Bayou Classic

Bayou Classic

Grambling State Southern Jaguars
Sport	American football
First meeting	November 11, 1932 Southern, 20–0
Latest meeting	November 28, 2015 Grambling State, 34–23
Next meeting	November 26, 2016
Statistics
Meetings total	67
All-time series	Tied, 27–27
Largest victory	Southern, 64–6 (1935)
Longest win streak	Grambling State, 9 (1970–1978)
Current win streak	Grambling State, 1 (2015– )

Grambling State University

Southern University

Locations in Louisiana

The Bayou Classic is the annual college football game between the Grambling State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars, first held under that name in 1974 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, although the series itself actually began in 1932. Since 1990 the game has been held the final Saturday in November (i.e., the Saturday after Thanksgiving) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. A trophy is awarded to the winning school. The game had State Farm Insurance as its title sponsor from 1996 to 2011.^[1] Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, organizers moved the 2005 event from the Superdome to Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, where many of New Orleans' evacuees were living. This was the only time that the Bayou Classic was held outside of Louisiana. The 2006 Bayou Classic returned to the Superdome.

It is the best known annual game and rivalry in historically black college or university (HBCU) football and was nationally-televised in the U.S. by NBC from 1991 to 2014. Since 2015 it has aired on the NBC Sports Network.^[2] The Bayou Classic was the only NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) game to be shown regularly on broadcast television. Fans have been known to refer to it as the "Black Super Bowl," although that name is not used in any official capacity by either school due to the National Football League's restrictions on the use of the "Super Bowl" name. Both schools typically forgo FCS playoff eligibility to participate in the Bayou Classic. The game is one of two black college football classics to be associated with Thanksgiving weekend; the other is the older Turkey Day Classic, which was formerly held two days prior on Thanksgiving itself.

Other activities

Of the many festivities held in conjunction with the game, the most well-known and well-attended is the two-part Battle of the Bands, where both universities' marching bands—Grambling's "World Famed" Tiger Marching Band and Southern's Human Jukebox—perform. Following the Greek show, the two renowned bands stage elaborately choreographed performances on the Friday night before the game. The second part is held during the football game's halftime show. There is no official judge for the band event. Other festivities include a golf tournament, coaches luncheon, a concert/festival, tailgating, fashion show, pep rally, alumni functions, college recruitment fair, a Thanksgiving Day Parade (which was brought back in 2011), and a job fair for graduating students of both schools. An annual Grambling vs. Southern "Miss Bayou Classic" beauty pageant was also held from 1978 to 2002.^[3][4]

Impact

The Bayou Classic is a source of tourism revenue ($50 million) to the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana.^[5] 250,000 visitors descend upon New Orleans over the course of the events leading up to the game, and the national television audience has attracted between four and five million viewers.^[6] The success of the game has inspired the promotion of numerous other HBCU rivalries and "classics". In the past the stadium attendance had averaged between 50,000–70,000 annually. Hurricane Katrina brought some challenges, first with a one-year move to Houston, then with a slight drop-off in attendance upon the classic's return to New Orleans, followed by the Florida Classic and Magic City Classic gaining in prestige over that same time period. Though the Bayou Classic also lost its title sponsor in 2011 and GSU faced numerous issues during its 2013 season, officials in 2014 rejected suggestions to remove GSU as a participant and instead resolved to quickly rejuvenate the classic.^[7] Attendance has now climbed significantly each year since 2011 and is again near pre-Katrina levels.^[8] The game also remains nationally televised, although NBC did move the game broadcast over to its sister sports network in 2015.

Series history

Historically, Grambling State and Southern have arguably had the two most successful football teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Through the 2015 season Grambling has more SWAC football titles than any other school (23, not including their vacated 1975 title); Southern has the second most with 19. Grambling and SU also have more black national titles than any other SWAC schools; Grambling has the second most in the entire country with 14 total, while SU has the fourth most at the FCS-level (11). The two schools also represented the SWAC in 11 of the 12 Pelican Bowls and Heritage Bowls that were held. Through 2015 Florida A&M of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference is the only FCS-level HBCU school with more football wins (588) than Southern (578) or Grambling (565).^[9]

Southern leads the overall series with Grambling, begun in 1932, by a 36–31 margin. Both teams are tied in the Bayou Classic era 21–all after Grambling State beat Southern 34–23 in 2015. Grambling claims the longest winning streak in the all-time series, 9 games from 1970 to 1978 (including SU's 1972 forfeit). Southern claims the longest winning streak in the Bayou Classic era, 8 games from 1993–2000 (the Jaguars also had a previous 8-game winning streak at the start of the series, in the games played between 1932–46). Grambling's 43–6 victory in 1980 ranks as the largest margin of victory in the Bayou Classic, while SU's 1935 victory (64–6) is the largest margin in the all-time series.^[10] Multiple trophies have been awarded to the winner of the Bayou Classic over the years. The most recent trophy, consisting of Waterford Crystal, was retired after the 2014 game after more than 25 years of service and presented to the Smithsonian Institution for its National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.^[11] A newly designed trophy has been showcased since the 2015 game.

People prominently involved in the series include Ace Mumford (SU coach from 1936–42 and again 1944–61, prior to the Bayou Classic phase of the series), Eddie Robinson (GSU coach from 1941–42 and again 1945–97), Doug Williams (GSU player from 1974–77, SU consultant in 1985, and GSU coach from 1998–2003 and again 2011–13), Marino Casem (SU athletic director from 1986–99 and coach from 1987–88 and again 1992), Pete Richardson (SU coach from 1993–2009), and Rod Broadway (GSU coach from 2007–10). Mumford once had the third most wins among all college football coaches (behind Pop Warner and Amos Alonzo Stagg), and Robinson later had the most. Today Robinson still has the third most wins (behind John Gagliardi and Joe Paterno) and also has the most wins among all who coached at HBCU schools; Mumford now has the fourth most wins among HBCU coaches behind Robinson, Billy Joe, and John Merritt. Broadway holds the distinction of being the only coach to have ever won a black national title at three different schools, one of which was Grambling.

Prior to 1974, though the game was viewed as a big rivalry between the two schools, it was not near the media spectacle that it is today. After it was re-branded as the Bayou Classic and moved to New Orleans, a trophy was added and numerous events were also scheduled to be held throughout the week leading up to the game itself. Games in the series played before 1974 are generally not included within the context of the Bayou Classic's historical lineage. SU led the series 15–10 up until that point. The annual game was known to be touted as a "classic" as early as the 1948 meeting, a game that the Jaguars won in an 18–0 upset before 10,000 fans.^[12] According to Ken Rappoport and Barry Wilner in their book Football Feuds: The Greatest College Football Rivalries (2007), a brawl during that game led to a suspension of the series for the next decade (a period in which the Jaguars won three black national championships) and complicated GSU's admittance to SWAC membership until shortly before the rivalry was resumed in 1959. With the renewal of the series in 1959, the game was again billed as a "classic" but proved a bittersweet return as five fans were killed in a vehicular accident on their way to the game.^[13] Rappoport and Wilner noted in their book that the series was again interrupted in 1972, this time due to unrest on host Southern's campus—which resulted in a forfeiture by SU. The game was then moved off-campus to a neutral site (Shreveport) the following year, drawing a large crowd of 40,000 and influencing the decision to create the Bayou Classic.

Game results

Pre-Classic results

Grambling State victories

Southern victories

Tie games

# Date Location Winning team Losing team 1 1932 Monroe Southern 20 Grambling State 0 2 1933 Louisiana Southern 20 Grambling State 0 3 1934 Baton Rouge Southern 25 Grambling State 9 4 1935 Baton Rouge Southern 64 Grambling State 6 5 1936 Grambling Southern 36 Grambling State 0 6 1938 Ruston Southern 20 Grambling State 0 7 1939 Grambling Southern 53 Grambling State 7 8 1946 Baton Rouge Southern 38 Grambling State 0 9 1947 Grambling Grambling State 21 Southern 6 10 1948 Baton Rouge Southern 18 Grambling State 0 11 1959 Grambling Southern 12 Grambling State 6 12 1960 Baton Rouge Southern 16 Grambling State 6 13 1961 Grambling Southern 20 Grambling State 9 14 1962 Baton Rouge Grambling State 14 Southern 3 # Date Location Winning team Losing team 15 1963 Grambling Southern 22 Grambling State 21 16 1964 Baton Rouge Grambling State 20 Southern 17 17 1965 Grambling Grambling State 34 Southern 14 18 1966 Baton Rouge Southern 41 Grambling State 13 19 1967 Grambling Grambling State 27 Southern 20 20 1968 Baton Rouge Grambling State 34 Southern 32 21 1969 Grambling Southern 15 Grambling State 6 22 1970 Baton Rouge Grambling State 37 Southern 24 23 1971 Grambling Grambling State 31 Southern 3 24 1972 Baton Rouge Grambling State 0 Southern^† 0 25 1973 Grambling Grambling State 19 Southern 14 Series: Southern leads 15–10 † Southern forfeited the game.[14]

Bayou Classic results

Grambling State victories

Southern victories

Tie games

# Date Location Winner Score 1 Nov. 23, 1974 New Orleans, LA Grambling State 21–0 2 Nov. 29, 1975 New Orleans Grambling State 33–17 3 Nov. 27, 1976 New Orleans Grambling State 10–2 4 Nov. 26, 1977 New Orleans Grambling State 55–20 5 Nov. 25, 1978 New Orleans Grambling State 28–15 6 Dec. 1, 1979 New Orleans Southern 14–7 7 Nov. 29, 1980 New Orleans Grambling State 43–16 8 Nov. 21, 1981 New Orleans Southern 50–20 9 Nov. 27, 1982 New Orleans Southern 22–17 10 Nov. 26, 1983 New Orleans Grambling State 24–10 11 Nov. 24, 1984 New Orleans Grambling State 31–29 12 Nov. 23, 1985 New Orleans Grambling State 29–12 13 Nov. 29, 1986 New Orleans Grambling State 30–3 14 Nov. 28, 1987 New Orleans Southern 27–21 15 Nov. 26, 1988 New Orleans Southern 10–3 16 Nov. 18, 1989 New Orleans Grambling State 44–30 17 Nov. 24, 1990 New Orleans Grambling State 25–13 18 Nov. 30, 1991 New Orleans Southern 31–30 19 Nov. 28, 1992 New Orleans Grambling State 30–27 20 Nov. 27, 1993 New Orleans Southern 31–13 21 Nov. 26, 1994 New Orleans Southern 34–7 22 Nov. 25, 1995 New Orleans Southern 30–14 # Date Location Winner Score 23 Nov. 30, 1996 New Orleans Southern 17–12 24 Nov. 29, 1997 New Orleans Southern 30–7 25 Nov. 28, 1998 New Orleans Southern 26–14 26 Nov. 27, 1999 New Orleans Southern 37–31 27 Nov. 25, 2000 New Orleans Southern 33–29 28 Nov. 24, 2001 New Orleans Grambling State 30–20 29 Nov. 30, 2002 New Orleans Southern 48–24 30 Nov. 29, 2003 New Orleans Southern 44–41 31 Nov. 27, 2004 New Orleans Grambling State 24–13 32 Nov. 26, 2005 Houston, TX Grambling State 50–35 33 Nov. 25, 2006 New Orleans Southern 21–17 34 Nov. 24, 2007 New Orleans Southern 22–13 35 Nov. 29, 2008 New Orleans Grambling State 29–14 36 Nov. 28, 2009 New Orleans Grambling State 31–13 37 Nov. 27, 2010 New Orleans Grambling State 38–17 38 Nov. 26, 2011 New Orleans Grambling State 36–12 39 Nov. 24, 2012 New Orleans Southern 38–33 40 Nov. 30, 2013 New Orleans Southern 40–17 41 Nov. 29, 2014 New Orleans Southern 52–45 42 Nov. 28, 2015 New Orleans Grambling State 34–23 Series: Tied 21–21

See also

• Southern Jaguars and Lady Jaguars
• Grambling State Tigers

References

1. "Bayou Classic looking for revival after lean attendance years". nola.com.
2. "Bayou Classic moving to 4 p.m. start time, will air on NBC Sports Network". theadvocate.com.
3. "In case you were wondering". The Gramblinite.
4. "Bye-Bye Miss Bayou Classic". The Southern Digest.
5. "The Bayou Classic requires Southern and Grambling: Editorial". nola.com. June 20, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
6. "Traditions". mybayouclassic.com. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
7. Sean Isabella (June 21, 2014). "Superdome board member backtracks on comments about Grambling". usatoday.com. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
8. "Classic Attendance Numbers for the Classic". noladefender.com. November 29, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
9. "Division I-AA All-Time Wins". cfbdatawarehouse.com. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
10. "Southern vs Grambling St. (LA)". cfbdatawarehouse.com. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
11. "Bayou Classic trophy heads to Smithsonian". thenewsstar.com. April 29, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
12. "Jaguars Jolt Grambling, 18–0: Southern Starts Scoring Drive in Second Half". New Orleans Times-Picayune (sec. 5, p. 4). October 3, 1948.
13. "5 La. Schoolteachers Killed En Route to Ball Game". Jet (p. 7). October 22, 1959.
14. Thomas Aiello (2010). "Bayou Classic: The Grambling–Southern Football Rivalry". books.google.com.

External links

• Official website