2022 HBCU Football Finale

Get the point!

Hobbservations Point Final Football Poll

1. NC Central Univ. 10-2

2. Jackson State Univ. 12-1

3. Florida A&M Univ. 9-2

4. Benedict College 11-1

5. NC A&T State Univ. 7-4

NC Central junior quarterback Davius Richard, a native of Belle Glade, Florida, dominated a tough Jackson State defense all afternoon en route to leading the Eagles to the 2022 HBCU National Championship.

Closing Arguments

For what it's worth, the majority of my closest friends and I who attended HBCU's in the 80's and 90's grew up enjoying Deion Sanders and his amazing football/baseball career, so the idea that folks "hate" him is not true for a great number of us (some do, but most of my friends don't).

No, the major issue that I/we take is the increasingly popular, albeit patently false, notion that HBCU ball was "nothing" before Sanders—and that Coach Prime has "shown the blueprint" for future success.

My Hobbservations on those points:

1. As I've written quite a bit, Jackson State has four former players in the NFL Hall of Fame; Grambling, Morgan State, South Carolina State, Tennessee State, Southern, and FAMU have more or just as many College or NFL Hall of Fame members as most (not all) of the PWI's in their respective states. Which is why I find it funny that the same folks who will tell you all about the history of Alabama, Notre Dame, USC, Georgia and the like, somehow never learned anything about HBCU ball—and dismiss folks like me as being "exclusive" when we try to set the record straight.

2. Coach Deion "Prime" Sanders had a really good run at Jackson State University; the money that he poured out of his own pockets, and the connections that he has had to help improve the school's practice fields, locker room, and uniforms showed his personal commitment to his players and JSU, no doubt!

But Coach Prime's connections are HIS connections, and few folks, not even other former NFL stars, have his ties and influence with major industries. Thus, as for those critics who just love to point out the conditions at some HBCU's, I ask the following very pertinent questions about the JSU physical plant pre-Prime:

a. Why the disparate funding from the State of Mississippi, a state that sure as Hell seems to find ways to funnel tax money and federal disbursements to Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Miss—legally or illegally (Brett Favre), at higher clips than they funnel money to Jackson State, Alcorn State, and Mississippi Valley State (HBCU's)?

b. Realizing that most PWI boosters and game day attendees DID NOT enroll and/or graduate from Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, or USC, including legions of Black supporters of those Power Five schools who stay dripped in officially licensed 'nalia that derives proceeds for those schools, I ask what the HBCU critics among this crowd, especially the Black ones who did NOT attend their favorite Power Five schools, why they don't purchase, say, some FAMU, Grambling, Jackson State, NC Central, Howard, Hampton, or Morehouse gear? Trust, if the major PWI's were dependent strictly on alumni giving, cognizant that alumni giving is less than 15% at those schools, there wouldn't be as many "Fight on (USC)," "Roll Tide (Alabama)," or "Hunker Down, Dogs (Georgia)" on air if the non-alumni masses didn't pour out their pockets for those teams.

3. BET aired "The Black College Game of the Week" throughout the mid-80's and early 90's, with legendary journalist Charlie Neal and NFL Hall of Fame member Lem Barney (Jackson State alumnus) providing commentary in the press box...The Bayou Classic (Grambling vs. Southern) has been featured on NBC every single year since 1991...The Florida Classic (FAMU vs. Bethune Cookman) has been featured on the ESPN Network since 1995...ESPN has aired or live-streamed multiple HBCU games each season since the early 2000's, including the annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge and, since 2015, the Celebration Bowl...ESPN Game Day first appeared on an HBCU campus way back in 2008, when Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler, and Lee Corso aired live from the quad at Florida A&M University prior to its afternoon matchup against Hampton University; ESPN Game Day has featured several HBCU games in the time since.

My big cousin, the late Robert “R.J.” Jackson, caught the game winning touchdown in 1988 that gave Central State University a 27-23 victory over Florida A&M University on BET in November of 1988. R.J. would later play six seasons for the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals…

To be clear, while I give much respect to Coach Prime for calling out the need for even more media, the idea that HBCU media appearances didn't exist before him simply is not true!

The ESPN College Game Day crew in front of Florida A&M's historic Lee Hall in the background circa 2008.

4. Jackson State led the FCS and/or HBCU's in game attendance many times before Coach Sanders was hired back in 2020. Even when they were losing, JSU alumni and supporters STILL supported their school! The idea that but for Prime's presence, there wouldn't have been 30-60,000 folks in Memorial Stadium or the Liberty Bowl in Memphis simply is not true, but that false narrative has been thrown about quite a bit on social media of late.

Jackson State's Memorial Stadium is often packed—with or without Coach Prime…

5. There are already many folks who are dismissing Coach Sanders's outstanding 27-6 record at Jackson State as being because he is a great recruiter, not because he is a great or good coach. I won't call that out as racism, at least not yet, because I've seen the same criticisms of Dabo Swinney of Clemson and Jimbo Fisher of Texas A&M in the not so distant past.

But Hobbs being Hobbs, while I had hoped that Prime would stay at Jackson at least long enough for my FAMU Rattlers to avenge that 59-3 "L" that Jackson put on us this year, I actually hope that he wins at Colorado because I read and interpret with not just my two eyes—but my third eye which knows that the old school race based criticisms that Blacks "lack leadership" or "lack intelligence" fuel the sports pundit chatter on air, podcasts, and articles from some of those folks who would like nothing better than to see Sanders, a bold if not brash Black man, fall on his face in what they perceive to be "their" Big-Time college football—one in which the Black athletes can play, but only if led by a "smart," "innovative," and "inspirational/humble" white head coach.