Celebration Bowl: Jackson State vs. South Carolina State Picks, Predictions and Odds

It’s been a long and eventful college football season, and now the best time of the year on the calendar has finally arrived.

After Championship Weekend produced more chaos, the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff field was announced on Sunday, which also officially marks the start of bowl season.

However, before we can get to bowl season and dive into the new College Football Playoff bracket in all of its glory, there is plenty of action in the FCS for college football fans and bettors alike to enjoy. 

The FCS playoffs are currently in full swing, with the quarterfinals set to take place on Friday and Saturday. However, one of the bigger games of the weekend takes place elsewhere, as the Jackson State Tigers will take on the South Carolina State Bulldogs in the annual Celebration Bowl. 

This game is contested every season between the champions of the MEAC and the SWAC, and it serves as the de facto National Championship game for HBCU football. Jackson State’s last appearance in this game was back in 2022, in which the Tigers lost to North Carolina Central. 

Jackson State vs. South Carolina State betting picks and predictions

South Carolina State ML (+100)

Both of these teams are trending in the right direction heading into this contest, but South Carolina State has arguably been more impressive over the last couple of months. 

Things got off to a rocky start for the Bulldogs, as they suffered a pair of losses in their first three regular-season games, falling to Florida A&M (last season’s Celebration Bowl champion) and Georgia Southern. However, conference play was kind to South Carolina State, as they won their next eight games, improving to 9–2 overall and going undefeated within their conference. 

Not only are the Bulldogs winning, but they’ve been covering the spread with room to spare as well. In fact, South Carolina State has covered the closing number in each of its last eight games, dating back to a September victory over North Carolina A&T.

The Bulldogs have scored 30 or more points in six of their last eight contests, and they are coming off back-to-back 50 point outbursts heading into this game. 

On the other side, Jackson State has produced another solid season under head coach T.C. Taylor. The Tigers cruised through their conference slate for the most part, finishing with a 7-4 record against the spread for the season. 

With that said, this is a team that has struggled a bit away from home, failing to cover the number against Alabama State earlier this month and losing to Grambling State and Louisiana-Monroe back in September.

This is also the best team that the Tigers will have faced since that game against Louisiana-Monroe, so it’s fair to anticipate that they will have trouble with this step-up in class.

Over 54.5 (-110)

While there are avenues for both teams to win this game, the path to a winning script for either side is one that shades to the over.

As previously mentioned, both of these offenses are firing on all cylinders, with the pair having scored at least 38 points in four of their last five contests.

While this is certainly a step up in class when it comes to opposing defenses, with both of these teams sitting inside the top 10 in the FCS in total defense, the numbers look a lot worse for each unit when it comes to yards allowed and third down success rate allowed. 

Playing a “bend but don’t break” style of defense works well against lesser opponents, but that won’t get the job done in a title game on Saturday. With that in mind, both defenses could be operating at a disadvantage in this matchup.  

Given that it’s being played on a fast track and features a couple of red-hot offenses in favorable scoring conditions, this game should be a shootout.

Read more betting picks and predictions for the NCAAF on site.

Jackson State vs. South Carolina State odds

Jackson State	-120 ML
South Carolina State	+100 ML
Spread	Jackson State -1.5
Total Points	54.5 O/U

Read Jackson State vs. South Carolina State: How to watch, TV Channel, streaming start time, injury report and stats on site.

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.