It's Time for SEC Schools to Seriously Consider Scheduling HBCU Opponents: All Things CW

If Nick Saban and Deion Sanders can do ads together, why don't Southeastern Conference schools schedule games with the SWAC?

This week, BamaCentral is breaking apart the All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh into five parts, one each day leading up to Saturday's game at Arkansas. This is ... 

Take 2

I've written before about how both Alabama coach Nick Saban and Jackson State coach Deion Sanders both use the Aflac ads they do together to help support some of their favorite causes. For Sanders its HBCU schools, and for Saban it's the Nick's Kids Foundation and building a house with Habitat of Humanity whenever the Crimson Tide wins a championship. 

Sanders, though, has really put his money where his mouth is when it comes to his latest passion. I can also confirm from experience that when he gets behind something, he really gets behind it.  

Full disclosure: Years ago, when starting out as a journalist my first job was with the News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., the hometown of the one famously known as "Prime Time." The newspaper didn't have the greatest relationship with him, but we did have a good one with his impressive mother, Connie Knight.  

A memorable story for me before he played in Super Bowl XXIX with the San Francisco 49ers was talking to fans in his old neighborhood about the two-sport star going for his first championship. They were excited and said they hoped to see more of him back home (one suggested he help build a local ice arena). 

Sanders may be a showman, but he also backs it up. He's given both Jackson State and HBCU schools a huge presence and mouthpiece, and has been shaking up the way things have traditionally been done in college football. 

This year alone, he donated half of his $300,000 coaching salary to help renovate JSU’s stadium in Mississippi’s capital city, helped the team's biggest game against Alcorn State have a sold-out record crowd, and even has a former NFL head coach, Mike Zimmer, formerly of the Minnesota Vikings, helping out.  

This is on top of Travis Hunter, arguably the top recruit in the nation for the Class of 2022, surprising college football fans across the country and playing for Sanders at Jackson State. Sports Illustrated called the move, “probably the most shocking decision in the history of college football recruiting.” 

Sanders is also not alone. Other HBCUs have brought in big-name coaches like Eddie George (Tennessee State) and Hue Jackson (Grambling State).

So what does this have to do with Alabama outside of the ad campaign?

Simple, it's time the the SEC and Alabama consider playing teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, the Football Championship Series league the Tigers play in that’s made up entirely of HBCUs.

Any game between an SEC program and an HBCU probably wouldn't be close, and there's really not a lot for an SEC school to gain with such a matchup. But the difference it could make could be huge, and not just in football. 

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the most recent numbers show a 4.7 percent year-over-year drop in undergraduate enrollment at colleges and a 9.4 percent decrease since the onset of the pandemic. 

The demographic most alarming in the decline is Black freshmen with enrollment down 18.7 percent since spring 2020. 

Alabama, of course, is an exception. It just announced a record of 38,645 students enrolled in fall 2022. The record enrollment was boosted by the largest freshman class in school history (8,037).

Chances are we won't be seeing the Crimson Tide suit up against a SWAC program in the near future, especially since the SEC could soon go to a nine-game conference schedule. Alabama already has a bunch of high-profile home-and-home games under contract through the next decade, and mismatches no longer lead to a jam-packed Bryant-Denny Stadium. 

Consequently, if any program in the SEC should play Jackson State it should probably be Ole Miss or Mississippi State, so at least it could attract in-state fans. Rebels coach Lane Kiffin was asked about it at media days in July and he gave a very "Prime Time"-like answer with "It's been great to see Deion's success and how well he's doing. I don't know future plans on that, but that would be exciting."

Ole Miss and Jackson State haven't played each other since the Tigers' inaugural season in 1911. 

Meanwhile, Utah State and Louisiana Monroe recently got more than $1.9 million to play at Bryant-Denny Stadium, with Warhawks coach Terry Bowden saying the blowout loss will pay for a new weight room. For an FCS opponent, Alabama is set to pay Mercer a $600,000 guarantee for a 2024 meeting.  

Imagine what those kinds of payouts could do for an HBCU school.

See Also: 

Take 1: Third-Down Numbers a Real Reason for Optimism with Alabama Offense, Bryce Young