Once upon a time, the Pelican Bowl and Heritage Bowl served the College Football Betting role that the Celebration Bowl now fulfills. Since 2015, the Celebration Bowl has served as the national championship game of Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This year, the Howard Bison of the MEAC will face the Florida A&M Rattlers of the SWAC. The Celebration Bowl was founded in 2015 and was contested between the champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Celebration Bowl Howard vs. Florida A&M Betting Information
| Date and Time: | Saturday, December 16, 2023, 12 p.m. ET. |
|---|---|
| Location: | Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA. |
| TV Coverage: | ABC |
| Team | Spread | Total | ML | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howard | +4½ -110 | 50½ -110 | +170 |  |
| Florida A&M | -4½ -110 | 50½ -110 | -200 | |
| ||||
Celebration Bowl Format
Specifically, the MEAC and SWAC are the predominant athletic conferences for historically black colleges and universities. The Celebration Bowl serves as the de facto national championship of black college football. Among the unique aspects of the Celebration Bowl is that it is the only active bowl game to feature programs from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
Celebration Bowl Recent Results
In 2022, the Celebration Bowl had what was its biggest offshore betting matchup in history. A record crowd of 49,670 was on hand for the contest. Correlate, it was the first to be decided in overtime. In turn, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) continued its dominance over the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) with its sixth win in the seven-year history of the Celebration Bowl. NC Central won the game 41-34.
The loss was the second in as many years for Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders. To show, he suffered a defeat in the postseason Classic between the two conferences. Jackson State fell to South Carolina State 31-10 in 2021.
Celebration Bowl Past Winners
The North Carolina A&T Aggies have dominated the Celebration Bowl with four wins and four appearances. North Carolina A&T won the Celebration Bowl in 2015 and then three consecutive seasons from 2017 through 2019. In sum, Alcorn State holds the distinction of making the Celebration Bowl three times but never winning it.
Celebration Bowl Matchup
Overall, the Howard Bison finished the season 6-5 and won the MEAC title outright with a league record of 4-1. NC Central had the same conference record as Howard. But the Bison won the tie-breaker based on a 50-20 victory over NC Central in the regular season. Howard won four of its most recent five games, including two in a row to end the season.
Howard is led by QB Quinton Williams, who posted a 135.6 QBR with a 16/4 TD/INT ratio. WR Kasey Hawthorne caught 35 passes for 504 yards and five TDs. And then Jarett Hunter rushed for 602 yards, 4.5 yards per carry, and eight TDs.
The Florida A&M Rattlers have a College Football Betting record of 11-1 and were 8-0 champions of the SWAC. Also, Florida A&M is ranked 5th in the FCS coach’s poll. Florida A&M won its final ten games of the 2023 campaign.
To summarize, head coach Willie Simmons has a record of 44-13 at Florida A&M, including a 32-5 mark in the SWAC with two conference titles. Senior QB Jeremy Moussa compiled a 136.8 QBR with a 19/7 TD/INT ratio. WR Morris Riley caught 31 passes for 621 yards, good for 20.0 yards per catch with five TDs. At the same time, RB Terrell Jennings added 606 rushing yards, 6.0 yards per carry, and eight TDs.
Celebration Bowl Prediction
In this situation, Florida A&M has a much more impressive resume.