .
^ a b Poe, Janita (August 19, 2013). "Montgomery unveils Alabama's 3rd college bowl, inaugural game set for December 2014" . AL.com. Retrieved August 20, 2013 .
^ a b McMurphy, Brett (August 19, 2013). "Bowl created for MAC, Sun Belt" . ESPN.com . Retrieved August 20, 2013 .
^ "2014 Event Sponsors" . ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 6, 2014 .
^ Hufford, Austen (2018-06-25). "Gray TV to Buy Raycom in $3.65 Billion Deal" . Wall Street Journal . ISSN 0099-9660 . Retrieved 2018-06-25 .
^ Hayes, Dade (2018-06-25). "Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. 3 Local TV Group" . Deadline . Retrieved 2018-06-25 .
^ "Gray Completes Acquisitions for Raycom Media and Related Transactions" , Gray Television, 2 January 2019, Retrieved 2 January 2019
^ "TaxAct® Named Title Sponsor of Texas and Camellia Bowl Games as Part of a Multi-Event College Football Agreement with ESPN Events" . bowlseason.com . November 24, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2022 .
^ "Camellia Bowl" (PDF) . Bowl/All Star Game Records . NCAA. 2020. p. 16. Retrieved January 3, 2021 – via NCAA.org.
^ "Camellia Bowl Results" . camelliabowl.com . Retrieved December 25, 2022 .
^ "Camellia Bowl MVP Trophy Named For Montgomery Native Bart Starr" . camelliabowl.com . Camellia Bowl Media Relations. December 12, 2014. Retrieved December 24, 2019 .
^ "Bart Star MVP Award" . camelliabowl.com . Retrieved December 23, 2023 .
^
^ @NIUAthletics (December 23, 2023). "RECAP: Offense, defense and special teams combine as NIU earns Camellia Bowl win, 21-19, over Arkansas State. Rocky Lombardi named Bart Starr MVP" (Tweet ). Retrieved December 23, 2023 – via Twitter .
^ "Camellia Bowl Records" (PDF) . camelliabowl.com . Retrieved December 25, 2022 .
^ Allen, Barry (December 22, 2019). "Arkansas State Passes Camellia Bowl Test" . camelliabowl.com . Camellia Bowl Media Relations. Retrieved December 24, 2019 .
External links
NOTE: In 2020, organiser ESPN Events hosted two games in Montgomery as replacements for games cancelled because of pandemic restrictions.