The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) football champions from Jackson State brought their swag and all the hype to Atlanta for the sixth edition of the Celebration Bowl. South Carolina State brought an appreciation for what it meant to simply be there and a chip on their shoulder because of what they perceived as an absence of respect from a team and fans who felt that it was their rite of passage to win the Black College Football National Championship.

However, when the dust settled in the Mercedes Benz Stadium there was no doubt who was the better team. A record crowd of 48,653 watched S.C. State dropped a hammer on the magic carpet ride of a dream season for a 31-10 win.

Few, if any college football fans, that aren’t aficionados of the Black American national pastime, knew about South Carolina State head coach Buddy Pough. Pough’s quiet bravado is trapped inside a folksy southern gentleman that is a tough as nails football coach.

"When you've been around 40 years, games tend to get lost," Pough said. "But this is as big as any I have been a part of.”

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC)’s longest tenured coach had been longing for a chance to bring a team to the Black College National Championship game. It was the fifth time in the six year history of the game that the HBCU junior circuit beat their counterpart from the NCAA Football Championship Series (FCS) super conference.

December 18, 2021
Celebration Bowl
Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Atlanta, GA