PETE RICHARDSON

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, although the series itself actually began in 1932. A trophy is awarded to the winning school.

Since 1990 the game has been held the final Saturday in November (i.e., the Saturday after Thanksgiving) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. 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. The Bayou Classic was the only National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Championship Subdivision 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.

The game had State Farm Insurance as its title sponsor from 1996 to 2011.

Of the many activities 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 final part is held during the football game’s halftime show. There is no official judge for the band battle.

Since 1992, members of South Louisiana’s Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) run with the game ball from Southern’s campus in North Baton Rouge to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in downtown New Orleans for the annual “Bayou Classic Motivation Run.” The event happens the day before the game begins and is an approximately 100 mile run that takes between 8 and 10 hours to complete. Members of the NROTC take turns running with the ball while a police escort follow them along the way.