For the second time in three seasons, the Arkansas State University football team is headed to the Camellia Bowl, the Sun Belt Conference officially announced on Sunday afternoon.
The Red Wolves (7-5, 5-3 Sun Belt) will face Florida International (6-6, 3-5 C-USA) on Dec. 21 at the Cramton Bowl stadium in Montgomery, Ala. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. Central, and the game will air on ESPN.
The FIU Panthers, who have gone 23-15 overall and 14-10 in league play in three seasons under Coach Butch Davis, were a Sun Belt member from 2005-12 before switching to Conference USA.
Arkansas State last appeared in the Camellia Bowl in 2017, falling to Middle Tennessee 35-30. The Red Wolves are seeking their first bowl win since their 2016 Cure Bowl victory over the University of Central Florida.
ASU will be making its ninth consecutive bowl appearance and has already clinched a winning record for the ninth year in a row. With a win in the Camellia Bowl, the Red Wolves can claim a season of at least eight wins for the fourth time under ASU Coach Blake Anderson and the seventh time since 2011.
Sunday’s bowl announcement comes amid an uncertain few days regarding Anderson’s future at ASU.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on Wednesday that Anderson had been in contact with University of Missouri officials regarding the Tigers’ vacant head coaching job and that there was mutual interest. Missouri fired Coach Barry Odom on Nov. 30 after going 25-25 overall and 13-19 in the SEC in four seasons.
Anderson declined to comment on the report linking him to Missouri when the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reached out to him via phone Wednesday evening, stating that he was on the road recruiting for ASU.
ASU Athletic Director Terry Mohajir — talking Wednesday on Jonesboro's 95.3-FM, The Ticket — was asked if any schools had shown interest in Anderson.
“There’s a lot of people that like Coach Anderson, I’ll just tell you that,” Mohajir said. “More than one or two schools.”
FootballScoop.com and PowerMizzou.com (Rivals) also have reported that Missouri was targeting Anderson.
But multiple reports since have indicated that Missouri’s head coaching search is still far from over and that there could be other candidates involved. It was unclear Sunday afternoon whether Anderson is still a leading candidate for the job.
The Post-Dispatch and FootballScoop.com each reported Sunday that Missouri has begun to target Appalachian State Coach Eliah Drinkwitz, who in his first season led the Mountaineers to a 12-1 record and the Sun Belt championship after a 45-38 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday.
Anderson, who’s in his sixth year at ASU, has yet to formally address the media since the end of the season. He still has two years left on his contract at ASU.
The Red Wolves finished 7-5 in the regular season, which was capped by a major letdown in the finale — a 34-30 loss at South Alabama (2-10, 1-7 Sun Belt). That loss snapped ASU’s four-game win streak, which came after the team fell to 3-4 in mid-October.
For the Red Wolves, it’s been a trying season marred by tragedy off the field and injuries on it.
Anderson’s wife, Wendy, died Aug. 19 after a long battle with breast cancer, less than two weeks before the season opener. Anderson took a leave of absence from the team before returning Sept. 7 for ASU’s 43-17 win at Nevada-Las Vegas in Week 2.
The Red Wolves saw junior starting quarterback Logan Bonner go down after four games with a season-ending injury to his throwing hand. A total of 10 players suffered season-ending injuries, and many others missed multiple games.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Layne Hatcher, an Alabama transfer and former Pulaski Academy star, guided ASU to a 5-3 record over its final eight games.