AUSTIN BISHOP: JSU, SWAC take football center stage

Published 11:01 am Wednesday, October 26, 2022

There is absolutely no doubt that Deion Sanders has rejuvenated the football program at Jackson State University and piqued interest nationwide in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The only evidence needed to win that argument is the fact that College Game Day, the undisputed premier college football pregame show, will be at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson on Saturday.

Without the flair, and success, of Sanders both on the field and in the recruiting world, that would not be happening.

Sanders has turned heads both inside and outside of the conference, and put up plenty of wins, in just his third year as head coach at JSU.

While Sanders has certainly pumped new life into the SWAC, he did not birth its importance. That relies on the back of many greats, including Walter Payton, Jerry Rice and Steve McNair.

In the infancy of my sportswriting career in the late 1970s and early 1980s I was fortunate to cut my teeth on covering SWAC sports.

The talent was obvious, but so was the passion of the fans. I remember seeing Veteran’s Memorial Stadium packed out for games between Valley and JSU. When Alcorn came to town, all bets were off.

While working in Vicksburg I was just a short trip away from Lorman, the home of Alcorn State, and obviously Jackson. More than once the trip was made to Itta Bena to cover MVSU.

As a reporter, the excitement surrounding the SWAC Football Preseason coach’s tour was amazing.

Just imagine having a front row seat to hear such legends as Grambling’s Eddie Robinson, Alcorn’s Marino Casem, Jackson State’s W.C. Gorden, and Archie “The Gunslinger” Cooley of MVSU, talking about their teams and also taking jabs at the opposing schools and coaches. It was all in fun, but it was an absolute hoot and wonderful to experience.

Many fans will be focused on College Game Day this coming Saturday, and perhaps some will even watch the 1 p.m. showdown between Southern University (5-2) and host JSU (7-0) live on ESPN+ or the delayed broadcast scheduled later to be shown on the ESPNU. But, they will not be able to understand the flavor of what SWAC football really is.

Oh, the games are important. Very much so. But the pageantry runs much deeper than four quarters of football. There is the pregame and halftime shows, and all that goes on from two hours before kickoff until long after the game has concluded.

Over my now 47 years of covering college athletics the one thing you could count on during a college football game was that during halftime all of the media covering the game would leave their seats and head for the food line.

The only exception was a SWAC football game. You just didn’t leave your seat during halftime. The show is incredible. In fact, one of my most memorable SWAC moments was a halftime show involving the JSU and Southern University bands. It is a show folks! Many times I have said that people don’t pay to go watch the bands, they come to the games to watch football. People would absolutely pay to watch a SWAC halftime, or pregame, or postgame performance.

So thank you to Deion Sanders for bringing attention back to the SWAC, and thanks to all of the others for creating and maintaining the history, tradition and pageantry of what SWAC football Saturdays truly are.

Austin Bishop, AKA The Old Sports Dude, has been covering high school, college, amateur and professional sports since 1975 and is an ordained Assemblies of God minister. He may be contacted by email at starsportsboss@yahoo.com or by phone at 601-938-2471.