The Jackson State University Tigers are SWAC champions. JSU defeated Prairie A&M, 27-10, and became the champion of the Southwestern Athletic Conference on Saturday.
This is the first conference championship for JSU head coach and Pro Hall of Famer Deion Sanders and the first conference championship for the university since 2007.
“Look at this. Look at the community,” Sanders told ESPN’s Tiffany Blackmon. “Look at Jackson. Look at the SWAC… I’m so elated right now. It’s one thing to win, but to win with our people? Jesus, Lord, I thank you.”
Congratulatory messages poured in from fellow SWAC opponents.
“Congratulations @GoJSUTigersFB, @DeionSanders, and @JacksonStateAD on winning @theswac championship,” the Florida A&M football team tweeted their congrats. “Bring home a win in the @CelebrationBowl for all of @theswac.”
The Rattlers played the Tigers in their SWAC debut back in September and lost, 7-6. FAMU went on to have a 9-2 record and went on to the FCS playoffs against Southeastern Louisiana.
But the Rattlers lost to the Lions, 38- 14. Both JSU and FAMU have been extremely supportive and respectful of each other’s programs. Coach Prime tweeted his support to Rattlers’ head coach, Willie Simmons, and the team, in the FCS playoffs. Both of their marching bands are starring in a Pepsi commercial together.
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SWAC coach of the year
Sanders is JSU’s 21st head coach when he took the job in 2020. Like many historically Black college and university coaches, the two-time, All-American works to not only improve the program but put HBCU athletics in a more national spotlight.
“We should be right there,” Sanders told USA Today back in May, after learning the NFL passed over HBCU players in the draft. He expressed his reaction on his Instagram, saying the kids were “neglected and rejected.”
He told USA Today, “We shouldn’t have a separate combine. That doesn’t make sense to have a separate combine. I was just trying to get us in, but now that I’m involved, and I’m in it, we don’t want separate. We want together.”
Sanders was recently named the SWAC Coach of the Year.
From here, Jackson State will go on to play South Carolina State on Dec. 18 in the Cricket Celebration Bowl in Atlanta.
