The three Jackson State University fans posed for a photo in front of the large HBCUs letters outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium hours before the start of the Cricket Celebration Bowl on a cool Saturday morning. The Jackson State University Tigers (11-2 overall), winners of the SWAC title, and the South Carolina State University Bulldogs (9-2 overall), once again winners of the MEAC conference title, were meeting again for the title of HBCU national champion. December is college football bowl season, a week earlier the Southeastern Conference football champion Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Texas Longhorns for the crown in their respective conference, and now another championship trophy was going to be held aloft among the falling confetti.
“I waited a long time to see that confetti,” Jackson State University head football coach T.C. Taylor said after the game. He joked about the delay from when he lifted the trophy and when the confetti began falling from the sky.
The final score of the game may have been in favor of Jackson State by a couple touchdowns, 28-7, but that did little to take away from the environment that close to 37,000 fans experienced on Saturday.
Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
It goes without saying that the Celebration Bowl, the HBCU football national championship game, is more than just a college football bowl game. It’s much more than that.
The Virginia State University Trojan Explosion Marching Band and the South Carolina State University Marching 101 Band performed for fans before the game. While both bands went through the motions, the band from Cross Keys High School took a knee a few feet away and watched. The impact that those renowned college bands had on those high school musicians will not be properly quantified for years to come. The South Carolina State University Marching 101 Band also performed the National Anthem before the game. With just under 12 minutes remaining before kickoff, the Sonic Boom of the South, the Jackson State University marching band, began playing while the team’s Under Armour commercial played on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium jumbotron. All around there were HBCU color, sound, pride, and pageantry. If Saturday was the first time a college football fan or future college student ever saw or heard of an HBCU, it would certainly not be the last.
One of the most unique moments of the Cricket Celebration Bowl is the amount of Black-owned media that are in attendance to cover the game every year. Despite the cities of Mississippi and South Carolina having HBCUs to represent the respective states in the game, Black-owned and operated media from across the country was in Atlanta to cover the game. HBCU Gameday, Black College Experience, The HBCU Sports Lab, HBCU Nightly, Taylor Made Sports, Crush Sports Talk, HBCU Go-TV, and the Carlos Brown Show were a few of the websites, blogs, TV, and radio shows in attendance.
Black-owned legacy newspapers such as the Mississippi Link and From the Hill, a podcast that focuses on Alabama A&M University athletics, were also in town to report the news surrounding the Cricket Celebration Bowl.
During the game, a number of organizations, including Disney, awarded scholarships to future HBCU students or in the case of the United States Army, to ROTC students. The focus on enriching HBCU students in spaces that are not on HBCU campuses is a rarity during college football bowl season, but not during the Cricket Celebration Bowl.
“Disney On The Yard is a proud corporate sponsor for the 4th year of the Celebration Bowl. We believe it is important to show up in spaces and places where the people are, and this game has proven year-over-year to be a place of fellowship, tradition, and heritage,” said Dayna Lee Libby, Outreach and Engagement Director for Disney On The Yard.
The first points of the game came on a short pass from Jackson State quarterback Jacobien Morgan to sophomore receiver Joanes Fortilien for a touchdown early in the second quarter. The drive was 19 plays and took just over nine minutes to complete, so fans got to see a Cricket Celebration Bowl record for the longest offensive possession.
There was some defense during the game as well. When South Carolina State attempted a fake 44-yard field goal attempt, Jackson State’s defense stopped that run and took over on downs. That turnover on downs led to a two-play, 68-yard drive that was highlighted by a Morgan to sophomore receiver Isaiah Spencer 67-yard throw and catch down to the South Carolina State one-yard line. The Tigers would go ahead 14-0 with 5:39 remaining in the first half.
The first-half highlights of the game for the Bulldogs weren’t on offense, and they weren’t on defense. The two plays came on a 62-yard punt and unbelievable effort from the special teams unit that downed the football on the Jackson State one-yard line with a little over three minutes to play in the second quarter and on a blocked Jackson State field goal attempt just before halftime.
Photo: Itoro N. Umontuen/The Atlanta Voice
Following a scoreless third quarter, the final quarter of the game saw Jackson State extend its lead to 21-0 after a two-yard touchdown run by running back Irv Mulligan. The ensuing offensive drive for South Carolina State saw the largest pass play of the game when quarterback Eric Phoenix found sophomore receiver Nigel Johnson on a cross pattern for 64 yards down to the Jackson 18-yard line. Phoenix, the 2024 MEAC Offensive Player of the Year, scored his team’s first points on a three-yard run to make the score 21-7 with 11:13 remaining in the game. Jackson State would tack on another touchdown to make it 28-7 with five minutes to play when Morgan found Fortilien again for a touchdown.
After the game first-year South Carolina State head football coach Chennis Berry said his team played “uncharacteristically” and “We don’t make excuses.”
“We didn’t get it done,” said Berry, who added that he was “very, very proud of the season we had.”
Bulldogs senior offensive lineman Nick Taiste said this wasn’t the last time the program was going to be playing in the Celebration Bowl. “This year was extra special.”
Berry added that he was hired 367 days ago and this has been a journey. “The foundation has been set,” he said.
