Fourth quarter
FINAL: North Carolina A&T 21, Grambling 14
North Carolina A&T wins its second Celebration Bowl in the game’s three-year history, knocking off the defending HBCU national champions and completing an undefeated season.
:38. A&T 21, Grambling 14.
Three big Lamar Raynard passes, including one after a hurry-up fake spike, led to Raynard sneaking in the go-ahead TD in the final minute.
1:42. Tied at 14.
And no harm done for the Aggies. A three-and-out, and A&T has the ball on its own 40. Two missed A&T field goals looming pretty large.
2:46. Tied at 14
And now A&T’s got multiple giveaways as well. A long heave by Lamar Raynard fell into the arms of Dedrick Shy, and now the Tigers have their chance to go 85 yards for the win.
8:22. Tied at 14
Grambling escapes with a fourth-down stuff. It was a little bit of an ambitious try by the Aggies, but they’d already missed two field goals earlier in the day. Tigers get the ball back seven yards shy of where they’d left it.
9:54. Tied at 14
Grambling’s third turnover of the day might be its most costly yet: a lost fumble at its own 8-yard line after a bad handoff.
14:16. Tied at 14
Two Grambling chunk passes and a 25-yard run by DeVante Kincade set up this winding catch-and-run WHEEL ROUTE (all caps mandatory) TD by Martez Carter to tie it back up in the fourth.
One highlight (or not, per Twitter) of the broadcast so far: SIDELINE CAM.
Third quarter
7:36. NC A&T 14, Grambling 7.
That turnover ends up being a 14-point swing, as the Aggies put together a seven-play, 80-yard drive ended by Marquell Cartwright’s second TD of the day.
11:26. Tied at 7.
The second half ended with A&T missing a field goal and Grambling players bounding off the field chanting, “second half!”
At the start of the third, three explosive plays — two passes and a DeVante Kincade run — got the Tigers back into scoring position, but a mistimed out route near the goal line resulted in a pick by A&T.
Second quarter
:43, tied at 7.
QB DeVante Kincade finally breaks loose, peeling off a couple chain-moving runs and hitting Kobe Ross for a 21-yarder as Grambling cracked the red zone. It ended with a goal line toss from Kincade to a wide-open Jordan Jones to knot it up.
3:33. NC A&T 7, Grambling 0.
The G-Men have yet to put much of anything together on offense — 44 total yards so far — and that continues with a three-and-out. Lots of pressure on QB DeVante Kincade throughout.
4:58. NC A&T 7, Grambling 0.
Points! The Aggies take advantage of the re-turnover, with Marquell Cartwright running in a throw to complete a five-play, short-field drive.
7:22. Grambling 0, North Carolina A&T 0.
They can’t. Grambling fumbles on the very next play and NC A&T is back in business right where they were.
7:32. Grambling 0, North Carolina A&T 0.
Grambling gets a turnover it desperately needed. The Aggies were driving and near the red zone, but a pass by QB Lamar Raynard that seemingly got lost in the lights stops the charge. The question is whether Grambling can actually do something with the ball.
12:38. Grambling 0, North Carolina A&T 0.
NC A&T isn’t exactly lighting the field up on offense, but Grambling is really struggling to get anything going. The Tigers have two drives of negative yards and seven total yards on three drives.
No score after 1. The Aggies outgained the Tigers 78-31 #CelebrationBowl pic.twitter.com/1QjNWeM5j1
— Celebration Bowl (@CelebrationBowl) December 16, 2017
First quarter
6:03. Grambling 0, North Carolina A&T 0.
Three plays and out for Grambling. Aggies contain do-everything QB Devante Kincade nicely.
6:58. Grambling 0, North Carolina A&T 0.
After a pretty good drive to open the game churning a whole bunch of clock, NC A&T misses a field to take an early lead. A knuckling kick falls short, and Grambling will take over for the first time.
.@Grambling1901 loving that missed FG by the Aggies! #CelebrationBowl pic.twitter.com/FzlnYCLaLA
— Celebration Bowl (@CelebrationBowl) December 16, 2017
Preview
The Grambling State Tigers and North Carolina A&T Aggies will play in the 2017 Celebration Bowl, essentially the Historically Black Colleges and Universities “championship” game. This bowl game will take place at noon on Saturday in Atlanta. ABC (live stream) will broadcast the game live from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Before the Celebration Bowl existed, the winners from the Mid-Eastern Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference would compete in the Heritage Bowl — which lasted from 1991-1999 — and before that, the Pelican Bowl. This is the only bowl game that features two FCS teams.
Grambling State (11-1), the SWAC champion, and North Carolina A&T (11-0), the Mid-Eastern Conference champion, are similar in many ways. These teams averaged more than 32 points per game, and the defenses surrendered less than 20 points a game. This game will come down to which defensive unit can make the most plays. Points won't be hard to come by, so defensive stops and turnovers will be crucial for both sides.
Time, TV channel, and streaming info
- Time: Noon ET
- Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
- TV: ABC
- Streaming: WatchESPN
Grambling State vs. North Carolina News
The first and only two Celebration Bowl champions. The last two HBCU national champions.
Owners of current 11-game winning streaks. Each are reigning champions of their respective conferences. Both garnered the most All-Conference selections in their leagues.
Quarterbacks DeVante Kincade and Lamar Raynard earned their conference’s Offensive Player of the Year awards.