With the Celebration Bowl entering its eighth season, the SWAC is looking to break through against its HBCU conference rival, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The MEAC holds a 6-1 lead in the series, including North Carolina Central toppling heavily favored Jackson State in an overtime classic a year ago in Atlanta.
Grambling State’s 10-9 win over North Carolina Central in 2016 has served as the lone SWAC victory since the inception of the bowl.
At Tuesday’s SWAC Media Day, conference commissioner Dr. Charles McLelland shared his theory as to why victories in the Black College national championship game have been hard to come by.
“Our not being able to win the Celebration Bowl is a product of our regular season,” McClelland said of the 12-team league where eight games are played per team (five in divisional play, three non-division games). “There are no weeks off, you can’t look ahead, you can’t study who that MEAC winner was because you have to concentrate on the next week, the conference championship game, then you concentrate on the Celebration Bowl.”
The SWAC’s expansion project, adding Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman, has made a deep conference even deeper, but getting over the hump for the Celebration Bowl is key, and McClelland thinks the teams in the conference are capable.
“We do this because it’s hard, not because it’s easy,” he says. “That’s become a mantra for the Southwestern Athletic Conference.”
McClelland says that patience will be key in the SWAC making the Celebration Bowl a competitive series but adds that he really would like his conference to win one this season.
“It’s very important, but I think the audience needs to understand the gauntlet that it takes to get to the Celebration Bowl,” he said. “It’s week in and week out. Our [conference] championship game is really, really, really significant to our schools, and some of the things we’ve seen, a championship in the SWAC is a more important feat than a win for the Celebration Bowl.”
Economics is also an important factor in the SWAC’s championship game success, which was the reason for the game’s birth nearly 25 years ago.
“I don’t ask Jackson State for their books, but I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide,” McClelland said. “Jackson State made more money from the conference championship game than they did a payout for the Celebration Bowl.”
McClelland believes that a renewed focus on being the best HBCU football conference in the land will help the SWAC moving forward.
“I think what our teams and schools need to do is refocus,” he said. “For the MEAC, them playing the SWAC in the Celebration Bowl is their championship game. There is a renewed focus on the Celebration Bowl coming from the Southwestern Athletic Conference.”
So, if a tough regular season is the reason why the SWAC can’t beat the MEAC in the Celebration Bowl, what’s the reason for the MEAC leading the MEAC/SWAC Challenge Kickoff with 10 wins to the SWAC’s five? Excuses are monuments of nothingness.
It’s hard to understand the SWAC Commissioner’s point although it is valid. Between the two conferences, the SWAC is the only conference that plays a bowl like schedule, spanning labor day weekend to championship weekend in the first week of December. That can create a disadvantage when it comes to preparation. Honestly, the CB is the only bowl game where one conference plays a championship game and the other opponent hasn’t played a game in 30 days. If the CB could, they should push the MEAC to host a conference championship game. However, the SWAC’s coaches will simply have to adjust. Both conferences are physical, contrary to Trei Oliver’s comments after last year’s CB but the SWAC needs better QB play.
I believe what McClellan is saying is the truth. The swac has a much longer season and a rugged schedule. The meac has a soft schedule and tends to not play pwi teen for money.