We are going to be talking about how hot Atlanta is going to be when college football kicks off in September! The MEAC vs. SWAC Challenge will be taking place at a neutral site, which will be held at Georgia State’s new stadium, Pete Petite Field on Labor Day weekend, September 2nd. Atlanta will continue to be the host for the next three years! The game will be presented nationally on ESPN2, which is huge for HBCU Football, because they are continuously making a presence and gaining exposure as ESPN provides them a platform. Atlanta has became a supportive city of HBCU football already hosting the Celebration Bowl in previous Decembers that is also televised on ESPN.
For those of you who are not familiar with this MEAC vs. SWAC Challenge, it is an early season matchup that is between two HBCU football teams that are the defending champions of the Southwest Athletic Conference and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. This challenge has been in existence since 2005, and will be entering its 14th year. MEAC has been the highly anticipated team to come out on top against a SWAC team, having a winning record of 9-3. Usually, this particular challenge would be hosted at campus of the participating team, such as Birmingham, Orlando, and Daytona, but up until the year 2020, they feel like getting back to the roots of a neutral site is important and that Atlanta would be the perfect place to call home.
As we look into the game, SWAC’s Prairie View A&M and MEAC’s North Carolina Central will be going head-to-head. This will be the first matchup we will see that kicks off HBCU college football. Speaking of first, this is also the first time in history that these two teams will face each other. Furthermore, It is notable that both head coaches are diving into their first year at their university’s program. Both coaches along with their respectable commissioner's, SWAC’s Edgar Grant and MEAC’s Commissioner Dennis Thomas, were all in attendance to talk about the upcoming game at a press conference hosted by ESPN on February 28th at Georgia State. This event was moderated by ESPN’s very own Jay Harris, who has been a strong voice and supporter of the MEAC vs. SWAC challenge. Harris asked many questions pertaining to what the highly anticipated event will do for HBCU football and the importance of the challenge.
On Prairie View A&M’s side, head coach Eric Dooley is taking over to lead his team in their second appearance in the MEAC vs. SWAC challenge. Coach Dooley expressed a lot of excitement towards the matchup. He believes that the health of HBCU football has grown, and the network of ESPN has brought the knowledge of its presence. There is a lot of excitement from these programs to build their brand, gain exposure, and have the opportunity to utilize their platform to tell their stories.
“I think it means a lot to both institutions,” said coach Eric Dooley. “You get the opportunity to start the season off, but also get a chance to get that exposure that’s going to be on national television. I think it’s good for the university. I always think of the recruiting aspect of it. So i think it’s good not only the academic side, but for the athletic side as well.” .10-.31 secs
Given ESPN as their platform, this will allow the culture and HBCU football to be shared and spread nationwide. SWAC’s commissioner Edgar Grant believes that investments should be into this challenge, in order to enhance the tradition and provide a great experience for student athletes, alumni, and fans.
“For the leagues that are represented up here, it provides our student athlete to be apart of a great event,” said SWAC’s commissioner Edgar Grant. “It does a number of things for our membership, our exposure to the public, to our fan base, and to those who do not know about the SWAC or the MEAC is about. It definitely allows them to see what we are about, our brand of football, the pageantry, the bands, our cheer- all those things identified before I came to the league.”
With it being both the entire team of North Carolina Central and head coach Granville Eastman first time in the MEAC vs. SWAC Challenge, this program is still working together to build as one. Currently, Coach Eastman is still working on learning strengths and weakness of his team, but he loves the attitude coming from the players towards having a new coach.
“We’re still in the learning process,” said head coach Granville Eastman. “We’re still in off season workouts, they’ve been working for the past seven, eight weeks lifting getting stronger- that’s our goal now right now. We’re about to transition into some morning condition and trying to create some adverse effects, and then spring off. So it’s really hard to say right now. We’re still building that team chemistry, nothing promised to anyone as the new head coach.”
There's so much excitement for the game to be hosted in Atlanta for the next three years. To MEAC’s commissioner, Dennis E. Thomas, it seemed perfect to hold such an event in a city that has a strong football atmosphere.
“I think that now- and I am biased, I admit- that Atlanta is the football capital of the universe,” said MEAC’s commissioner, Dennis E. Thomas. “You have so many events that are here, you have the Super Bowl coming in, you have the College Football Playoffs Here, just on and on and on, and so I think this is absolutely fabulous for each institution.”
Overall, I am excited to see the MEAC vs. SWAC challenge being brought to the city of Atlanta! ESPN providing this platform. When you’re relaxing on Labor Day Weekend, make sure you tune into ESPN2 to watch these two opponents to kick off college football! You don’t want to miss it!