Shreveport Classic

The Red River State Fair Classic (formerly the State Fair Classic and, more recently, the Shreveport Classic) is an American college football game played annually in Shreveport, Louisiana, at Independence Stadium (formerly State Fair Stadium) during the State Fair of Louisiana. It traces its historical lineage from a series of 160 games played over the 106 football seasons between 1911 and 2016. By having first paired historically black colleges and universities in 1922, the contest holds the distinction of being the oldest annual black college football classic, edging out the Turkey Day Classic by two years and the similar Texas State Fair Classic by three years. Also, so far, the earliest documented use of the term "classic" as part of an annual black college football game's formal name has been dated to the 1927 Louisiana State Fair Classic.

The fair began in 1906, and attempts were made immediately to schedule a football game as a draw, specifically a game between Louisiana State University and the Shreveport Athletic Club. Although plans for that game fell through, the fair did begin hosting college football games regularly starting in 1911. The annual Arkansas–LSU game was made its main draw two years later, much like the Red River Showdown game had begun headlining the State Fair of Texas in Dallas in 1912. The 1924 game featured a silver football trophy as part of the dedication ceremonies for the new State Fair Stadium. After LSU won for the seventh straight time in 1936, that series was discontinued, and nearby schools Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State began playing in the featured game. When Louisiana Tech began efforts in the late 1980s to move into the NCAA's Division I-A, NSU began playing Louisiana–Monroe in the game.