50th Annual Bayou Classic set to kick off at Superdome on Saturday
20th November 2023 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
The month of November is jammed full with college football rivalries. Alabama and Auburn play the Iron Bowl. Michigan and Ohio State clash in the Big Ten Conference’s premier annual contest. Stanford and Cal square off in “The Big Game,” while Yale and Harvard are even more to the point with “The Game.”
And in this age of conference realignment madness, football fans are mourning all the historic rivalries that will no longer be played. Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, known as “Bedlam.” Oregon-Oregon State, “The Civil War.” Washington-Washington State for “The Apple Cup.” All potentially gone forever.
But there’s one rivalry that will never go away, never disappear, never fade away into the historical ether. It means too much for too many people. It’s more than a football game. It’s a cultural event, an economic dynamo, a source of pride and passion and life-changing experiences.
And this year, it turns 50.
The Bayou Classic.
The premier HBCU football rivalry game, the annual contest around which the HBCU world revolves. The showdown between Southern University and Grambling State, the Jaguars and the Tigers, coming together in New Orleans at the Superdome every year.
When it comes to college football rivalry games, the Bayou Classic plays second fiddle to nothing and no one.
That’s because, well, it’s not just a football game. It’s also the annual face off between arguably the two best marching bands in all of college pigskin, when on Friday, Nov. 24, SU’s “Human Jukebox” faces GSU’s “World Famed Tiger Marching Band” in the “Battle of the Bands” to end all band battles.
In addition, the musical extravaganza also includes a gathering of prep bands from across the country in the “Bayou Classic Invitational High School Battle of the Bands,” an event that’s in its second year in 2023. The event also features a Greek show that brings together sororities and fraternities from throughout the HBCU Pan-Hellenic world.
Also on Friday is “Business at Bayou Classic,” a showcase for Black entrepreneurship and success co-sponsored by the Louisiana Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and Saturday morning features the annual fan festival with its “Embrace the Culture” stage, which celebrates, honors and displays Black culture at Champions Square. A Thanksgiving Day parade through downtown New Orleans takes place on Thursday.
Other events also include The New Voices Pitch Competition, the Bayou Classic ROTC Football Run, a flag football game, and a family fitness fun walk around the Superdome.
This year, game week was preceded by a Bayou Classic Road Show, a series of family-friendly events across the state and throughout the South that kicked off in Alexandria in August and continued through the following months as a lead-up to Classic week this week.
The packed slate of events reflects how the Bayou Classic is, indeed, more than just a football game. The whole week-long celebration is a showcase for rich Black culture and history; economic power; and the impact, reach and diversity of HBCUs across the country.
The Bayou Classic week pumps $50 million into the New Orleans economy, and roughly 250,000 people stream into the city every year to mark the event. Once again, this year’s game will be broadcast nationally on NBC.
Of course, though, the game is the center of it all. The Grambling-Southern pigskin rivalry actually began quite modestly on a dusty field in Monroe, La., in 1932, decades before the Superdome was even built.
But it was in 1974 that the Tigers-Jags showdowns became the absolute force of nature that they still are today. That’s when the contest was shifted to New Orleans, first taking place in the old Tulane University Stadium, then in the Superdome, always on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
And this year, then, is the 50th edition of the Bayou Classic, with Southern holding a slim 25-24 edge in wins since the Classic was created, and a 40-34 advantage when the entire history of the rivalry is considered.
Last year marked a 34-17 victory for the Jaguars, but this year SU is facing an uphill battle after the firing earlier this month of head coach Eric Dooley. Both teams sport a 5-5 record on the season after having this past weekend off. While neither team is in the running for a Southwest Athletic Conference championship this season, Saturday’s squaring off promises to be, as usual, quite fierce.
It’s always been fierce, though, so much so that the Bayou Classic has made an impression on not just Louisianans, but on the entire country. In 1994, former New York Times sports columnist William C. Rhoden traveled to the Big Easy to take in the 21st Bayou Classic, and in the resulting column, he quoted former Grambling quarterback James Harris discussing the importance of the game.
“It doesn’t matter what your record was or is,” Harris told Rhoden. “The Grambling-Southern game is a season in itself. When you lose, you never hear the end of it.”
Rhoden went on to describe the massive significance of not just the Classic football game, but the entire experience that comes with it by reflecting on the differences between the top level of programs (at that time Division 1-A) and the level on which HBCUs play (at the time 1-AA).
“… [E]ach level of competition has its own traditions, its unique appeal and flavor. …
“Football at historically [B]lack schools has changed, the caliber of athletes has changed. But games like the Bayou Classic have maintained the tradition and heritage of each school. …
“The Bayou Classic is a celebration of a season – and a legacy – that goes beyond the field.”
This article originally published in the November 20, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
