This article is about the college football playoff game. For the present-day bowl game played in Montgomery, Alabama, see
Camellia Bowl (2014–present). For the 1948 bowl game played in Lafayette, Louisiana, see
Camellia Bowl (1948).
Camellia Bowl (defunct)
NAIA Championship (1961–1963) NCAA
College Division regional final (1964–1972) NCAA Division II championship (1973–1975) NCAA Division I-AA championship (
1980)
After the transition from NAIA to NCAA affiliation, announced in January 1964,[2] the game became one of four
regional finals in the
NCAA College Division. At the time, there were no playoffs at any level of NCAA football. For the smaller colleges and universities, as for the major programs, the national champion was determined by polls conducted by the leading news wire services. The intent of the bowl was to match the two best non-major teams from a region consisting of the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain states. The other three regional finals were the
Tangerine (later
Boardwalk),
Pecan (later
Pioneer), and
Grantland Rice bowls.
Sacramento's Camellia Bowl Association signed a two-year deal to host the Division I-AA championship, but after the 1980 game drew just 8,157 fans and lost $21,659, game organizers appealed to the NCAA to cancel the contract.[5] The NCAA agreed, and the I-AA title game was moved to the
Pioneer Bowl in
Wichita Falls, Texas for 1981.