Celebration Bowl Betting Preview
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Can South Carolina State ruin the Coach Prime Party or will Jackson State conclude the season with a national championship?

Celebration Bowl

South Carolina State vs Jackson State

Saturday, Noon, ABC

Jackson State -10/Total 42.5

Head to FanDuel Sportsbook to take advantage of your $1,000 risk-free bet

After being cancelled last year because of COVID, the HBCU’s National Championship Game makes its return with Jackson State and South Carolina State facing off in Atlanta. A sell-out crowd will be on hand for this showcase for black college football which is huge for the event because ticket sales have been an issue in the past. Jackson State is largely responsible for the hype as it brings with it a massive fanbase and a ton of hype thanks to Coach Prime, Deion Sanders. Don’t expect South Carolina State to roll over. The Bulldogs will be game, though, and won’t roll over in their first Celebration Bowl appearance looking to make the MEAC 5–1 over the SWAC in the event.

There was a healthy dose of skepticism about Deion Sanders taking the Jackson State job. There were concerns he might be in it just for self promotion, but to his credit it seems like everything he’s doing at Jackson State is positive, particularly the results on the field. After a respectable 4–3 record this Spring, the Tigers program took off this fall going 11–1 with the only loss coming to FBS opponent Louisiana-Monroe. They won the SWAC Championship Game 27–10 over Prairie View in front of a packed home to earn their spot here. Jackson State broke College Football Twitter on signing day when they got a pledge from the number one recruit in the COUNTRY, Travis Hunter.

Jackson State’s offense is led by Deion’s son Shedeur who won the Jerry Rice Award given to FCS’ top Freshman player. Shedeur threw for over 3000 yards with 29 touchdowns and six interceptions this season and was the seventh most efficient quarterback in FCS. Jackson State was overly conservative against Prairie View which was strange considering they’re just 111th in FCS in rushing. The Tigers are good at stopping the run allowing under 100 yards per game and 2.82 yards per carry and they’re better at stopping the pass as FCS’ top team in pass efficiency defense.

South Carolina State took advantage of NC A&T’s move to the Big South Conference. The Aggies went to the last three Celebration Bowls before changing conferences and the Bulldogs rebounded from a 1–4 start to end the season 5–1 and finish at 6–5 overall to earn their way to Atlanta. South Carolina State doesn’t excel in any particular area on offense. They’re 66th in the country in rushing offense which is the strength of their offense. They struggle to pass ranking 102nd in pass efficiency. They complete 50.6 percent of their passes and have just one more TD pass than interception thrown. Defensively they’re pretty decent. They have a top 40 run defense and allow 3.8 yards per carry. They’re 34th in the country in pass efficiency defense and improved defensively as a whole once they got into conference play.

Honestly, this line seems a little bit confusing. They’re banking on this being a defensive battle which does make sense. Jackson State’s defense has been consistently excellent, the defense is South Carolina State’s strength and Jackson State hasn’t put up a ton of points recently. That said, there seems to be a pretty wide gap in the quality of these teams. The Massey FCS composite has Jackson State as a borderline Top 25 team whereas South Carolina State is ranked 74th. South Carolina State has a similar profile as Prairie View who Jackson State beat by 17. This also feels like the culmination of a special year at Jackson State. The uptick in ticket sales is likely being driven by Jackson State fans and the chance to celebrate an incredible season in the city where Coach Prime forged his legacy as a professional athlete is the kind of things dreams are made of.