2024 Celebration Bowl Lines - Jackson State vs. South Carolina State

Celebration Bowl Lines - South Carolina State vs. Jackson State Odds

Since 2015, the Celebration Bowl has served as the national championship game of Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This year, the Jackson State Tigers, champions of the SWAC will face the South Carolina State Bulldogs, champions of the MEAC. Since these two teams are not Division 1 teams, oddsmakers will oftentimes not put out a line on the game. Jackson State comes into the game at 11-2, while South Carolina State is 9-2. Jackson State played in the Celebration Bowl in 2021 and 2022 under head coach Deion Sanders but they lost both games.

2024 Celebration Bowl at a Glance

Date: Saturday, December 14, 2024

Time (ET) / TV: 12:00 PM / ABC

Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia

Matchup: Jackson State Tigers vs. South Carolina State Bulldogs

College Football Betting Lines

Jackson State Tigers +3

South Carolina State Bulldogs -3

Over/Under: 53.5

Celebration Bowl Game Preview

Jackson State T.C. Taylor has yet to be on the winning side in the Celebration Bowl. He was a star receiver at Jackson State and then an assistant coach in 2016. He was an offensive assistant coach in 2021 and 2022 for Jackson State. “I just feel like if I keep going, eventually I’m going to get one (a win),” Taylor said during the Celebration Bowl press conference. “I told the players to let’s just prepare and go get it. You got to take care of business like we did on Saturday to get this opportunity,” he said. Jackson State is looking to win their first outright Black National Championship since 1996.

South Carolina State has not played since November 23 when they beat Norfolk State 53-21. They will come into the game with some rest, while Jackson State played last week. Bulldogs head coach Chennis Berry said the layoff is not important. “The layoff means absolutely nothing to me, man. We’re going to prepare every day to try to go 1-0,” he said to the media. “And, you know, I tell you what the layoff did help us get healthy. But nobody makes excuses or explanations in this game. You gotta line up and make sure your team’s ready to go, but I don’t look at it as an advantage or a disadvantage.”

The MEAC, which does not have a conference championship game, holds a 6-2 edge over the SWAC in the Celebration Bowl.

Celebration Bowl Prediction

Jackson State is overdue to get a win in this game and their head coach has made sure his team is motivated to win this game, so Jackson State is the pick here.

Celebration Bowl Format

The Celebration Bowl was founded in 2015 and was contested between the champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Both leagues are the predominant athletic conferences for historically black colleges and universities. The Celebration Bowl serves as the de facto national championship of black college football. Among the unique aspects of the Celebration Bowl is that it is the only active bowl game to feature programs from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

Once upon a time, the Pelican Bowl and Heritage Bowl served the role that the Celebration Bowl now fulfills.

Celebration Bowl Past Results

North Carolina A&T dominated this game in much of its early history, winning four times. Their string of wins ended in 2020 because of the pandemic and then South Carolina State won the game in 2021.

In 2022 the Celebration Bowl had what was its biggest matchup in history. A record crowd of 49,670 was on hand for the contest – the first to be decided in overtime — as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) continued its dominance over the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) with its sixth win in the seven-year history of the Celebration Bowl. The loss was the second in as many years for Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders suffered a defeat in the postseason Classic between the two conferences.

Sanders, after three seasons as Tiger head coach headed to a similar position at Colorado.

The 2023 Celebration Bowl had Florida A&M winning a 30-26 shootout against Howard. Howard had the lead after the first quarter at 14-0 and they led 16-10 at the half. Florida A&M made their comeback in the fourth quarter as they scored three touchdowns. It was just the second win for a SWAC team in the Celebration Bowl.

2024-25 College Football Bowl Games

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