Sanders fall short to South Carolina State in Celebration Bowl

By: Kurtis Alston

This year’s Celebration Bowl champions, the South Carolina State Bulldogs, upset the Jackson State Tigers. The Bulldogs came in with a 6-5 record while the Tigers were 11-1. Jackson State, coached by NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, was on a historical run.

For many, the Tigers were the clear favorite to win the Celebration Bowl and bring the trophy back to the SWAC conference. On the second possession for Jackson State, one may have thought that prediction was going to come true. Shedeur Sanders, one of Deion Sanders’ sons, who plays for the team, led down the field for an early score to make it 7-0 with 7:24 left in the first quarter. Unfortunately, that’s the only good thing to say about Jackson State’s performance.

Turnovers by the Tigers cost them so many chances to make this a good game. The Bulldogs’ defense was too much for Sanders. The strip sack by South Carolina State’s defense gave them life and gave them the ball inside their ten-yard line.The Bulldogs’ offense capitalized on the Tiger’s turnover and scored, making it a 7-7 game.

From there, it became the Corey Fields and Shaquan Davis show. The duo connected three times in the end zone. Fields ended the day with four touchdowns, one interception, and a QBR of 119.8. The MVP honor of the Celebration Bowl went to Davis. He was simply too much for the Jackson State defense.

The final score was 31-10.This was history in the making for both teams to be in the bowl game and it hopefully will not be the last time we see this matchup. Maybe Sanders can win a bowl game for Jackson State and the SWAC conference but until then, the MEAC conference’s lead in bowl game victories is 5-1. North Carolina A&T State University, which has just moved to the Big South conference, has won four of those bowl games for the MEAC.