HBCU pride and pageantry on display at the 2024 Cricket Celebration Bowl

Fans from all over the HBCU universe converged in Atlanta for the annual Cricket Celebration Bowl. Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta VoiceThe three Jackson State University fans posed for a photo in front of the large HBCUs letters outside Mercedes-Benz Stadium hours before the start of the Cricket Celebration Bowl on a cool Saturday morning. The Jackson State University Tigers (11-2 overall), winners of the SWAC title, and the South Carolina State University Bulldogs (9-2 overall), once again winners of the MEAC conference title, were meeting again for the title of HBCU national champion. December is college football bowl season, a week earlier the Southeastern Conference football champion Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Texas Longhorns for the crown in their respective conference, and now another championship trophy was going to be held aloft among the falling confetti. “I waited a long time to see that confetti,” Jackson State University head football coach T.C. Taylor said after the game. He joked about the delay from when he lifted the trophy and when the confetti began falling from the sky. A view of the field inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium hours before Jackson State University and South Carolina State University played in the 2024 Cricket...