LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
WILLIE SIMMONS
LARRY SCOTT
Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) champion Florida A&M and Mid Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion
Howard will square off Saturday (12 noon on ABC) in the 8th Cricket Celebration Bowl at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium. It will be the first trip for either team to what has become in effect the black college national championship game.
No. 1 vs. No. 2
Fittingly, Florida A&M (11-1) comes in ranked first in the BCSP FCS Top Five with Howard (6-5), with a big win over defending MEAC and HBCU national champion North Carolina Central, second. They are inarguably the best two HBCU teams in 2023.
Each has deft senior quarterbacking in FAMU’s SWAC Offensive MVP Jeremy Moussa and Howard’s Quinton Williams, solid offensive line play and a bevy of playmakers in the running and passing games.
Defensively, each features conference players of the year in FAMU LB Isaiah Major and Howard DB Kenny Gallop Jr. and standout all-conference players up front, in the secondary and on special teams.
MEAC 6, SWAC 1?
Much of the intrigue regarding this year’s game revolves around the lopsided edge the MEAC champions have had in the season-ending match ups with the SWAC champs.
The MEAC holds a 6-1 advantage including back- to-back wins in 2021 and 2022 by South Carolina State (31-10) and North Carolina Central (41-34 in overtime) respectively over what many considered the most dominant teams in black college football over that span – Head Coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders’ Tigers of Jackson State.
Ironically, not long ago both FAMU and Howard were in the MEAC. FAMU won eight MEAC titles between 1986 to 2020 before making the jump to the SWAC in 2021. Howard, one of the founding members of the MEAC in 1970, won its fourth title this season and first since 1993.
The big question?
The big question in 2023 is can Willie Simmons’ Rattlers reverse the fortunes of all but one SWAC program – the 2016 Grambling Tigers who edged NC Central 10-9 – and knock off Larry Scott’s Howard Bison of the MEAC?On paper, it appears the Rattlers have an edge. They come in with only one loss, a relatively close 38-24 defeat at FBS member South Florida in the second week of the season. Since then, FAMU has won 10 straight games including sweeping nine games against SWAC opponents, all but one by double-digit margins.
On the other hand, Howard, at 6-5, has had more of an up-and-down, roller-coaster type season. The Bison were just 2-4 headed into their MEAC schedule. But those games included two impressive losses to FBS programs – 33-23 to Eastern Michigan to open the season and 23-20 to Big Ten member Northwestern four weeks later. In those other losses, they surrendered a 34-21 fourth-quarter lead in losing to Hampton 35-34 and in their only blowout loss, fell 48-7 at 8-2 Harvard of the Ivy League.
In MEAC play, their only hiccup was a 27-24 loss at South Carolina State’s homecoming that put their title hopes in jeopardy. A week later, the Bison took apart NC Central 50-20 to put them in the driver’s seat. They clinched the title with a 14-7 season-ending win over Morgan State. All Howard’s MEAC wins were by single-digits except the blowout of NCCU.
Time to prepare
Much of the speculation around the MEAC’s edge in the big game has centered around the time each conference champion has to prepare.
The MEAC champ has four weeks – a month – after its regular season ends in the third week of November to get ready for the big game. The SWAC plays its championship game in the first week of December and usually has half the time – just two weeks – to prepare.
Regardless of the difference in preparation time, five of the seven games have been decided by single digits. The exceptions are Celebration Bowl V when N. C. A&T quarterback Khalil Carter threw six touchdowns passes in a
64-44 rout of Alcorn State and the 2021 Celebration Bowl when Buddy Pough’s SC State squad stunned Sanders’ JSU Tigers, 31-10.
Look for a high-scoring, down-to-the-wire affair this time around.
CELEBRATION BOWL SCORES
I (2015)
North Carolina A&T 41, Alcorn State 34 MEAC 1, SWAC 0
II (2016)
– Grambling State 10, North Carolina Central 9 MEAC 1, SWAC 1
III (2017)
North Carolina A&T 21, Grambling State 14 MEAC 2, SWAC 1
IV (2018)
North Carolina A&T 24, Alcorn State 22 MEAC 3, SWAC 1
V (2019)
North Carolina A&T 64, Alcorn State 44 MEAC 4, SWAC 1
VI (2021)
South Carolina State 31, Jackson State 10 MEAC 5, SWAC 1
VII (2022)
North Carolina Central 41, Jackson State 34, OT MEAC 6, SWAC 1
MEAC leads 6-1