ATLANTA, Ga. | Jackson State and South Carolina State will meet for the second time in the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 14, inside Mercedes Benz Stadium, kicking off at noon (ET) on ABC.

The two teams met in 2021 with South Carolina State winning 31-10, the first Celebration Bowl for either team, and they met again in Atlanta at the 2023 MEAC/SWAC Challenge with the Tigers winning 37-7. The two teams have met six times and have split the meetings.

No. 15 Jackson State (11-2) enters the game on a nine-game winning streak including a 41-13 victory over Southern in the SWAC Championship Game last weekend, and will be facing a South Carolina State (9-2) team that has not played since Nov. 23. The winning streak is the third-longest active streak in the country trailing UIW (10) and Montana State (13), and in eight of those nine games Jackson State had outscored its opponent by nearly 24 points per game.

Offensively, Jackson State is led by SWAC Player of the Year Irv Mulligan who rushed for 1,174 yards and 11 touchdowns this season, while Jacobian Morgan has passed for 2,003 yards on 148-of-235 passing with 19 touchdowns. He, along with Cam'Ron McCoy and Zy McDonald (SWAC Offensive MVP on Saturday), have combined to connect with 19 different receivers.

Meanwhile, on defense, Reid Pulliam leads the team with 62 total tackles while Joshua Nobles has recorded 12 tackles for loss and 10 sacks (56 total tackles). The Tigers have forced 22 turnovers this season including three interceptions each by Robert McDaniel (SWAC Defensive MVP on Saturday) and Ke'Vric Wiggins Jr. On special teams, Matt Noll is averaging 42.5 yards per punt and has landed 15 of his 33 punts inside the 20 while Travis Terrell Jr. has returned a pair of kickoffs for touchdowns.

The trip to the Celebration Bowl will be the third in four years for Jackson State.

Game Info - Jackson State vs. South Carolina State
Saturday, Dec. 14 | noon (ET) | Mercedes Benz Stadium
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Game Notes

• Jackson State head coach T.C. Taylor will appear in his fourth Celebration Bowl, and third with Jackson State. He has also appeared in the game with North Carolina Central, and this will be his third different capacity serving in the game - first as a head coach.
• There are no players on the roster who played against South Carolina State in the 2021 Celebration Bowl, however, the roster is loaded with players who played against the Bulldogs in the season opener last year including Mulligan who rushed for 110 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown.
• Terrell (a Freshman All-American) and Brian Williams Jr. return to their hometown of Atlanta less than a year after graduating from Creekside High School. They are two of the three total players from Atlanta which includes Phillip Webb, while Tru Thompson is by nearby Grayson.
• Mulligan is currently seventh on the single-season list for rushing just 17 yards behind William Arnold (1994). Meanwhile, Gerardo Baeza set a new single-season record for field goals with 22 this season, averaging 1.69 field goals per game. He also has tied the school record for extra points in a game with 45 (the last miss came against Grambling State), has set a new single-season record with 54 extra points, and is one shy of the career record (63).
• Jackson State is looking for its first postseason win since the 1971 Azalea Bowl (14 straight games).

Series (since 1956)
Series tied 3-3
First meeting: Jackson State def. South Carolina State, 17-6 (Nov. 16, 1991) 
Last meeting: Jackson State def. South Carolina State, 37-7 (Aug. 26, 2023) 
In Jackson: 0-0 | In Orangeburg: 0-0 | Neutral: 3-3 | Streak: Jackson State, W1  

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