The 2025 FCS HBCU football season has come to an end, and a champion has risen.
South Carolina State is this year’s standard-bearers, giving them their second Black College Football National Championship in four years and their seventh all-time.
Under the leadership of head coach Chennis Berry, the Bulldogs became the second team in the 10-year history of the Celebration Bowl to have multiple victories (2; 2021, 2025) behind North Carolina A&T (4; 2015, 2017- 2019).
When asked about what motivated him to secure a victory in Saturday’s matchup, Berry would refer to the Bulldogs’ loss to Jackson State in last year’s Celebration Bowl, saying the following:
“…I watched confetti drop on another team. That fueled me, and I said, ‘If the good Lord gives us another opportunity, that confetti is not going to fall on another team. That confetti is going to fall on us.’”
Berry would go on to fulfill that prophecy, winning his third Black College Football National Championship in four years. He would earn that distinction at Division II Benedict in 2022 & 2023. However, South Carolina State’s path to capturing the MEAC’s seventh Celebration Bowl win wasn’t an easy one.
Here are my takeaways from the Celebration Bowl’s first-ever quadruple overtime game.
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Stymied Ground Games
Coming into this matchup, the South Carolina State defense was tasked with picking its own poison. Do you look to slow down Prairie View A&M senior quarterback Cameron Peters’ passing, or do you try to corral the nation’s 16th-best rushing offense led by Peters and running backs Lamagea McDowell and Chase Bingmon?
The Bulldogs chose the latter, and their plan worked, limiting the Panthers to 55 yards on 30 carries, which would be the team’s lowest rushing output for the season.
Peters’ Peerless Performance
It was clear that Peters saved his best performance for the final game of the season.
Entering last week, the Panthers boasted one of the most productive offenses in the program’s history, averaging 430 yards and 31.1 points per game. After getting out to a 21-0 start in the first half on Saturday, Prairie View surpassed those averages by compiling 491 yards and 38 points on 67 plays. Peters was responsible for producing 447 of those yards while scoring five touchdowns (four passing).
Completing passes to eight different receivers along with leading the team in carries (9) and rushing yards (35), Peters was responsible for 91% of the team’s offensive output, and his 412 passing yards is a new Celebration Bowl record.
South Carolina State’s First Half Struggles
I talked about the importance of the Bulldogs getting out to a quick start behind the Second Team All-MEAC selection William Atkins IV. Throughout the year, the Bulldogs have outscored opponents 203-131 in the first half of games this season. A difficult start on Saturday for South Carolina State saw the team limited to just 64 yards on 25 plays across four punt-ending drives. Late in the second quarter, Atkins sustained a shoulder injury and exited the game.
With zero big plays (Passing: Gain of 15+; Rushing: Gain of 10+) in the first 30 minutes of the game, the Bulldogs were held scoreless in the first half for the first time since Oct. 11.
Stubblefield, Smith Shine In Second Half
The Bulldogs faced dual setbacks in the first half: the loss of their starting quarterback to injury and a two-quarter offensive shutout. And now, backup signal-caller Ryan Stubblefield is tasked with leading a potential insurmountable comeback against the nation’s third-best defense.
No problem.
Though primarily a backup, Stubblefield has been active in 16 games over the last two seasons, attempting double-digit passes in ten of those appearances. He proved ready when his number was called, generating 245 total yards and scoring three touchdowns (two passing).
When asked about Stubblefield’s preparedness, Coach Berry stated, “Ryan had to stay ready, so he didn’t have to get ready. Stay ready because you’re one play away. And he came in and led us to an HBCU National Championship.”
A lot of Stubblefield’s success, which led to him being named the game’s Offensive Player of the Game, can be attributed to the play of wide receiver Jordan Smith. The Bulldogs’ leading receiver amassed a team-leading 180 all-purpose yards, three touchdowns, and nine receptions.
“We’ve got to find a way to get our best player the ball… and we did that in the second half,” Berry said of his all-conference receiver.
Second Half Collapse
The end of Saturday’s game may have been controversial. However, I refuse to place the blame for any game’s outcome solely on a single play, as several factors led to Prairie View A&M coming up short in their first attempt to win the Celebration Bowl.
Freshman kicker Diego Alfaro entered Saturday’s contest with only one miss, a 53-yard attempt in a loss to Alabama State. Failing to make two kicks that were well within his range, a 19-yarder in the first quarter and another from 13 yards out in double overtime, would ultimately play a role in his team’s defeat.
Not to be overlooked is the play of the usually stingy Panther defense. Before their matchup against South Carolina State, no one had scored on Prairie View A&M in the fourth quarter since Sept. 27. The Panthers would yield 14 points to the Bulldogs in the final 15 minutes of regulation.
But when asked, Coach Berry agreed that the game’s turning point came when defensive lineman Ka’Von Chisolm forced a fumble on Bingmon on Prairie View’s 27-yard line. That turnover was recovered by defensive end Jordan Dollard and returned to Prairie View’s five-yard line. One play later, Tyler Smith’s five-yard touchdown run sparked 21 unanswered points by the Bulldogs.
“It’s a game of momentum… and that brought a little juice and belief in our guys,” Berry said. “There’s an ebb and flow in the game of football. Good things are going to happen, keep playin’. Bad things are going to happen, keep playin’. Just play the next play.”
