Road to the Celebration Bowl: Week Three

The road to the Celebration Bowl rolls on as we hit week three. It’s still too early for anyone from the MEAC or the SWAC to eliminate or exalt themselves but there are great opportunities to make some statements this weekend. The MEAC has a schedule sprinkled with FBS opponents, which can be a big resume booster with either a win or a respectable showing.

South Carolina State and North Carolina Central will be underdogs on the road, but a significant opportunity exists to represent the conference well. As Herm Edwards poignantly coined, “That’s why they play the game. Hello.”

Delaware State can continue their pleasant season with a home win over Wagner, while Howard would suffer irreparable damage to their resume with a loss against Division II Morehouse. But the good thing is all you have to do is win your MEAC games to make it to the Celebration Bowl. ESPN analytics has Ohio favored by 97.5 percent over Morgan State, which can also be viewed as Morgan State has a chance. Mathematically at least. That was humor in print.

The MEAC is still in non-conference mode but there is an opportunity for some statement wins this weekend.  The game that will get first look in the MEAC this weekend however will be Hampton versus Norfolk State at Dick Price Stadium. It’s the Battle of the Bay, which needs no additional hype or pub.

In the SWAC there’s a mix of playing up and playing down on the schedule, but there are a couple of Classic games that will garner a lot of attention. Prairie View A&M is slated to pick up the check against Michigan State, and Bethune-Cookman will have its hands full with Western Michigan as well.

Alcorn State finally has a winnable game on the schedule after playing up in competition for the past two weeks. Alabama A&M should cruise against Georgetown, which is Georgetown of Kentucky, not your father’s Patrick Ewing Georgetown. A couple of SWAC/OVC matchups are on the calendar this weekend. Mississippi Valley State will go to Murray State while UAPB is back in the Southern Heritage Classic against Tennessee State. The Golden Lions will finally face off against a FCS opponent, and we should have a better idea of what Alonzo Hampton is really working with this year.

Grambling and Alabama State are both on the road facing winless opponents. The window of massive improvement for college football teams is generally slated between week one and week three. So for both Grambling and ASU, this is a great chance to establish what their identities are going to be moving forward.

The game to watch will be the “Boombox Classic” when Southern travels to play Jackson State. It’s a nonconference game technically, but it could be a preview of things to come for the SWAC Championship game. Or maybe not.

FAMU and Texas Southern both have the weekend off with bye weeks.

When Saturday hits we’ll be 13 weeks away from the Celebration Bowl . Everyone in the MEAC and the SWAC are still in the running but first quarter progress reports will be going out soon.

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