2023 Camellia Bowl
The 2023 Camellia Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 23, 2023, at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. The 10th annual Camellia Bowl featured the [2023 Arkansas State 2012 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team|Red Wolves football team|Arkansas State Red Wolves] from the Sun Belt Conference and the [2023 Northern Illinois 2012 Northern Illinois Huskies football team|Huskies football team|Northern Illinois Huskies] from the Mid-American Conference. The game began at approximately 11:00 a.m. CST and was aired on ESPN. The Camellia Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season.
Teams
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the bowl featured teams from the Mid-American Conference and the Sun Belt Conference.This was the ninth meeting between Arkansas State and Northern Illinois; entering the game, the Huskies led the all-time series 7–1, with the Red Wolves' lone victory coming in 1995. This was the second time that Arkansas State and Northern Illinois played each other in a bowl game, following the 2012 GoDaddy.com Bowl which saw the Huskies defeat the Red Wolves by a score of 38–20.
Arkansas State Red Wolves
Arkansas State entered the game with a 6–6 record, tied for second in the Sun Belt's West Division.The Red Wolves started their season with losses to Oklahoma and Memphis, losing by an aggregate score of 110–3. They won their next three gams, and went on to become bowl eligible with a 77–31 rout against Texas State in their final home game of the season. This was the 11th bowl appearance in Arkansas State program history, and their third Camellia Bowl—they previously lost the 2017 edition and won the 2019 edition.
Northern Illinois Huskies
The Huskies entered the game with a 6–6 record, finishing second in their conference's West Division. After losing four of their first five games, the team recovered to win five of their final seven games.This was Northern Illinois' first appearance in the Camellia Bowl.