No More Camellias: The Salute to Veterans Bowl

College Football’s most prestigious Bowl Game to be played in Montgomery, Alabama is without a doubt the IS4S Salute to Veteran’s Bowl! This year’s iteration of the deep south classic formerly known as the Camellia Bowl will be played between the Sun Belt’s Troy Trojans, and Conference USA’s Jacksonville State Gamecocks! This battle of Southern Mid-Major behemoths will answer the question once and for all: No offense to saluting veterans, but what happened to the camellias? Do the winners still get to have some? Speaking of which, what happened to the other flower-based bowl games? Where is the Poinsettia Bowl? Should we be worried about the Rose Bowl? Is mayonnaise a flower? I’m just asking questions here.

A HISTORY OF CAMELLIAS

Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl is the site of the game formerly known as the Camellia Bowl (and since it’s played at the Cramton Bowl, should the game not be called the Cramton Bowl?), and it is a venue with a rich and varied history. Fred J. Cramton himself donated the land on which the Bowl now stands to the city of Montgomery so that they could build a sports venue with it, but saw the land returned when the city government determined that the project was too big of a project (I think it probably has more to do with either the lack of camellias, or the fact that the land he donated was a landfill). Cramton undertook the project himself, and the Cramton Bowl was opened in 1922, originally used as a baseball stadium for the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (today called Auburn University). Not long after, the University of Alabama freshman football team hosted Sidney Lanier High School at the Cramton Bowl, because that’s a thing that used to happen. Auburn would periodically use the stadium as a home field for football and baseball, and various minor league baseball teams would occupy the field as well, but the stadium is most well known for hosting the first football game to be played at night on a lighted field in 1927. Today, the field is mostly used as a high school football stadium.

The Salute Veterans with Camellias Bowl has been played every December since 2014, and has featured teams from the Sun Belt, Mid-American, and Conference USA. Appalachian State and Buffalo are the winningest teams in the history of the game, each winning twice, while Arkansas State has had the most appearances with three despite only one win. Cramton has been host to a number of thrilling bowl games, but perhaps the most iconic was the 2015 addition was the most memorable, as Appalachian State narrowly defeated Ohio 31-29 in front of a crowd of 21,395 people, an attendance record.

THE BATTLE FOR THE OL' SCHOOL BELL

The Trojans of Troy and the Gamecocks of Jacksonville State who will be fighting to salute the veterans are hardly strangers, as both are residents of the state of Alabama and compete for a rivalry trophy in the Battle of the Ol’ School Bell. Although they haven’t met since 2001, these two teams have played a total of sixty-three times dating back to 1924. The two schools have over 40 years of conference rivalry between them as former members of the Alabama Intercollegiate Conference, Alabama Collegiate Conference, Gulf South Conference, and Southland Conference. Jacksonville State leads the all-time series 32-29-2. This is the second time that the two schools have met in a bowl game, as Jacksonville State defeated Troy 19-0 in Pensacola, Florida’s Paper Bowl. Troy has won the last seven meetings.

MEET THE GAMECOCKS

The home team on the scoreboard for this one will be the Gamecocks, who have been an impressive mid-major in only their third season of FBS play. They finished their season at 8-5, with notable wins against Kennesaw State and Western Kentucky before losing to Kennesaw State in a rematch in the Conference USA Championship Game. The Gamecocks are coached by Charles Kelly in his first ever head coaching position, but who won a national championship in 2020 as co-defensive coordinator at Alabama.

Jacksonville State boasts an impressive running game behind Junior TCU transfer running back Cam Cook and true Freshman quarterback Caden Creel. Both have over one thousand rushing yards on the season, with Cam Cook hitting 1,659 yards and 16 touchdowns. Caden Creel produces almost equally on the ground as he does through the air, with 1,341 yards and 8 passing touchdowns to match the 7 he ran in. Jacksonville State’s leading receiver is Deondre Johnson, who has 623 yards and 6 touchdowns on the season. The defense is statistically led by redshirt Freshman linebacker Walker O’Steen, who has 80 tackles, 3 interceptions and 1 forced fumble and recovery. So far, the only opt-out for the team is offensive tackle Reggie Jackson (no relation), who entered the transfer portal.

MEET THE TROJANS

The Trojans of Troy had a solid season that saw them win a Sun Belt West Championship prior to a disappointing loss to James Madison in the Sun Belt Championship Game. The team’s only losses came to Old Dominion, Arkansas State, Memphis, and Clemson in a close game at Death Valley. Troy is led by second-year head coach Gerad Parker, whose only previous head coaching experience came as interim head coach for Purdue in 2016.

Troy’s offense is helmed by redshirt Junior Goose Crowder, who has only played about half the season after dealing with a shoulder injury early in the campaign. Backup Tucker Kilcrease has gotten a fair amount of action alongside Crowder as part of a two QB system. The rushing attack has been led by Junior Tae Meadows up to this point, but the honors will likely be ceded to Sophomore Jordan Lovett as Meadows has entered the transfer portal. Their leading receiver is Senior RaRa Thomas, who has 577 yards and 5 touchdowns on the season. The Trojan defense is led by Jordan Stringer, a Senior Linebacker who has 107 total tackles on the season, 2 sacks and 4 pass deflections.

The stage is set, the camellias have been removed so as to provide no distractions, the veterans are ready to be saluted, and we are just about ready for kickoff at the Cramton Bowl. It’s the IS4S SALUTE TO VETERANS BOWL!!!