Pelican Bowl The Pelican Bowl is a defunct NCAA Division II bowl game that pitted the conference champions from the Mid - Eastern Athletic Conference ( MEAC ) and the Southwestern Athletic Conference ( SWAC ) to determine the black college football national championship in the United States between 1972 – 75 . The game was won by the SWAC opponent in all three editions of the bowl . Due to low attendance , the game folded following the 1975 contest . History . The inaugural Pelican Bowl was originally scheduled to be played in Ace W . Mumford Stadium on the campus of Southern University in Baton Rouge , Louisiana . However , due to campus unrest in the wake of an on - campus shooting on November 16 , 1972 , officials from both the SWAC and MEAC decided to move the game to another location . An announcement was officially made to move the game on November 21 to Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham , North Carolina . The game marked the first bowl game played in the state of North Carolina since the 1942 Rose Bowl . In the inaugural contest Grambling College defeated North Carolina Central 56 – 6 to capture the 1972 black college football national championship . The 1973 contest was scheduled to be played at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans . However , in November 1973 league officials announced the cancellation of the game as a result of both unavailability of the stadium for the contest on December 1 , in addition to the NCAA not officially sanctioning the game for play . In fall 1974 , league officials announced the game had been officially sanctioned and would be played in New Orleans on December 7 . Before 30 , 120 fans , Grambling captured its second Pelican Bowl championship with its 28 – 7 victory over South Carolina State . Although Grambling was selected as the consensus black college football national champion , they were unable to participate in the 1975 Pelican Bowl due to their forfeiting their game against Prairie View A & M . As such , SWAC athletic director s voted for Southern University to play in the contest against South Carolina State . Before a sparse crowd of 6 , 748 at the Louisiana Superdome , Southern was victorious 15 – 12 . Due to the low attendance , the Pelican Bowl folded . In 1991 , the concept of a postseason bowl game featuring the MEAC and SWAC was revived with the introduction of the Heritage Bowl . Results . 1972 . For the 1972 contest , the North Carolina Central Eagles secured a birth first after defeating North Carolina A & T 9 – 7 to clinch the MEAC championship on November 18 . The following week , the Grambling Tigers secured their spot in the bowl as SWAC champions with a loss by Alcorn A & M against Jackson State with whom they owned the tiebreaker . In the inaugural contest Grambling routed Central 56 – 6 in capturing the 1972 black college football national championship . Grambling running back Rod Tureaud opened the scoring with touchdown runs of one and 56 - yards to give the Tigers a 14 – 0 lead . Tureaud was injured later in the period , and his replacement Lee Fobbs answered with a 55 - yard touchdown run to give Grambling a 21 – 0 lead at the end of the first quarter . Central opened the second quarter with their only points of the game coming on an eight - yard Garvin Stone touchdown pass to Jeff Inmon to cut the lead to 21 – 6 only to see Grambling respond with another pair of touchdowns before the half . Matthew Reed hit Jackie Jefferson for a 14 - yard touchdown reception and Steve Dennis intercepted a Stone pass and returned it 70 - yards for a score as time expired to give the Tigers a 35 – 6 lead at the half . After extending their lead to 42 – 6 in the third on a five - yard Reed pass to Oliver Alexander , Grambling scored another pair of touchdowns in the fourth . Herman Christophe scored on a 24 - yard run and Eartha Reeves scored the game ' s final points in a one - yard run to make the final score 56 – 6 . For their performances , Reed was selected as the offensive MVP and linebacker Walt Baisy was selected as the defensive MVP of the game . 1974 . For the 1974 contest , the South Carolina State Bulldogs entered the game as MEAC champions with an 8 – 3 record . The Grambling Tigers entered the game as SWAC champions , on a ten game winning streak , with a 10 – 1 record . For the second time in as many contests Grambling was victorious , this time by a score of 28 – 7 in capturing the 1974 black college football national championship . The game started with Grambling ' s Kenneth Chandler taking the opening kickoff 61 - yards to the Bulldog 17 - yard line . Three plays later , Doug Williams hit Dwight Scales for a 19 - yard touchdown reception and a 7 – 0 lead . State had opportunities to score in the first , only to see Leroy Mason miss field goals of 49 and 48 - yards . In the second quarter , the Tigers ' defense reached the endzone after defensive tackle Robert Barber recovered a James Robinson fumble and returned it 34 - yards for a 14 – 0 lead . Williams scored on an eight - yard run late in the second to give Grambling a 21 – 0 lead at the half . Early in the third , Williams again connected with Scales for a 26 - yard touchdown reception and a 28 – 0 lead . The Bulldogs ' scored their lone points in the fourth when Neeley Dunn scored on a one - yard run to make the finals score 28 – 7 . For their performances , Williams was selected as the offensive MVP and Bulldog defensive tackle Robert Simms was selected as the defensive MVP of the game . 1975 . For the 1975 contest , the South Carolina State Bulldogs entered the game as MEAC champions for the second year in a row with an 8 – 1 – 1 record . The Southern Jaguars entered the game as SWAC champions with a 9 – 3 record . For the third time in as many contests the SWAC champion was victorious , this time it was Southern by a score of 15 – 12 . In a game dominated by both defenses , the Bulldogs scored a pair of second quarter touchdowns following Jaguar fumble s on consecutive possessions . The first came on an eleven - yard Jessie Prather pass to Mickey Pringle , and the second came on a one - yard Jackie Reed run to take a 12 – 0 lead . State retained the lead through the fourth quarter when Southern scored a pair of touchdowns the lead late . Michael Bryant scored first on a ten - yard run and James Johnson hit Ronald Steele for a 29 - yard touchdown reception with Bryant converting the two - point conversion to give the Jaguars the 15 – 12 victory .