2025 Celebration Bowl
The 2025 Celebration Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on December 13, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The tenth annual Celebration Bowl game featured the South Carolina State Bulldogs, champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and the Prairie View A&M Panthers, champions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. South Carolina State beat Prairie View A&M in quadruple overtime by a score of 40–38.
The game began at noon EST and aired on ABC. The Celebration Bowl was the only one of the 2025–26 bowl games played by FCS teams. The game was sponsored by wireless service provider Cricket Wireless and was officially known as the Cricket Celebration Bowl.
Teams
The SWAC and MEAC are the two NCAA Division I conferences of historically black colleges and universities. The Celebration Bowl thus serves as a de facto black college football national championship. This was the first ever meeting between South Carolina State and Prairie View A&M.
South Carolina State Bulldogs
South Carolina State, champions of the MEAC and led by second-year head coach Chennis Berry, made their third Celebration Bowl appearance, having previously won in 2021 and lost in 2024.
Prairie View A&M Panthers
Texas-based Prairie View A&M, champions of the SWAC for the first time since 2009 and led by first-year head coach Tremaine Jackson, made their first appearance and became the first team west of Louisiana to appear in the Celebration Bowl.