JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The college football regular season is over, and it’s officially bowl season.
While most college football fans in Florida are looking forward to the Orange Bowl, Gator Bowl or Outback Bowl, there is a new bowl game to look forward to: Fort Lauderdale’s Florida Beach Bowl.
Recommended Videos
Victor Robenson is the brainchild of the Florida Beach Bowl, and he says that this bowl game adds something new to the college football landscape by giving the city of Fort Lauderdale a bowl game. The game also allows HBCUs in Division II to have another game, something that they didn’t have the chance to do before.
The Florida Beach Bowl is a college football bowl game for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in NCAA Division II. The game pits teams from the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC).
The Florida Beach Bowl draws comparison to the Celebration Bowl, which is a bowl game for HBCUs in NCAA Division I. That game pits the conference champions from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) against one another. Since the conferences don’t have an automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs, this game is considered to be the national championship for HBCU football.
Unlike Division I college football, bowl games are rare in the Division II. There are only four bowl games played. The Florida Beach Bowl is the only game to feature HBCU teams also the only game to take place in the Southeastern United States.
The two teams playing in the Florida Beach Bowl are the SIAC’s Fort Valley State University Wildcats and the CIAA’s Johnson C. Smith University Bulls. Both teams enter the game with a 7-3 record. There is no clear favorite in this game. The last time these teams played each other since 1982. The Wildcats’ offense scores about 30 points per game but, the Bulls’ defense holds their opponents to 16 points per game. This game will come down to who can get turnovers and capitalize off those. This should be a very competitive game.
Unlike the Celebration Bowl, neither team is the best team in their respective conference. That honor is reversed to Viriginia Union (10-2) and Benedict College (11-1), who won the CIAA and SIAC,respectively. However, both teams were defeated in their first game of the NCAA Division II playoffs. Benedict’s loss is the most surprising as the Tigers were considered to be one of the best teams in the country all season long. Just this week, it was announced that South Carolina State had hired Chennis Berry as their new head football coach. Berry spent the last three seasons leading Benedict to being the powerhouse that is right now. This creates a conundrum for teams in the SIAC and CIAA: do you go to the playoffs just to lose in the first game, or do you play in the Florida Beach Bowl and exert your dominance as the best HBCU in Division II? Only time will tell.
No matter what happens in the inaugural Florida Beach Bowl, this will be a historic game and change the landscape of HBCU football in Division II.
The game will be streamed online of HBCU+, a streaming service dedicated to HBCU sports and events. The historic game kicks off Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.