The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for most sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly referred to as Division I-AA.
Jackson State University is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of student enrollment. The university is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium has been the home stadium of the Jackson State Tigers football team since 1970. Originally known as War Veterans Memorial Stadium, it was later known as Hinds County War Memorial Stadium. It was redesigned and enlarged in 1960 and Ole Miss vs. Arkansas dedicated Mississippi Memorial Stadium in 1961 before a capacity crowd of 46,000. With political support from Ole Miss and Mississippi State and leadership from Ole Miss Athletics Director Warner Alford, Mississippi Memorial Stadium was enlarged to 62,500 in 1981 and on September 26, 1981 Ole Miss and Arkansas again dedicated the facility before 63,522.
The Jackson State Tigers and Lady Tigers represent Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi, in NCAA intercollegiate athletics.
The Alcorn State Braves are the college football team of Alcorn State University. The Braves play in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
The Jackson State–Southern football rivalry, often informally called the BoomBox Classic, is a college football rivalry between the Tigers of Jackson State University (JSU) and the Jaguars of Southern University (SU). An annual conference game between two historically black universities in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), its location usually rotates between JSU's Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi and SU's A. W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but it has also been held at larger venues to accommodate the large crowds that the game draws. As of 2023, the Jaguars lead the series 35–33, not including two wins that Southern was ordered to vacate by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The Jackson State Tigers football team represents Jackson State University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
The SWAC Championship Game, officially the Cricket Wireless SWAC Championship Game, is an American college football game that is held annually on the first Saturday in December by the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) to determine its football champion. The game pits the champion of the Eastern Division against the champion of the Western Division in a game that follows the conclusion of the regular season. From 2015 onward, the winner of the game has represented the SWAC in the Celebration Bowl. Currently, it is the only conference championship game conducted at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. As of the 2019 season, the game is sponsored by Cricket Wireless.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament decides the conference baseball championship of the NCAA Division I Southwestern Athletic Conference. The top four finishers in each conference division participate in a two-bracket, double-elimination tournament, most recently played in Birmingham, Alabama, between May 25 and May 29, 2022. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament and, since 2019, to the HBCU World Series.
The Celebration Bowl is a postseason college football bowl game, first played in the 2015 season, contested between the champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC)—the two prominent conferences of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in NCAA Division I. It serves as the de facto national championship of black college football. The game is held annually in Atlanta on the third weekend of December, and has been played at the Georgia Dome and Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It is currently the only active bowl game to feature teams from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
The 2016–17 Alcorn State Braves basketball team represented Alcorn State University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Braves, led by second year head coach Montez Robinson, played their home games at the Davey Whitney Complex in Lorman, Mississippi as members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They finished the season 18–14, 13–5 in SWAC play to finish in second place.
The 2016–17 Jackson State Tigers basketball team represented Jackson State University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Tigers, led by fourth-year head coach Wayne Brent, played their home games at the Williams Assembly Center in Jackson, Mississippi as members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They finished the season 14–18, 10–8 in SWAC play to finish in a four-way tie for third place. As the No. 6 seed in the SWAC tournament, they lost to Southern in the quarterfinals.
The 2017 Alcorn State Braves football team represented Alcorn State University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Braves were led by second-year head coach Fred McNair and played their home games at Casem-Spinks Stadium in Lorman, Mississippi as members of the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). They finished the season 7–5, 5–2 in SWAC play to win the East Division. They lost the SWAC Championship Game to Grambling State.
The 2019 Southern Jaguars football team represents Southern University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Jaguars are led by seventh-year head coach Dawson Odums and play their home games at Ace W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as members of the West Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
The 2020 Alabama A&M Bulldogs football team represented Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Bulldogs were led by third-year head coach Connell Maynor and played their home games at Louis Crews Stadium in Huntsville, Alabama as members of the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. On July 20, 2020, the Southwestern Athletic Conference announced that it would not play fall sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020–21 Alcorn State Braves basketball team represented Alcorn State University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Braves, led by first-year head coach Landon Bussie, played their home games at the Davey Whitney Complex in Lorman, Mississippi as members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
The 2021 Alcorn State Braves football team represented Alcorn State University in the 2021 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Braves played their home games at Casem-Spinks Stadium in Lorman, Mississippi, and competed in the West Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). They were led by fifth-year head coach Fred McNair.
The 2021 SWAC Championship Game was a college football game played on December 4, 2021, at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi. It was the 23rd edition of the SWAC Championship Game and determined the champion of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) for the 2021 season. The game began at 3:00 p.m. CST and aired on ESPN2. The game featured the Jackson State Tigers, the East Division champions, and the Prairie View A&M Panthers, the West Division champions. Sponsored by wireless service provider Cricket and by beverage corporation PepsiCo through their Pepsi Zero Sugar brand, the game was officially known as the 2021 Cricket SWAC Football Championship presented by Pepsi Zero Sugar. The winner of the game received a bid to the Celebration Bowl to face the South Carolina State Bulldogs, champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).
The 2022 Alcorn State Braves football team represented Alcorn State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 2022 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by head coach Fred McNair, who was coaching his sixth season with the program. The Braves played their home games at Casem-Spinks Stadium in Lorman, Mississippi.
The 2022 Celebration Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 17, 2022, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The seventh annual Celebration Bowl, the game featured the Jackson State Tigers, champions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the North Carolina Central Eagles, champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). The SWAC and MEAC are the two prominent NCAA Division I conferences of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
