HBCU Celebration Bowl or FCS Playoffs? The postseason debate goes far beyond football
The Celebration Bowl allows NCAA Division I HBCU conference representatives to compete in a championship setting.
The annual game since 2015 pits the Southwestern Athletic Conference and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference winners against each other for the Black College Football National Championship.
The SWAC’s Florida A&M Rattlers won the 2023 Celebration Bowl, beating the MEAC’s Howard Bison 30-26 in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium last Saturday.
Conversely, the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs allow teams to play for a Division I championship.
Ten automatic bids are given to conference winners, with 14 teams having to get an at-large vote to participate in the 24-team bracket.
The SWAC and MEAC aren’t in that count, forgoing their automatic FCS bids in favor of the league winners squaring off in the Celebration Bowl. Conference teams, however, are eligible to receive an at-large bid into the playoffs.
Additionally, the SWAC and MEAC get a guaranteed $2.4 million payout, with $1.2 million apiece going to the SWAC and MEAC to disperse to its teams. To compare, teams must bid money to host an FCS first-round game as FAMU attempted to last season.
The Rattlers have experienced both the FCS playoffs and Celebration Bowl during the Simmons era. FAMU fell 38-14 to Southeastern Louisiana in the 2021 FCS first-round, then defeated Howard in this year’s Celebration Bowl.
“There’s no comparison,” FAMU head coach Willie Simmons said in favor of the Celebration Bowl over the FCS playoffs.
“The experience that the guys get at the bowl, playing on national television in an NFL stadium — it’s an experience you can’t buy. And once the check clears, that’ll be more reasons why people feel the Celebration Bowl is the better option.”
Simmons has been chasing the Celebration Bowl since his 2015-2017 tenure with fellow SWAC team Prairie View A&M.
He finally secured it in 2023 in FAMU’s hard-fought win over Howard.
The Celebration Bowl concludes a near-week of odes to HBCUs, such as the gameday eve Band of the Year competition and informational seminars for the participating student-athletes.
Saturday's Celebration Bowl drew the game’s third-most attended game of 41,108 fans.
The 2023 Celebration Bowl’s ABC broadcast viewership had a game-low 1.51 million television viewer average, according to Sports Media Watch, but still outdid the weekend’s FCS semifinals games, Albany at South Dakota State (476K average viewers) and North Dakota State at Montana (790K average viewers) last year per HERO Sports’ FCS senior analyst Sam Herder.
HBCU and 2022 Celebration Bowl winner North Carolina Central, earned an at-large FCS bid this season after winning a portion of the MEAC. However, it lost the tiebreaker to Howard, which beat NCCU on Nov. 11.
The NCCU Eagles fell to Richmond 49-27 in the FCS first round.
NCCU is the second HBCU in the last three years to earn an at-large bid into the FCS playoffs, joining FAMU’s 2021 appearance.
Simmons, NCCU head coach Trei Oliver, and former North Carolina A&T head coach Rod Broadway are the only three to lead their teams to the Celebration Bowl and FCS playoffs during their tenures.
“I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world, and anybody who’s been a part of the bulk would echo those sentiments that we’ll take Celebration Bowl over FCS playoffs,” Simmons said.
“In the FCS playoffs, you’re going to have to travel to someone else’s place; it’s going to be cold and outside. It’s Thanksgiving weekend.
"It’s just a lot that goes around it.”
FAMU has history of representing HBCUs in FCS playoffs
FAMU won the first-ever FCS, formerly the Division I-AA, national championship in 1978.
Head coach Rudy Hubbard’s Rattlers, ranked No. 3 in the nation by the Associated Press, beat the No. T-4 Massachusetts Minutemen 35-28 in Wichita Falls, Texas.
This year’s FAMU team finished the season ranked fifth in the FCS Coaches Poll, leaving some wondering how they would have fared in the national tournament.
“I really wish they had a way you could do both,” Hubbard said.
“But the conferences have made their decisions. They [schools] really don’t have a choice in the matter. I think they could have tweaked [the system]. I believe Willie and Florida A&M could go into [the FCS playoffs] and win that thing, too.
“They are that good. I just think you ought to be able to have that chance.”
Last season, FAMU got left out of the FCS postseason bracket following its third consecutive nine-win season.
The 9-2 Rattlers finished second in the SWAC East behind eventual SWAC champions Jackson State, eliminating them from Celebration Bowl contention to cause them to shift their focus to an FCS title.
“Yes, it would be nice to do what we did in '78 and go out and win an FCS national championship if it lined up that way,” Simmons said.
“To not receive the bid was a crushing blow. I challenged [the players] that day of not wanting to have that feeling again and not putting ourselves in a position where someone else can dictate our success.”
Rattler Nation weighs in on HBCU Celebration Bowl vs. FCS playoffs debate
Gail Butler-Hinton: “Remember, if you win the SWAC East, you have to play for the SWAC title, per SWAC rules. If you win the SWAC title, you must play in the Celebration Bowl. Both of these games are after the FCS playoff has started. If you win the SWAC, no FCS playoff! If you don't win the SWAC and have a good win-loss record, you might get an invite! Rattlers got no invite last year! Right now, the Celebration Bowl yields more money for our program. We need more money, FAMULY, for our athletic program!”
Kylan Chavious: “FCS Playoffs sounds glorious in theory. Who doesn’t want to compete against the best in their division? At the same time, the business model is severely outdated. It’s not an accident that a lot of the top teams are jumping to the FBS. You don’t benefit financially from winning in the FCS Playoffs. You have to pay to play. With FAMU and many HBCUs being limited resource programs, you have to go with what makes sense fiscally. Right now, that’s winning the SWAC and playing in the Celebration Bowl.”
H.D. Martin: “Although winning a “mythical” HBCU championship is fun and cool, I couldn’t help but wish it was a championship over the entire FCS landscape.”
Reginald Smith: “Celebration Bowl: More money, students, and alumni travel to ATL. Great time had by all. FCS Playoffs: Chance at winning the FCS national championship, but far less money, and they always make us travel some backwoods to play for far less money. And students and alumni will be less inclined to travel. I vote Celebration Bowl.”
Paula Williams: “When the team went to Louisiana a few years ago, we were in the middle of nowhere. I did not like the atmosphere and the attendance was nothing like at the Celebration Bowl. If we are serious about the next level of play, that means lots more funds from our fan base. If our boys are in that arena, they need to show up on an even playing field. We need to make sure they have everything needed, along with their coaches. Resources have to be in place. Things should be outlined far in advance.”
Rory Woodfaulk: “Celebration Bowl is just that ― a Celebration of HBCUs and a salute to football in which there’s a more handsome financial payout to the institution and conference. Playoffs are a true merit-based competition to find the best in tour sport. Football is the only sport where our athletes are not allowed to compete against the best. Best for school, Celebration Bowl. It is best for athletic competition, Playoffs. I vote playoffs.”
Author's note: These excerpts have been compiled from the Tallahassee Democrat's RattlerNews.com Facebook page.
Gerald Thomas, III covers Florida A&M University Athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at gdthomas@tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU Football: Weighing FCS playoffs, Celebration Bowl for Rattlers
