Duane Nash is our resident HBCU expert and operator of The Yard-HBCU Sports. You can follow Duane — like 7,000 other big-time HBCU fans have — on Twitter @TheYardHBCU. Duane will give readers weekly insight into what teams will win the big games, which individuals are in contention for big honors … and much, much more.
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FOR STARTERS: The time has come. All good things must come to an end but why? It seemed like it was just yesterday that the college football season started, but alas, we’ve come to the end of the 2019 regular season. The MEAC has crowned it’s champion (FAMU is the regular season champion, but North Carolina A&T will represent the MEAC in the Celebration Bowl because of FAMU's self-imposed postseason ban.
In the SWAC? East Division Champion and title game host Alcorn State is awaiting its challenger for the 2019 SWAC Championship game and for the third consecutive season, an HBCU conference runner-up has been left out of the FCS Playoffs (South Carolina State)…but more on that next week. So, this weekend there is only one monster game left to go … and it will settle the SWAC West. The Bayou Classic will settle it all.
Here is Duane's pick for this weekend's Bayou Classic:[divider]
SWAC
Southern (7-4, 5-1) vs Grambling State (6-4, 4-2), in New Orleans, La, Saturday, 5:00 PM, NBC Sports Network: Like I always say about rivalry games, throw the records out the window, but you can’t do that for this one! The winner has a chance to play for the SWAC Championship and a trip to Atlanta to face North Carolina A&T in the Celebration Bowl next month. As a matter of fact, the winner of this game over the past six seasons has gone on to represent the West in the title game, winning the Championship three times and going to the Celebration Bowl twice. So, what will both teams need to do to win? Stop the other team’s dual-threat quarterback. QB Ladarius Skelton is responsible for scoring seven touchdowns for the Jags over their last two games and is averaging 100 yards rushing in six games against SWAC opponents while Grambling QB Geremy Hickbottom is the Tigers’ leading rusher with 613 yards and five rushing TDs while being responsible for seven of the Tigers’ fifteen touchdowns in their last three games. THE PICK: Tigers 35, Jaguars 31
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