MEMPHIS – As the HBCU football national championship picture sharpens into
focus, the views from Lorman, Miss. and Greensboro, N.C. are better than any a
month out from the Celebration Bowl.
But before Alcorn State coach Fred McNair can look east from his school’s Lorman
campus toward the Atlanta site of the Dec. 15 Black College national title game,
his attention will shift west to New Orleans for Saturday’s Bayou Classic.
With the Braves (8-3) having already locked up their fifth consecutive
Southwestern Athletic Conference East division title, McNair can digest
Thanksgiving leftovers as he watches Grambling State and Southern battle for the
West division crown. That game’s winner earns a trip to Alcorn State for the
Dec. 1 SWAC championship game, which determines the league’s berth to the
Celebration Bowl.
The Braves have already beaten both Grambling (6-4) and Southern (6-3) during
the regular season. And although McNair has the benefit of seeing the Tigers and
Jaguars duke it out while his team rests in waiting, Saturday’s viewing
experience won’t exactly feel like a festive watch party.
“I’m watching that game as a coach,” McNair said of the Grambling-Southern
showdown. “I’m always looking for something, whether they’ve got trick plays or
they’re lining up the same as when we played them the first time, things of that
nature. Both teams are better than when we played them that first time around.
But so are we.”
Meanwhile over in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, North Carolina A&T (9-2)
has a greater benefit of even more time after celebrating its second straight
league title and fourth in the past five seasons.
First, coach Sam Washington and the Aggies get to sit idly by as top contenders
from the rival SWAC pound one another for the next two weekends. And then, N.C.
A&T also gets two additional weeks to prepare for whichever team emerges from
the SWAC melee leading to the Dec. 15 bowl game.
For most teams, that wait could be excruciating. But for the Aggies, who are
making their third trip to the Celebration Bowl and fourth straight postseason
appearance, it’s all part of a familiar process. The defending Black College
football national champions have mastered the challenge of maintaining rhythm
and avoiding much rust during long layoffs.
“Absolutely, it is tough,” Washington said of enduring 27 days between last
Saturday’s regular-season finale and Dec. 15. “But the bright side is we can
heal, lick our wounds and start over. The first (off) week will be all
fundamental practices, and every day we’ll just work on basics and mechanics and
team-building stuff. We’ll then get an idea (Saturday) and narrow it down to the
two teams we’ll possibly be playing. Then, we’ll start to devise different
plans.”
A SWAC West title and trip to the Dec. 1 conference championship game is up for
grabs at Saturday’s Bayou Classic in New Orleans between Grambling and
Southern/Getty Images.
Grambling and Southern will dictate the next step for all involved.
That exclusive spotlight is nothing new for Louisiana’s longstanding HBCU
rivals, who have combined for 14 of the last 19 SWAC West titles dating to 1999.
The Tigers have won the division each of the past three seasons, with the
Jaguars claiming consecutive West crowns the two previous years.
So, it only seems fitting that it comes down to this – yet again.
“I don’t think there’s anything different this time around,” Southern coach
Dawson Odums said. “You’ve got the same things on the line, and that’s been the
case five of the last six years. And that’s finding a way to win a football game
that sends you to the SWAC championship. That’s really what it’s all about and
it’s been that way in the wild, wild west for some time. We understand the
opponent we’re going against.”
Despite being bitter rivals, Southern (6-3) and Grambling (6-4) have had plenty
in common over the second half of the season. Both programs got off to shaky
starts and had to rebuild on the fly after losing key seniors from last season.
Both made midseason quarterback changes that sparked turnarounds in which
they’ve each won five of their last six.
And both entering Saturday’s game riding the two longest current winning streaks
in the SWAC, with neither Grambling nor Southern having lost since respectively
falling to Alcorn State.
“It’s been very challenging, but those challenges are probably the best things
that have happened for me and my coaching career,” said Grambling coach
Broderick Fobbs, who saw his team’s 26-game conference winning streak end
earlier this season. “We’ve had to find a way to fill holes. And they were big
holes, losing 75 percent of your offense from last year. To have a winning
record at this particular time and an opportunity to be in position to still
achieve all of our goals, that’s monumental.”
What’s even bigger might be the scene in New Orleans in the coming days. Odums
believes a Saints home game on Thanksgiving against the Falcons, followed by
Friday’s Grambling-Southern Battle of the Bands should create an epic atmosphere
at the Superdome for Saturday’s Bayou Classic, which has averaged 67,100 fans
the past two years.
It also sets the stage for the second of three consecutive weekends when either
a MEAC or SWAC division or conference championship will be at stake along the
path to next month’s Celebration Bowl.
And from there, all of the watcing and waiting will be over.
The HBCU national championship title will be crystal clear.
The Braves had to rely on their defense, and it responded with a second-half
shutout of rival Jackson State in a 24-3 win in last Saturday’s Soul Bowl.
Alcorn State coach Fred McNair has complete confidence in a team that’s won in
multiple ways to snag a fifth straight East Division title. The SWAC’s most
balanced offense as well as its most dominant defense is peaking at the right
time.
Last week’s ranking: 1
Up next: Dec. 1 SWAC championship game
The Aggies saved their most dominant effort of the regular season for last,
blanking rival N.C. Central 45-0 to win their fourth MEAC title in five years.
QB Lamar Raynard returned from a concussion absence to pass for two touchdowns
and tailback Marquell Cartwright ran for 110 yards and two more scores to go
with an Aggie defense that held Central to only 41 total yards.
Last week’s ranking: 2
Up next: Dec. 15 Air Force Reserves Celebration Bowl vs SWAC champion
The Bulldogs capitalized on their first CIAA conference title in school history
by knocking off West Alabama 41-35 in the opening round of the NCAA Division II
playoffs. NCAA player of the year candidate Amir Hall put up another video-game
like performance, this time completing 31 of 48 passes and accounting for 411
total yards and two TDs to push Bowie State into the second round.
Last week’s ranking: 4
Up next: Saturday at Valdosta State (8-3)
Jaguars’ coach Dawson Odums joked during this week’s SWAC teleconference that
the recent cold weather in Baton Rouge was a tough opponent for arguably the
league’s hottest offensive team over the past month. But Southern braved the
elements through its bye week and carry a four-game winning streak into the most
highly-anticipated Bayou Classic in years, with the SWAC West at stake.
Last week’s ranking: 3
Up next: Saturday vs Grambling (6-4)
Defensive back Tydarius Peters picked off two passes in the fourth quarter,
including the game-clincher he returned 90 yards for a score, as the Wildcats
won their eighth straight over Florida A&M. B-CU ended the season on a
three-game winning streak in front of 52,142 Florida Classic fans in Orlando.
They’re already eager for the 2019 opener against Jackson State in the MEAC/SWAC
Challenge.
Last week’s ranking: Unranked
Up next: Season complete
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