The 2024 bowl season opens with a hugely compelling game, right from the start. The Cricket Celebration Bowl on Saturday features two HBCU schools coming off huge seasons, where they both surpassed expectations. Jackson State and South Carolina meet at noon Eastern time.
Cricket Celebration Bowl Matchup
South Carolina State
South Carolina State started the season with a major unknown. Buddy Pough retired at the end of the 2023 season after 21 seasons as head coach. Replacing the school’s all-time winningest coach is often too tall of a task for the next coach up. But Chennis Berry had no problems with the job after moving over from three years at Benedict College.
The Bulldogs were picked to finish fourth in the conference. But SC State finished 5-0 in the MEAC and 9-2 overall. They won their second conference championship since 2021. Quarterback Eric Phoenix reunited with Berry at South Carolina State. Phoenix had been Benedict with Berry but then transferred to Murray State for the 2023 season. He saw little playing time so moved on to South Carolina State after Berry took over.
All Phoenix did this season was throw for 2,469 yards with 20 touchdowns. He threw at a 65% completion rate. He also had 225 rushing yards with another two touchdowns on the ground. For his efforts, he was named the HBCU National Player of the Year. He torched Delaware State for 341 passing yards and four touchdowns.
Despite the low expectations at the beginning of the season, South Carolina State wound up with 17 players who were named all-conference in the MEAC.
Jackson State
While South Carolina State brings the HBCU Player of the Year, Jackson State has essentially been the team of the year for most of the season. The Tigers went 10-2, including beating Southern for the SWAC championship.
They were picked to finish third in the SWAC East Division. And then they lost starting quarterback Jacobian Morgan to a first-half injury in the conference championship game. Zy McDonald came off the bench to throw for two touchdowns in securing the win. It will be McDonald going up against South Carolina State this weekend.
This is JSU’s third Celebration Bowl in the last four years.
Jackson State is bringing the best rushing attack at the HBCU level into the game. Running back Irv Mulligan rolled up 1,174 rushing yards along with a conference-high 11 touchdowns on the ground. He was named the SWAC Offensive Player of the Year at the end of the season. Probably bigger than the Player of the Year award was knowing that his rushing totals broke the school’s single-season record set by Walter Payton back in 1973. The Tigers also highlight running back Travis Terrell who was the SWAC Freshman of the Year.
With the potent rushing attack, Jackson State led the SWAC in scoring, averaging 37.1 points per game. But it is the defense that has been the change that has made the difference at the end of the season. The Tigers gave up only 17.9 points per game. They didn’t allow more than three second-half points in a game in six of the last nine games.
The Celebration Bowl will be broadcast on ABC-TV.
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