2023 Celebration Bowl Preview

This year’s Cricket Celebration Bowl is set, with the HBCU FCS football bridesmaids of 2022 becoming brides this year.

For the fourth time in Celebration Bowl history, we will have two new participants, and it is the first time that a team from DC and Florida has made their way to Atlanta in December.

Willie Simmons has his program on an iconic run. The Rattlers have won at least nine games for the fourth straight season, a feat accomplished by only two other FAMU coaches, Jake Gaither (1959-1962) and Billy Joe (1995-2000).

Larry Scott came to Georgia Avenue with the arduous task of turning around a program that lost 10 games and players like Caylin Newton, Jequez Ezzard, and Bryan Cook in 2019. Over the last two seasons, the Bison have gone 8-2 in the conference play on their way to winning their first outright conference championship in 30 years.

Unscathed in league play for the first time since 1997, then a member of the MEAC, FAMU is looking to go 3-0 against MEAC opponents since joining the SWAC while Howard is in search of its first victory over a SWAC opponent in 10 years.

Here is my preview and prediction for this week’s title game. Game time is Eastern Standard.

2023 Cricket Celebration Bowl Preview

Howard (6-5, 4-1) vs. #10 Florida A&M (11-1, 9-0), Saturday, Noon (ABC)

Florida A&M Rattlers (11-1)

Key players: QB Jeremy Moussa, DL Anthony Dunn Jr.

Over the past two seasons, Moussa has led the Rattlers to 20 victories in his last 21 starts. The Vanderbilt transfer finished this season with 2,604 passing yards and 21 total touchdowns while guiding the Rattlers to becoming the 26th-best scoring offense in the nation.

Linebacker Isaiah Major may have finished the season named the SWAC Defensive Player of the Year, but Dunn has been a disruptive force for the Dark Cloud Defense. The First-Team All-SWAC selection led the team in tackles for loss (12.5) and sacks (eight) while finishing third in total tackles (43) behind Major (100) and Second-Team All-SWAC selection linebacker Johnny Chaney Jr. (62).

X factor: RB Terrell Jennings

All-conference performers Marcus Riley (874 all-purpose yards, six touchdowns) and Jah’Marae Sheread (737 all-purpose yards, two touchdowns) received a lot of the recognition offensively, but Jennings’ late-season performance was an integral part in FAMU’s success this year. Leading the team in rushing yards (605) and touchdowns (nine), the senior from Jacksonville compiled 175 yards on the ground and scored four times on 25 carries in the last two games of the season.

How Florida A&M wins: Play like a MEAC team.

There is a belief that the MEAC’s stranglehold over the SWAC – 48-31 in head-to-head matchups dating back to 2000 – is due to what is perceived to be a more physical style of play by its member institutions. And, if being “more physical” is defined by a productive rushing attack and a stout defense, the Rattlers are ranked top five nationally in four categories (total defense, defensive third-down conversion percentage, rushing defense, and scoring defense), while the offense has gained more yards on the ground than in the air in four of their last six contests.

Howard Bison (6-5)

Key players: QB Quinton Williams, S Kenny Gallop, Jr.

Since becoming the starter in 2019 as a freshman, Williams has seen steady improvement throughout his career. In 2023, he accounted for 2,158 passing yards, scoring 21 total touchdowns, and throwing four interceptions. The 6-foot-5, 205-pound signal caller ended the year scoring eight touchdowns without turning the ball over in their final four games.

Gallop, Jr. produced 61 total tackles (40 solo) with six tackles for loss, three interceptions, two forced fumbles, and two quarterback hurries en route to being named the 2023 MEAC Defensive Player of the Year. Alongside fellow All-MEAC First-Team selections defensive lineman Darrian Brokenburr and linebacker Terrance Hollon, the Buck Buchanan Award finalist helped the Bison defense hold conference opponents to 17.4 points per contest. 

X factor: RB Jarett Hunter

One-third of a very talented running back committee alongside fellow All-MEAC performers Ian Wheeler (867 all-purpose yards, three total touchdowns) and Eden James (741 all-purpose yards, three total touchdowns), Hunter became the more valuable asset toward the close of the year. He rushed for 409 of his 602 regular-season yards over the last five games, scoring six of his 10 total touchdowns in that span. The senior from Mineral, Virginia, would find his way into the end zone in eight of 11 games played in 2023.

How Howard wins: Strike first, strike hard.

Playing with an early lead allows for an offense to stay balanced and not worry about pressing to get back into the game. This philosophy has been a key to success for Coach Scott and the Bison. Howard is 6-2 this season when scoring first. Extend that lead to double digits at any point of the game, and the Bison are 4-1.

Celebration Bowl Prediction

Both programs face a little pressure as they enter Saturday as the representative for their respective conferences. Howard wants to continue the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s recent dominance over the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Since 2000, the MEAC has a 48-30 record against SWAC opponents, winning six of the last seven December matchups in Atlanta. In contrast, Florida A&M is looking to be the first SWAC team to win the Celebration Bowl since 2016.

These former MEAC foes are meeting for the first time since 2019, a 39-7 victory for the Rattlers. That year, Willie Simmons led Florida A&M to their first of four straight nine-plus win seasons, while the Bison would end up going 2-10.

This time around, these teams seem to be evenly matched despite the disparity in their records. At 6-5, Howard becomes the second Celebration Bowl participant to have more than three losses. The first one is the 2021 South Carolina State Bulldogs. And, just like their intraconference bredren, I’m looking for the Bison to come away with the upset.

Yes, Coach Simmons is 14-4 against MEAC opponents since becoming head coach in Tallahassee. And, no, I’m not buying SWAC Commissioner Charles McClelland’s theory that the MEAC benefits from having an extra week to prepare for the game, nor that there are “no weeks off” during the regular season for the SWAC.

Based on their 2023 records (.438), Howard’s opponents’ win percentage was more substantial than Florida A&M’s (.416). A slate that included Eastern Michigan, Northwestern, Harvard, and a signature win over then #7 North Carolina Central. 

If the battle-tested Bison can get out to an early lead and avoid special team gaffes, the MEAC will move to 7-1 all-time in the Cricket Celebration Bowl. 

Bison 28, Rattlers 27