Jackson State vs South Carolina State: Cricket Celebration Bowl prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, December 18
Jackson State vs South Carolina State: Cricket Celebration Bowl How To Watch
Date: Saturday, December
Game Time: 12:00 ET
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
How To Watch: ABC, Live stream on ESPN+
Record: Jackson State (11-1), South Carolina State (6-5)
Jackson State vs South Carolina State Cricket Celebration Bowl Preview
– Deion Sanders took a good Jackson State football program and made it great. The Tigers were 4-8 in 2019, went 4-3 in the 2021 spring season after Sanders took over, and then it all kicked in with an 11-1 season – the only loss in a great, low-scoring battle with ULM of the FBS world – and a SWAC championship.
– South Carolina State had a bit of a disappointing season, but it managed to with the MEAC title and get here with wins in five of its last six games. Legendary head coach Buddy Pough has a solid, veteran team built around good lines and a defense that takes the ball away in bunches.
– Jackson State wins on defense, but it has a terrific passing offense led by Shedeur Sanders. Deion’s son is the first player from an HBCU to win the Jerry Rice award as the best freshman in the FCS, throwing for over 3,000 yards with 29 touchdown passes with just six picks. He ran for three scores, too.
Why Jackson State, South Carolina State Will Win
Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
NEXT: Why Jackson State Will Win, Why South Carolina State Will Win, Cricket Celebration Bowl Prediction
Why Jackson State Will Win The Cricket Celebration Bowl
The offense is more than fine. The offense around Shedeur Sanders will keep things moving and hit enough big plays to take over, but it’s the other side that should own the game.
The defense has been devastating.
Starting with James Houston at one linebacker spot – he led the way with 14.5 sacks with seven forced fumbles – the pass rush led all of FCS in sacks and tackles for loss with a relentless style that stops drives cold.
The South Carolina State offense is good, but it’s way too inconsistent. Corey Fields is a veteran passer, but he throws too many interceptions, the running game doesn’t make up for the incompletions, and now the attack gets a secondary that allowed quarterbacks to connect on just 49% of their throws.
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Why South Carolina State Will Win The Cricket Celebration Bowl
For all the great things Jackson State does, it doesn’t run the ball all that well behind a leaky offensive line.
The defense tends to pick up the slack for most of the problems, but Jackson State’s front five gets Sanders popped way too often – and South Carolina State has the defensive playmakers to keep on coming.
Yeah, QB Corey Fields throws too many interceptions, but the team doesn’t fumble and the defense – again – manages to come up with enough takeaways to matter.
The Bulldogs don’t have the defense the Tigers are bringing, but they should be able to keep this low scoring. If they can force a few turnovers and capitalize, this should be interesting late.
Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
NEXT: What’s Going To Happen, Jackson State vs South Carolina State Prediction, Cricket Celebration Bowl History
Jackson State vs South Carolina State: Cricket Celebration Bowl, What’s Going To Happen
Jackson State’s defense is about to put on a show.
South Carolina State will need something special – a big special teams play or a few takeaways – to get things going offensively. There won’t be any ground game to speak of, and Corey Fields is way too inaccurate to do too much against the Tiger pass rush and secondary.
Jackson State won’t go off early, but the defense will keep the field tilted, and then things will start to break midway though the second half.
Cricket Celebration Bowl: Jackson State vs South Carolina State Prediction, Lines
Jackson State 27, South Carolina State 13
Line: Jackson State -10, o/u: 42.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3
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Must See Rating: 3
5: “Die Hard” (as a Christmas movie)
1: “A Very Boy Band Holiday”
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Cricket Celebration Bowl History
2020 Canceled
Dec. 21, 2019 North Carolina A&T 64, Alcorn State 44
Dec. 15, 2018 North Carolina A&T 24, Alcorn State 22
Dec. 16, 2017 North Carolina A&T 21, Grambling State 14
Dec. 17, 2016 Grambling State 10, North Carolina A&T 9
Dec. 19, 2015 North Carolina A&T41, Alcorn State 34
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