HBCU Football

Andscape roundtable: Celebration Bowl, Band of the Year will feature familiar faces

South Carolina State will face off against Jackson State in a rematch of the 2021 bowl game

New champions will be crowned this week in Atlanta. 

On Friday night, the Band of the Year national championship will take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The reigning Division I champion, North Carolina A&T Blue and Gold Marching Machine, will go head-to-head with Florida A&M Marching 100. In the Division II competition, the Miles College Purple Marching Machine will face off against Virginia State Trojan Explosion, the 2023 Band of the Year Division II runner-up.

On Saturday, the 2024 Cricket Celebration Bowl will be played in the stadium. Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Jackson State will look to avenge its 0-2 record in the bowl game, and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion South Carolina State will seek its second Celebration Bowl victory. The matchup will be a rematch of the 2021 Celebration Bowl, in which South Carolina State defeated Jackson State 31-10.

Mia Berry is the senior HBCU writer for Andscape and covers everything from sports to student-led protests. She is a Detroit native (What up Doe!), long-suffering Detroit sports fan and Notre Dame alumna who randomly shouts, "Go Irish."