LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
ATLANTA, GA – The two best teams in black college football will meet here Saturday in the ninth-annual Cricket Celebration Bowl.
Mid Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion South Carolina State (9-2) with first-year head coach Chennis Berry and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) champion Jackson State (11-2) under second-year head man T. C. Taylor will battle for black college Div. I supremacy at Mercedes Benz Stadium at 12 noon on ABC.
The game is intriguing and spicy on several levels.
First, each has run the table in their respective FCS conference. JSU is No. 1 in the BCSP FCS Top Five and SC State is No. 2.
SC State went 5-0 and only was only moderately challenged (a 24-21 win over North Carolina Central on Oct. 31) in the MEAC. The Bulldogs won the rest of their conference games by a wide 53-19 margin. The Bulldogs are on an eight-game win streak.
JSU was 9-0 in the SWAC including a 41-13 win over Southern in last week’s league championship game. The Tigers’ only stumble was a 41-20 designated non-conference loss to Grambling State early in the season (Sept. 21). Since then, the Tigers have won nine straight in league play with an average winning margin of 39-15.
So, there are no upset winners here. Each team has been dominant.
Secondly, three years ago the same teams met in the season-ender here with a much different set of characters and players and with a stunning outcome.
Then, it was much ballyhooed second-year JSU head coach and NFL Hall of Famer Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders who brought his 11-1 SWAC champion Tigers into Atlanta to be christened black college national champions as they faced the 6-5 MEAC champion Bulldogs of SC State under the tutelage of venerable 20-year head coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough.
To the surprise of many (most), Pough’s Bulldogs stifled and stunned Sanders’ Tigers in a 31-10 blowout win. It included a SC State receiver (Shaqan “Shaq” Davis) imitating and mocking the touchdown skip-dance made popular by Sanders during his NFL career after getting the Bulldogs on the board with a second-quarter TD catch. Davis went on to catch two other touchdowns passes and win the MVP award in the blowout win.
JSU fans, and perhaps its players as well, have not forgotten the dance or the beatdown. JSU coaches and perhaps players will deny it, but Tiger fans want some revenge (get-back). JSU under Taylor won 37-7 in a MEAC-SWAC Challenge season-opener vs. Pough’s SCSU in 2023.
Cricket Celebration Bowl IX Match-Up
Unlike their 2021 run-in, there is no clear favorite between the two in this year’s game (see CELEBRATION BOWL YARDSTICK).
Both teams have high-powered offenses averaging over 35 points per game (JSU 37.1 ppg., and SCSU 35.5 ppg.) and over 400 yards per game (JSU 404.4 and SCSU 426.5). They both have stingy defenses with JSU giving up 17.9 ppg. and SCSU surrendering 20.9 ppg.
Each features their league’s offensive player of the year.
JSU senior running back Irv Mulligan won the SWAC award after rushing for a league-best 1,174 yards and 11 TDs. Mulligan averages 6.5 yards per carry and 106.7 yards per game and was the only SWAC rusher to top 1,000 yards.
SCSU quarterback Eric Phoenix won the MEAC’s offensive award when it was unveiled Tuesday afternoon at the National Football Foundation (NFF) event in Las Vegas. Phoenix led the conference with 2,469 passing yards (224.5 ypg.) with 20 TDs and just seven interceptions. He completed 65.0% of his passes. He was the only MEAC passer to top 2,000 yards.
Syracuse junior transfer QB Jacobian Morgan (2,003 passing yards, 19 TDs, 7 ints., 63.0%) was selected second team all-SWAC. Joanes Fortilien leads Tiger receivers with 35 catches for 594 yards and tied for the league-high with nine TD receptions. Junior D’Andre Townes-Blue (1st team) and senior Kirk Ford Jr. (2nd team) are JSU’s all-conference offensive lineman.
SCSU’s wide receivers Caden High (58 receptions 892 yards, 7 TDs) and Justin-Smith Brown (49 rec., 729 yds., 4 TDs) were 1-2 in MEAC receiving stats and first-team all-MEAC selections. The Bulldogs had their tight end (Keshawn Toney, 27 rec., 287 yds., 3 TDs) and three offensive lineman (C Eric Brown and OTs Cam Johnson and Nick Taiste) named to the all-MEAC first team. Deondra Duehart is the rushing leader (467 yds., 7 TDs.)
Give JSU the edge on the ground and SCSU the edge in the air.
SCSU grad linebacker Aaron Smith’s 71 tackles (7.9 per game) is second-best in the MEAC. Sophomore LB Reid Pulliam leads JSU with 62 stops. SC State features the MEAC’s leader in junior Ashaad Hall with 11 sacks. Senior Jayden Broughton is fourth with 8.5. They are both MEAC first-teamers as is senior DB Jarod Washington. Junior edge rusher Joshua Nobles is fourth in the SWAC with 10 sacks and is joined on the SWAC first team defense by senior defensive back Ke’Vric Wiggins Jr. JSU senior DB Robert McDaniel is considered one of the best pro prospects in black college football.
The defense match-up is a stalemate.
JSU redshirt junior placekicker Gerardo Baeza has nailed 22 of 28 field goals and 54 of 55 PAT kicks for 120 points that is eighth in the nation. Fabulous freshman kick returner Travis Terrell Jr. averages 30.8 yards per kickoff return, fourth-best in the FCS. His two kickoff return TDs is tied for first in the nation. Senior Matt Noll (42.5 avg.) is the second team punter.
SCSU redshirt freshman Kyle Gallegos has hit on just nine of 14 field goals and 38 of 45 PAT kicks for 65 points but is the MEAC’s first- team placekicker. Senior Dyson Roberts, one of the heroes of the 2021 Celebration Bowl win as he averaged 49.2 yards on eight kicks, averaged 42.0 yards per kick this season to earn second team all-MEAC punter.
The special teams edge goes to Jackson State.
It’s hard to say which of the two coaches has done the better job. Both have performed remarkably well.
Taylor, with a high recommendation from the former coach, took over after Sandcrs bolted to Colorado after a second Celebration Bowl defeat. He has re-tooled the line-up, brought in a bevy of Div. I transfers and gotten JSU right back to the top of the SWAC. He was 7-4 overall in his first year, tied for second in the SWAC East at 5-3, before bringing home the title this year. Taylor was a JSU assistant on both Celebration Bowl losses under Sanders. He was also the offensive coordinator at NC Central when the Eagles lost Celebration Bowl II to Grambling.
Berry took over from Pough this season, with a hearty endorsement from the former coach, after winning back-to-back Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) titles at Benedict in 2022 and 2023 during a three-year stint there. He brought with him six standout players from those Benedict teams that have blended in seamlessly with the holdovers from Pough’s teams. Conference leaders Phoenix, High and Broughton all played for Berry at Benedict and have helped push SC State to the top of the MEAC race.
In the eight-year history of the Celebration Bowl only two games have been decided by double-digits. The MEAC leads the series, 6-2.
This should be another close one.
