Bayou Classic

Bayou Classic

The State Farm Bayou Classic is the annual college football game between the Grambling State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars, first held under that name in 1974 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, although the series itself actually began in 1936. Since 1978 the game has been held the final Saturday in November (i.e., the Saturday after Thanksgiving) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. A Waterford crystal trophy is awarded to the winning school. The game has had State Farm Insurance as its primary sponsor since 1996. Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, organizers moved the 2005 event from the Superdome to Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, where many of New Orleans' evacuees were living. This was the first time ever that the Bayou Classic was held outside of Louisiana. The 2006 Bayou Classic returned to the Superdome in New Orleans.

It is the best known game and rivalry in historically black college football and is televised in the USA by NBC. The Bayou Classic is the only NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) game to be shown regularly on broadcast television. Fans have been known to refer to it as the "Black Super Bowl," although that name is not used in any official capacity by either school due to the National Football League's restrictions on the use of the "Super Bowl" name. Both schools typically forgo Division I-AA playoff eligibility to participate in the Bayou Classic. The game is one of two black college football classics to be associated with Thanksgiving weekend; the other is the older, Turkey Day Classic, held two days prior on Thanksgiving itself.