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List of black college football classics


This is a list of recent black college football classics that have taken place between historically black colleges and universities that compete in college football in the United States. Unlike bowl games, classics take place during college football's regular season; they differ from standard regular season games in that they are often accompanied by entertaining battle of the bands, parades, social events, concerts, and are often played at neutral sites. Football classics annually attract large crowds of alumni, fans, and spectators, along with high media interest and corporate sponsorships.

Special games pairing HBCUs have existed since at least 1922 when Bishop defeated Southern 19–0 in the Louisiana State Fair Classic. The earliest documented use of the term "classic" as part of an annual black college football game's formal name dates to the 1927 Louisiana State Fair Classic, although the term may have been in use even earlier than that. Though Grambling State's Eddie Robinson did not invent classic games, he is widely regarded as having perfected them as finance-generating social events, and a chapter of his autobiography details his efforts at doing so. He was particularly proud of the success of the Bayou Classic, starting from its very first game with 76,000 patrons in attendance.

Football classics come in three different kinds of formats. They can pair the same two rivals year after year or can feature a single host school with rotating opponents—most famously done during Florida A&M's association with the now-defunct Orange Blossom Classic. Other classics, particularly those based in the northern and western U.S. where there are fewer HBCUs, simply invite two different schools every season.


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