Celebration Bowl 2018: North Carolina A&T survives Alcorn State

North Carolina A&T built up a lead, then let Alcorn State back into the contest. Here is what we learned from this year’s Celebration Bowl in Atlanta.

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Part of what makes college football great are the traditions that accompany bowl games. And in a precursor to the FBS bowl calendar, the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl provided a great opportunity to see that in action in a showdown of historical black colleges and universities. The Celebration Bowl, since 2015, has pitted the champions of the SWAC and the MEAC, the two FCS conferences comprised of HBCU squads.

One of the biggest stories of the game takes place between the halves, when the football players cede the gridiron to the marching bands. Like a halftime at the Super Bowl, these bands are often the show — yet the broadcast chose to ignore a ready-made spectacle with built-in interest.

The ABC crew broadcasting the game opted to cut away from the performances of Alcorn State’s Sounds of Dyn-O-Mite and the Blue & Gold Marching Machine of North Carolina A&T to air commercials and talk about the FCS playoffs. They showed disjointed cuts of the action, but did a disservice to viewers who came to be treated by the unique flavor of this game. It was an odd decision by the network, to say the least.

But it did not diminish the action on the gridiron when the clock was ticking. Defending champion North Carolina A&T opened a big lead, then allowed Alcorn State to pull within one point in the third quarter before running away with a 24-22 victory. It was the third win in this bowl game in four years for the Aggies.

Let’s look at what we learned from that on-the-field action between the top HBCU programs of 2018. Here are three takeaways from the Celebration Bowl.