Sports live football The 2023 college soccer bowl season delivers one other loaded slate of games on Saturday, starting with a fight between Arkansas Utter and Northern Illinois in the Camellia Bowl. It is the ninth meeting between the Purple Wolves and Huskies and their first for the reason that 2011 bowl season — a 38-20 NIU victory in what’s now the 68 Ventures Bowl in Cell, Alabama. The Huskies have the upper hand in the series, conserving a 7-1 edge over the Purple Wolves.
While this is rarely in actuality most high-profile bowl matchup, there’s plenty in the road. Saturday will produce the adaptation between a winning and losing season for both groups. Arkansas Utter and NIU both accomplished the strange season 6-6, reaching bowl eligibility on the dot. It was an especially spectacular feat for the Huskies, who squeezed their scheme into a bowl game with victories in every of their closing two strange-season contests to conquer a unfavourable 1-4 launch.
Viewing knowledge, storylines and extra for the 2023 Camellia Bowl are below.
The formula to watch Camellia Bowl live
Date: Saturday, Dec. 23 | Time: Noon ET
Place: Cramton Bowl — 1st viscount montgomery of alamein, Alabama
TV: ESPN | Live tear: Fubo (Are trying free of payment)
For a restricted time, contemporary subscribers can assign $20 on Fubo’s Pro, Elite and Premier plans.
Arkansas Utter vs. Northern Illinois: Must know
Purple Wolves, Huskies return to bowl season: Neither Arkansas Utter or NIU finished bowl eligibility in 2022. While the Huskies licensed for a bowl two years ago, the wait has been twice as lengthy for the Purple Wolves. After ending the 2019 season with a gain against FIU in the Camellia Bowl, complicated cases fell upon Arkansas Utter from 2020-22. The Purple Wolves obtained precise a complete of 9 games and underwent a coaching transition from Blake Anderson (now at Utah Utter) to Butch Jones in that stretch. It didn’t appear as if things were getting any higher in 2023 when the crew started 0-2, complete with a 73-0 loss at Oklahoma. On the other hand, Arkansas Utter rebounded with a 3-game winning paddle and managed to precise the ship, getting a bowl-clinching sixth gain with a game to spare in the strange season.
NIU looks to be like to complete drought: A gain in the Camellia Bowl would be a corpulent-circle moment for the Huskies. NIU hasn’t obtained a bowl game since it closing clashed with Arkansas Utter a diminutive extra than a decade ago, losing seven consecutive bowl appearances since then. That impress is tied with UTEP for the longest lively bowl losing paddle in the nation. With the Miners failing to attain a bowl game this season, NIU must gain Saturday to e book determined of taking sole possession of that title. A majority of those losses have not been severely shut, either; most productive two defeats have approach in one-score games.
Memoir of two defenses: The Purple Wolves had to conquer some indispensable deficiencies on defense to attain a bowl game. Arkansas Utter ended the strange season giving up 445.5 yards and 31.17 facets per game — marks that ranked No. 124 and No. 104 in the FBS, respectively. That unit would perchance also be down its 2nd-leading tackler from the strange season after linebacker Javante Mackey neutral recently transferred to Memphis. On the flip facet, it was the defense that saved NIU in 2023. The Huskies ended the strange season ranked No. 21 nationally in complete defense, conserving opponents to 316.9 yards on real looking. NIU’s gave up 21.2 facets per contest, tied No. 29 nationally with Kansas Utter.
Camellia Bowl prediction, picks
Odds via SportsLine consensus
Odds are, this fight of .500 groups would perchance well no longer be a barnburner. On the other hand, how time and yet again have we seen bowl season demonstrate us all rotten? It be somewhat complicated to pick this game brooding about how streaky both groups were at cases in the strange season, however NIU — at the same time as a slim underdog — ought to like its potentialities. The Huskies defense is the single greatest advantage for either crew. With the formula Arkansas Utter has struggled on that facet of the ball, there’s an actual probability for NIU’s offense — even ranked No. 80 in the nation — to be a diminutive productive as lengthy because it limits self-inflicted wounds. The Huskies’ tune file of success on this series is also noteworthy to ignore. It all would perchance well precise be ample for NIU to pick up its first bowl in extra than a decade. Pick: NIU +2.5
Which college soccer picks can you produce with self assurance at some level of bowl season? Focus on over with SportsLine to perceive which groups will gain and veil the spread — all from a proven laptop mannequin that has returned successfully over $2,000 in profit over the past seven-plus seasons — and receive out.