LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
ATLANTA, GA – Jackson State second- year head coach T. C. Taylor accomplished something Saturday that celebrated former JSU head coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders never did, i.e., win a Celebration Bowl.
Taylor’s SWAC champion JSU Tigers (12- 2) shutdown and stifled MEAC champion South Carolina State (9-3) in a dominant 28-7 win here Saturday at Celebration Bowl IX before a crowd of 36,823. Sanders, now the head coach at Colorado, failed in two attempts leading JSU into this season-ending game including a 31-10 loss to SC State in the 2021 game.
“The thing going into this game is we got tired of hearing about them,” Taylor said in the postgame press conference regarding SC State and the physical brand of ball played in the MEAC. “If you look at it today, they were the more finesse team. They tried to throw the ball and we ran the football.”
JSU ran for 152 grind-it-out yards on 51 carries and got two short 2-yard rushing touchdowns from senior star running back Irv Mulligan (25 carries, 71 yards) in the second and fourth quarters.
The Tigers’ passing offense was just as effective. Junior quarterback Jacobian Morgan was an efficient 15 of 21 thru the air for 233 yards with two scoring passes to star wideout Joanes Fortilien (6 catches, 43 yards).
The Tiger defense meanwhile limited SC State to 30 rushing yards on 19 carries (1.6 yards per carry) and held prolific SCSU passer Eric Phoenix to 13 completions in 31 attempts for 143 yards with one interception. Phoenix, in fact, led Bulldog rushers with just 17 yards on eight carries.
SCSU was 2 of 13 on third-down conversions while JSU converted 9 of 16. JSU won the time of possession battle 37 minutes to 23 minutes. JSU outgained SC State 385 yards to 178.
“I told the team before the game that we’re going to win this thing in the trenches,” Taylor said. “The O-line, the D-line, we had to win this game in the trenches and show everybody we’re the best in the country. That’s what they went out there and did.”
The win gives Jackson the Div. 1 black college national championship and gives the SWAC its second straight win in the season- ending matchup of black college conference champions. The MEAC’s lead in the bowl game is
now cut to 6-3.
“First and foremost, we didn’t get it done,”
SC State first-year head coach Chennis Berry said. “We didn’t play the way we’re capable of playing. We played very uncharacteristically today.”
JSU had a lot to do with that.
The first stamp of JSU’s domination came on its second possession after stopping SCSU early and forcing two punts. The Tigers went on a Celebration Bowl-record 19-play drive that covered 78 yards, and cashed in on a 4-yard fade pass from QB Morgan to Fortilien in the left corner of the end zone. The drive took 9 minutes and 39 seconds – also a Celebration Bowl record – and carried into the second quarter giving JSU a 7-0 lead with 11:26 left in the period.
JSU forced a punt and stopped the Bulldogs on fourth down to get the ball back at their own 34 with just over six minutes left in the half. On first down from there, Morgan hit wideout Isaiah Spencer behind the Bulldogs’ secondary for a 65- yard reception before he was tackled by Jarod Washington at the SCSU 1. On the next play, Mulligan went over for the first of his two scores.
After two more stops of SCSU, JSU went into the break with the 14-0 lead. The Bulldogs made just one first down in the half, were held to 10 rushing yards on six carries and 17 passing yards. JSU had outgained SCSU 153 yards to 27 yards thru two quarters.
Morgan was picked off by SCSU defensive back Diego Addison on the second play of the
third quarter setting up the Bulldogs at the JSU 33. Ryan Stubblefield replaced Phoenix hoping to spark the SCSU offense. Instead, the back-up fumbled on first down and was sacked by LB Ashton Taylor on 3rd-and-2 from the JSU 25 forcing a punt.
In the final drive of the period that ended two snaps into the fourth quarter, JSU took possession at its own 36 and drove 64 yards in ten plays to score on Mulligan’s short TD run and a 21-0 lead at the 14:48 mark.
SC State finally got on the scoreboard in the ensuing possession. Phoenix returned and hit sophomore wideout Nigel Johnson on a 64-yard run and catch down to the JSU 18. The gain was two more yards than the 62 yards the Bulldogs had mustered thru three quarters. After completing an 8-yard pass to Caden High on 4th-and-7 at the JSU 15, the Bulldogs scored two plays later when Phoenix went over on a 3-yard keeper to cut the lead to 21-7 with 11:13 to play.
JSU came right back to run off 11 plays – eight on runs – that covered 56 yards and took 5:36 off the clock before placekicker Gerardo Baeza was wide right on a 35-yard field goal.
Three plays into the following SC State possession, Phoenix was picked off by JSU LB Shemar Hawkins who returned the interception to the Bulldogs’ 14. On first down from there, Morgan lofted another fade pass into the left endzone that Fortilien hauled in for his second TD and the 28-7 Tigers’ lead.
SC State drove 43 yards in 10 plays to the JSU 8 on its final possession before it was stopped on downs with 1:34 to play.
Morgan was named the game’s offensive MVP. Six-two, 285-pound redshirt senior defensive lineman Jeremiah Williams was a disruptive force in the interior and was the defensive MVP. Williams had three solo tackles, two for losses of 7 yards, and one of three sacks of Phoenix for -6 yards in the fourth quarter. Hawkins led the JSU defense with six stops, all solos and had the interception. Taylor had two solo stops including a sack.
“I was locked in the whole game,” Williams said. “My coach told me from the get-go, ‘own your gap.’ I owned my gap all game.”
SC State was led by all-MEAC linebacker Aaron Smith who had 17 total tackles, 12 solos. Washington had 10 stops while Addison had nine tackles and the interception. Sophomore lineman Josh Barker had 7 tackles, three for losses, and a strip sack of Morgan.
