The 2018 Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

that was played on December 15, 2018, with kickoff at 12:00 p.m. EST. It was the first game of the 2018–19 bowl season, and the only bowl to feature FCS teams. It was the fourth edition of the

Celebration Bowl The Celebration Bowl is a postseason college football bowl game, first played in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season, 2015 season, contested between the champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the Southwestern Athlet ...

and the final game of the

2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season The 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season, part of college football in the United States, was organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level. The FCS Champio ...

for the participating teams. The

Air Force Reserve The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commis ...

resumed its role as the title sponsor after a one-year absence. In the game, the

North Carolina A&T Aggies The North Carolina A&T Aggies are the athletic teams that represent North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. The Aggies compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Coastal Athl ...

, champions of the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

, defeated the

Alcorn State Braves The Alcorn State Braves and Lady Braves represent Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi in intercollegiate athletics. They field 15 teams including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, tennis, and track and field; women's- ...

, champions of the

Southwestern Athletic Conference The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United St ...

, 24–22.

Teams

The participants for the game are based upon the final regular season standings which determine the

(MEAC) football champion, and the

(SWAC) football championship game that determines the representative from that conference.

North Carolina A&T Aggies

The North Carolina A&T Aggies (NC A&T) were announced as the MEAC representative on November 17, following the conclusion of games involving itself and

Florida A&M Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. ...

(FAMU), the conference front-runners. As outlined in the conference tiebreaker rules, due to defeating NC A&T earlier in the season, a FAMU victory at the

Florida Classic The Florida Classic is the annual college football rivalry game between Bethune–Cookman University and Florida A&M University. The game is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group that also organizes the Pop-Tarts Bowl and ...

would have given the Rattlers the Celebration Bowl bid and at least a share of the MEAC championship regardless of the outcome of NC A&T's game. However, FAMU lost the Florida Classic to arch-rival Bethune-Cookman, 33–19, while NC A&T defeated North Carolina Central, 45–0, giving them the conference championship and Celebration Bowl bid. NC A&T, led by first-year head coach

Sam Washington Samuel Lee Washington Jr. (born March 7, 1960) is an American football coach and former defensive back who was the head football coach at North Carolina A&T State University. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Washington played college football at ...

, entered the season ranked number 14 in the AFCA preseason poll, number 13 in the

STATS Statistics (from German: ', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industrial, or social ...

FCS top 25 poll, and number one in the BoxtoRow polls as the defending HBCU National Champions. The Aggies were also unanimously picked as the favorites to repeat as MEAC champions. The Aggies finished their 2018 regular season at 9–2 (6–1 in MEAC)—with key victories over

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

champion Jacksonville State and in-state FBS foe

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

—and entered the Celebration Bowl ranked number 11 by STATS. This was the third Celebration Bowl appearance for NC A&T, following their victory over the

Grambling Tigers The Grambling State Tigers and Lady Tigers represent Grambling State University in NCAA intercollegiate athletics. Grambling's sports teams participate in Division I (I-FCS for football) as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) ...

in the

2017 Celebration Bowl The 2017 Celebration Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game that was played on December 16, 2017 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. This third Celebration Bowl game matched the champion of the Mid-Eastern Athlet ...

, 21–14.

Alcorn State Braves

Alcorn State defeated Southern in the

SWAC Championship Game 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 foot ...

on December 1 to secure their berth in the Celebration Bowl. Led by third-year head coach

Fred McNair Frederick V. McNair IV (born July 22, 1950) is an American former professional tennis player who reached the world No. 1 doubles ranking in 1976. That year, he teamed up with Sherwood Stewart to capture the men's doubles titles at French Open, ...

, the Braves were ranked third in the BoxtoRow HBCU preseason poll, voted to win the SWAC East division. The Braves enter the bowl with a 9–3 record (6–1 in conference regular season play).

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

External links

Box score
at

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

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