2024 Celebration Bowl

The 2024 Celebration Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 14, 2024, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The ninth annual Celebration Bowl featured South Carolina State, champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), and Jackson State, champions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The game began at approximately 12:00 p.m. EST and aired on ABC.^[3] Sponsored by Cricket Wireless, the game was officially known as the Cricket Celebration Bowl.

The SWAC and MEAC are the two NCAA Division I conferences of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The Celebration Bowl thus serves as a de facto black college football national championship.

The Celebration Bowl was the only one of the 2024–25 bowl games played by teams from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The NCAA had a 24-team bracket tournament to determine a champion for the 2024 FCS football season.

South Carolina State secured their Celebration Bowl berth with a win over Morgan State on November 16, clinching the MEAC title for the Bulldogs.^[4] South Carolina State had suffered two losses in their first three regular-season games, falling to Florida A&M and Georgia Southern. The Bulldogs then won their next seven games, improving to 8–2 overall (4–0 in conference) at the time they secured their bowl berth. South Carolina State subsequently defeated Norfolk in their final regular-season game, and entered the Celebration Bowl with an overall record of 9–2 (5–0 in conference).

Jackson State defeated Southern in the SWAC Football Championship Game to secure a berth in the Celebration Bowl. The Tigers entered the bowl with an 11–2 record (9–0 in conference), having lost only to Louisiana–Monroe (an FBS team) and Grambling State.

After a scoreless first quarter, Jackson State scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and took a 14–0 lead into halftime. Following a scoreless third quarter, Jackson State extended its lead to 21–0, after which the teams traded touchdowns, for a 28–7 final score. This was Jackson State's first Celebration Bowl win in three appearances.^[5]

• Game statistics at statbroadcast.com