by Lut Williams, BCSP Editor

LET THE DANCING BEGIN: South Carolina State wide out Shaquan Davis does the skip-dance made popular by former NFL great and Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders after his 6-yard, second-quarter TD reception got the Bulldogs on the board. Davis finished with five catches for 95 yards and three TDs to win the offensive MVP award as the Bulldogs upset JSU, 31-10 in Celebration Bowl VI in Atlanta.
ATLANTA – Jackson State and head coach Deion ‘Coach Prime’ Sanders shocked the football world last week as the No. 1 high school recruit in the nation (Travis Hunter) chose the Tigers over a handful of Div I suitors.
Saturday, before a national television audience on ABC at the Cricket Celebration Bowl VI at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, South Carolina State shocked Jackson State!
The SCSU Bulldogs, champions of the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference, came in with a 6-5 record and huge underdogs to the 11-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Tigers. But SCSU, after giving up the game’s first score, completely shut down and stifled the vaunted JSU offense to come away with a stunning 31-10 upset win before a Celebration Bowl-record crowd of 48,653.
The win, the fifth for the MEAC in the bowl game’s six-year history, was certainly the league’s most unexpected. It gave 19-year head coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough of South Carolina State a win in his team’s first trip to the season- ending bowl game.
“It was a wonderful win for us,” said a proud but subdued Pough who got a celebratory Gatorade bath after the big win. “But I still have to give some credit to the entire Celebration Bowl staff. It’s been a good week for us, and we’ve had a wonderful time here and to cap it off with this win today was the cherry on top of the sundae. All our games have been close games in our league (MEAC) so for us to win this was awfully special.”
The stunning win was the largest margin of victory in the game’s history.
JSU (11-2) had run through the SWAC season unblemished (8-0) and was ranked 15th nationally in the FCS in its second year under Sanders, the Pro Foot- ball Hall of Famer whose exploits and comments have captured the nation’s at- tention. Earlier this week, Sanders was named recipient of the Eddie Robinson Award as the top coach in FCS football, while his son, JSU freshman quarterback Shedeur Sanders, won the Jerry Rice Award as the FCS’s top freshman.
On Saturday, neither Sanders had a good game.
Instead, South Carolina State redshirt sophomore Shaquan Davis, who at 6-5, 215 may be the most talented wideout in the nation, hauled in a Celebration Bowl-record three touchdown passes from QB Corey Fields Jr. to steal the lime- light and win the game’s offensive MVP award. Davis finished with five catches for 95 yards and the three scores. Fields struggled early but finished 12 of 31 for 166 yards and four TDs.
But defense won the game for the Bulldogs (7-5). Their front four chased the young Sanders (16-36-2, 175 yards) all day, sacking him three times and forcing one Sanders fumble and picking him off twice. All three turnovers came deep in JSU territory and led to SC State scores. The defense held the Tigers’ rushing at- tack to 19 yards on 29 carries.
“South Carolina State kicked our butt,” said coach Sanders, who coached from the sidelines on a scooter while still recovering from foot surgery. “Every way, every fashion. They were more physical than us, more disciplined than us. We were overconfident and felt like they were going to hand us the game. My hat’s off to everybody involved for South Carolina State.”
Hard-hitting linebacker B. J. Davis led the SC State defenders with nine stops, eight solos. Defensive back Jaylen Evans had five solo tackles and two pass break-ups. Defensive tackle Patrick Godbolt had five tackles, one sack and three quarterback hurries. Linebacker Jablonski Green had three tackles and three quarterback hurries. The Bulldogs were credited with eight QB hurries.
The defensive MVP award went to senior all-American safety Decobie Durant, the spirited leader of the defense. He had just one tackle off a corner blitz that sacked Sanders for a 13-yard third-quarter loss and one pass break-up.
Durant said the key to the defensive effort was “just holding each other ac- countable. We knew they had a high-powered offense, just understanding our assignments, trusting ourselves, trusting one another and just playing for the man that’s next to you.”
If there had been a special teams MVP, it would have been SC State punter Dyson Roberts. He had long punts of 74, 50 and 68 yards and averaged a whopping 49.2 yards (392 total yards) on eight punts, repeatedly punting away from dangerous JSU kick returners Isaiah Bolden and Warren Newman. Roberts also had a key shoestring tackle on Newman after a 21-yard second-quarter return when Newman escaped contain and appeared to have only Roberts between him and the goal line.
JSU scored first and went up 7-0 on its second possession on the game as Sanders engineered a nine-play, 66-yard drive capped by his 7-yard scoring pass to Keith Corbin III midway thru the first quarter.
Roberts’ 74-yard punt into the JSU end zone in the second quarter flipped the field for SCSU. On the first play after the punt, Godbolt and Green combined for a strip sack of Sanders that was recovered by B. J. Davis at the JSU 5. On 3rd-and-goal from the JSU 6, Fields hit Davis on a slant pattern between two JSU defenders in the end zone for the score. Gavyn Zimmerman’s PAT tied the score at 7 with just over two minutes left in the half.
After stopping JSU on a 3-and-out, Fields drove the Bulldogs 36 yards in nine plays to cash in on a 26-yard Zimmerman field goal with :07 seconds left in the half. SCSU took a surprising 10-7 lead and the momentum into the break.
Roberts punted 68 yards to the JSU 11 early in the third quarter. On the second play following the punt, Kendall Moultrie intercepted a Sanders pass giving the Bulldogs the ball at the JSU 16. On second down from there, Fields hit Davis on a fade pattern for a touchdown and 17-7 SC State lead with 12:36 left in the period.
On the second play following the kickoff, Sanders threw into double cover- age and was picked off by DB Aaron Smith at the JSU 22. Six plays later, Fields connected with WR Richard Bailey on a 15-yard crossing pattern for another score. The key play in the drive was a clutch 20-yard completion from Fields to Will Vereen on 4th-and-19 from the JSU 28 after Pough eschewed a long field goal attempt. After the PAT, SCSU led 24-7 with 8:42 to play in the third quarter.
On JSU’s next possession, Durant came flying off the left edge on a corner blitz to sack Sanders for a 13-yard loss on second down leading to a JSU punt. SCSU’s only miscue in the second half came on its next possession as running back Donte Anthony fumbled with JSU recovering at its own 41. The ensuing drive resulted in a Bailey Raborn 36-yard field goal that cut the lead to 24-10 just before the third quarter buzzer.
The teams exchanged punts early in the fourth quarter. On SC State’s second possession of the period starting at their own 7, Fields led the Bulldogs on their longest drive of the game covering 93 yards in nine plays. Davis had a big 43-yard reception on 3rd-and-13 from the SCSU 32 and hauled in a 16-yard scoring pass from Fields that put the Bulldogs up 31-10 with 6:18 to play that was the game clincher.
Newman led JSU receivers with four catches for 48 yards. Corbin had four receptions for 24 yards. Defensive end James Houston led the Tigers defenders with two sacks and five tackles. Defensive back Cam’ron Simon-Craig and line-backer Aubrey Miller Jr. both had nine tackles.