North Carolina A&T defeated Alcorn State 41-34 in a wild debut for the Celebration Bowl.
Wait.
If you're wondering what
exactly the Celebration Bowl is, you're not alone. Rather than
participate in the FCS Playoffs, the SWAC and MEAC champions are meeting
in the Celebration Bowl, with the winner claiming the crown of
historically black college and university (HBCU) national champion. It's
the first matchup of this type for HBCUs since 1999, which the Heritage
Bowl ceased operations. The Heritage Bowl ran from 1991-1999, and
previously, the Pelican Bowl was held in 1972, 1974, and 1975.
Aside from the fun plays on the field, there's lots of reasons this game is a good thing.
It's great exposure.
And with the national TV
coverage and early time slot, it's great exposure for schools and
conferences that don't normally get much. The FCS Playoffs have gotten
more coverage in recent years, but those games don't start appearing on
cable until fairly late in the tournament. The Celebration Bowl kicks
off on the first Saturday of bowl season on a major network, before any
other bowls are there to soak up the attention.
The schools make more money.
Each conference will bank a $1 million payout,
which means this game is much more lucrative than a Playoff appearance.
That's $100,000 for each SWAC team, and nearly $91,000 for each MEAC
team. If a team wants to host a first round FCS Playoff game, they need to submit a minimum bid to the NCAA of at least $30,000.
It's a competitive matchup.
Unlike most HBCU's past forays
into the FCS Playoffs, this game should actually be pretty close. The
last HBCU team to win the FCS title was in 1978, and they haven't gotten
particularly close since. To play in this game, the MEAC gave up its
automatic bid just to play in this game, and the SWAC didn't have an
automatic bid into the Playoffs anyway.
And this year's game was great
from the first whistle. There were four touchdowns in the first eight
minutes of the game, and the shortest of them was 74 yards. Each team
had a long punt return for a touchdown in the first half. North Carolina
A&T running back Tarik Cohen ran for 171 yards and two touchdowns
in the first half alone. And then there was the case of Alcorn State's
Marquis Watford, who took out some frustrations by punching clean through a dang whiteboard.
The second half wasn't quite so
explosive, but Alcorn State made up a two touchdown deficit to tie the
game in the fourth quarter, with the game-tying touchdown pass coming from wide receiver Tollette George to
quarterback Lenorris Footman. They would tie the game again later in
the quarter on a fake field goal that went for a touchdown.
But despite all that
craziness, it wasn't enough. Tarik Cohen scored the game-clinching
touchdown on a 73-yard run right up the gut that was only his
third-longest run of the game. Alcorn State drove all the way to the
A&T nine yard line with 13 seconds left, but their final chance to
tie the game fell incomplete in the end zone.
Cohen was absolutely
sensational for the Aggies, and finished with 295 yards and three
touchdowns on only 22 carries. Before this game, Cohen was probably best known for catching footballs while doing backflips.
He was also their leading receiver in the game with 53 yards. A&T
more than doubled Alcorn State's total yardage figure, 544 to 260, and
it was the repeated big plays that made the difference for the Aggies.
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