In the mind of North Carolina A&T head coach Rod Broadway, a bowl game is a more attractive destination than the FCS playoffs.
Speaking to the assembled after the Aggies won the MEAC championship and clinched an automatic berth in the Celebration Bowl, Broadway said the event is preferred by players.
“I’m going to say it again; if you took a poll it would be 100 percent,” said Broadway, who is coaching in the game for the second time in three seasons. “If you ask our guys where they’d rather be in the playoffs or bowl game, it’s not going to be close … 100 percent are going to tell you that they rather be at the Celebration Bowl.”
In 2015, the SWAC and MEAC agreed to allow its conference champions to receive an automatic bid to the bowl, which is in its third year of existence.
“The Celebration Bowl is way better than the playoffs. Way better,” redshirt freshman Mac McCain told the Winston Salem Journal. “It’s been the goal all season. The FCS Playoffs, it just feels like a regular game. It’s at somebody’s home field. With the bowl game, you go to Atlanta for the week and get to play in an NFL stadium on national TV for a ring.”
Said Grambling State head coach Broderick Fobbs, who is leading the Tigers to the Celebration Bowl for the second consecutive season:
“Having an opportunity to play on ABC is huge as well. And to put the product out there is big too.”
