The first ever Air Force Reserve (AFR) Celebration Bowl has been set to kickoff the 2015-16 college football bowl season, and this game will actually be a lot more exciting than you may have expected. Alcorn State and North Carolina A&T are two of the best FCS schools in the country, and they'll be facing off here -- a battle of MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) and SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference) champs.
Time: 12 p.m. ET
Channel: ABC
Location: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Ga.
Not many people know about these two teams. The schools are HBCUs or historically black colleges and universities, and their two conferences are comprised of many such institutions. Essentially, this bowl game has been dubbed the "Black College Championship," but it's also big in the sense that two FCS schools are getting a bowl game with national coverage. That's great for that level of football, especially since we've had a handful of FCS teams become FBS teams in recent history.
Now let's look at who to watch in this game.
Alcorn State Players to Watch:
Alcorn State's offense is certainly a run-first scheme. On the year, five different rushers have at least six touchdowns and six have at least 264 yards. Of those six rushers, two are quarterbacks.
John Gibbs Jr., a 6-foot-6, 220-pound senior, started the year at quarterback, but got injured halfway through the season. In came sophomore Lenorris Footman, and the team has gone 4-1 and beat Grambling State in the SWAC championship game since that time. Footman is now second on the team in rushing yards with 1,062 and a team-high 11 touchdowns on the ground. He also has 12 touchdowns and only three interceptions threw the air, despite completing only 44.8 percent of his passes.
The team's leading rusher is senior running back Darryan Ragsdale. He has 1,201 yards and eight touchdowns on the year, averaging 8.2 yards per carry. Ragsdale also has 18 catches for another 145 yards.
Defensively, they have a by-committee approach to getting after the quarterback. Six different players have between 5.5 and 6.5 sacks on the year. In the backfield, two defensive backs lead the team with four INTs this season in senior Warren Gatewood and redshirt junior Eric Foster.
North Carolina A&T Players to Watch:
The Aggies haven't been nearly as impressive offensively. However, their defense has been stifling.
N.C. A&T has allowed under 2.5 yards per carry and only seven rushing touchdowns all season long. That's impressive, and that stout run defense will be meeting perhaps its toughest test in this one against Alcorn State. Run stuffers Angelo Keyes, a 6-foot-1, 268-pound DL, and Marquis Ragland, a 6-foot-3, 271-pound DL, have been holding down the fort this year. The redshirt juniors combined for 25.5 tackles for loss and 88 total tackles this season, and they'll look to do the same in this one.
Offensively, their workhorse has been junior running back Tarik Cohen. The 5-foot-6, 173-pound Cohen has proven that big things come in small packages, racking up over 113 yards per game and 12 touchdowns this year on the ground.
Prediction:
Ultimately, this game will come down to the battle between Alcorn's running game and A&T's run defense. Odds are, Alcorn State simply has too many weapons in this one and will break through a few times. The only way A&T has a shot is if they win the battle on special teams and control the pace of the game on offense.
Final Score: Alcorn State 24, North Carolina A&T 14
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