Jackson State–Southern football rivalry explained

Wide:yes
Boombox Classic
Team1logo:Jackson State athletics logo.svg
Team2logo:Southern Jaguars SU script logo.gif
Firstmeeting:November 30, 1929[1]
Southern, 98–0
Mostrecent:September 9, 2023
Jackson State, 27–14
Nextmeeting:September 14, 2024
Total:70
Series:Southern, 35–33 (not including 2 vacated wins)[2]
Largestvictory:Southern, 98–0 (1929)
Jackson State, 41–0 (1981)
Longeststreak:Southern, 8 (2013–2021)
Jackson State, 7 (1977–1983)
Currentstreak:Jackson State, 4 (2021–present)

The Jackson State–Southern football rivalry, often informally called the BoomBox Classic,[3] is a college football rivalry between the Tigers of Jackson State University (JSU) and the Jaguars of Southern University (SU). An annual conference game between two historically black universities in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), its location usually rotates between JSU's Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi and SU's A. W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but it has also been held at larger venues to accommodate the large crowds that the game draws. As of 2023, the Jaguars lead the series 35–33, not including two wins that Southern was ordered to vacate by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).[2]

Background

The teams first met on November 30, 1929, a 98–0 win by Southern.[1] After that game, the series was not resumed again until 1958, when Jackson State joined the SWAC. Since then, the conference rivals have played each other every year—and twice in 1999 and 2013, when Southern defeated Jackson State in SWAC championship games. In fact, both schools are among the most successful SWAC members. Through 2021, Southern has won the second-most SWAC football titles (19), while Jackson State has won the third-most (17).

Past venues and atmosphere

Both JSU and SU are known to have finished among the top ten NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision schools in past annual home attendance figures.[4] Due to the game's substantial crowds, it has sometimes been played at alternative venues to accommodate the numbers. In 1961 it was played in Mobile, Alabama as part of the second annual "Claver Classic." It was played in Baton Rouge's Memorial Stadium in 1978,[5] since it could hold upwards of 25,000 fans, while Southern's stadium could only hold 13,000 at the time.[6] It was played in New Orleans in 2000,[7] 2002, and 2004[8] —the latter as part of the then-annual "Big Easy Classic" series.[7] In 2009, Southern voluntarily surrendered a home game to keep it at JSU’s home stadium to take advantage of the larger capacity.[9] The 2012 game was played as part of the annual "W. C. Gorden Classic" series.[10]

The intense rivalry extends beyond the game itself, featuring a battle between the schools' well-respected and popular marching bands, Jackson State's "Sonic Boom of the South" and Southern's "Human Jukebox."[9] Hence, in the past, the game had been commonly referred to informally by using a portmanteau of the bands' names—the BoomBox Classic. The BoomBox battle traditionally starts about an hour before the game begins and continues for about an hour after the game has been decided, known as the "Zero Quarter" and "Fifth Quarter" respectively in the HBCU community.

Recent national attention

JSU's hiring of Deion Sanders as head coach in 2020 drew a great deal of attention to the Tiger program in general[11] and the JSU-SU series in particular. On October 23, 2022, ESPN's College GameDay program announced that it would broadcast live from Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium on the morning of the game.[12] GameDay had previously made appearances at only three other HBCU games: the 2005 Grambling State–Southern game at the Bayou Classic in Houston,[13] the 2008 Florida A&M–Hampton game in Tallahassee, Florida, and the 2021 Alcorn StateNorth Carolina Central game at the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Atlanta.[14]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Southern Jaguars: 1929 Schedule (7-1). cfbinfo.com. October 16, 2018.
  2. Web site: Robinson 5 TDs for No. 16 TCU in 55-7 win over Southern U. si.com. 2018. October 16, 2018.
  3. Web site: JSU Winning the SWAC East Has Been a Long Time Coming. November 14, 2021 .
  4. Web site: 2019 Football Attendance. National Collegiate Athletic Association (p. 4). 2020.
  5. Web site: Joe Planas. November 25, 1979. Ex-'fat dude' at home away from home. Baton Rouge Sunday Advocate (sec. D, p. 6).
  6. Web site: Joe Macaluso. November 15, 1979. University sports. Baton Rouge Morning Advocate (Newcomers Guide Special Edition, pp. 42–43).
  7. Web site: Joseph Schiefelbein. October 14, 2004. SU players excited about playing in Superdome. Baton Rouge Advocate (sec. C, p. 3).
  8. Web site: Southern vs Jackson St. (MS) . 2012 . cfbdatawarehouse.com . . August 12, 2012 . June 10, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150610222434/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/southwestern/southern/opponents_records.php?teamid=1557 . dead .
  9. News: Jackson State vs. Southern – A Rivalry Renewed in Baton Rouge . Perry White. HBCU Digest . September 16, 2011 . August 15, 2012.
  10. Web site: Smile Page. Clarksdale (Miss.) Press Register (p. 24). September 28, 2012.
  11. Web site: Langston Newsome. September 20, 2022. How Deion Sanders changed Jackson State from 'pickup football' to 'burning desire' to make NFL. clarionledger.com. October 24, 2022.
  12. Web site: Nick Gray. October 23, 2022. ESPN's 'College GameDay' coming to Jackson State football for first time. clarionledger.com.
  13. Web site: ESPN and College GameDay to broadcast live from Bayou Classic. gojagsports.com. November 22, 2005.
  14. Web site: College Gameday coming to Jackson State–Southern: College Gameday, the biggest college football show in the world, will broadcast ahead of Jackson State–Southern. hbcugameday.com. October 23, 2022. October 24, 2022.