Even before the Spartans kick off their 2025 season, Michael Vick and Norfolk State are already preparing for a matchup with an HBCU power in 2028. An appearance on the HBCU Sports Podcast, hosted by Ken Rashad, featured MEAC/SWAC Challenge director John Grant announcing that Norfolk State and Jackson State will be featured in the long-running Week Zero matchup in August 2028.
The MEAC/SWAC Challenge is an event that has been ongoing for 20 years. The game series started in 2005 and has featured several compelling matchups with MEAC and SWAC opponents. This would be Norfolk State's second time competing in the Week Zero Showcase, as they appeared in 2024 against the reigning Celebration Bowl Champion, Florida A&M Rattlers. After a compelling game in Dawson Odums' final year as head coach of the Spartans, the Rattlers ultimately won 24 to 23.
Jackson State has been featured in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge twice before. They faced off against Bethune-Cookman University in 2019, losing 36 to 15. Four years later, Jackson State appeared in the Challenge once again in a Celebration Bowl rematch against South Carolina State, a team they lost to in the 2021 Celebration Bowl.
Jackson State was able to enact a bit of revenge, leaving Atlanta with a 37 to 7 victory in Buddy Pough’s final MEAC/SWAC Challenge before he retired at the end of the 2023 season. Now in 2028, the two football programs will face off against each other in a matchup that will surely capture the imagination of the HBCU football fanbase, as well as casual fans around the nation.
Jackson State is a blue-blood HBCU football program, boasting Hall of Fame NFL players such as Walter Payton. The program grew its profile even more with Deion Sanders at the helm in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. They've still achieved much success after Deion Sanders was the coach of the program, having two successive winning seasons, including winning the Celebration Bowl in the 2024 season.
They're predicted to be the top team in the SWAC in the 2025 season and compete for both the SWAC championship and a Celebration Bowl once again. They will surely be competitive in 2028 as T.C. Taylor builds on a winning formula.
Meanwhile, Norfolk State looks to change course for its program with Michael Vick at the helm. Although Michael Vick has yet to coach his first game, he's added an influx of talent around the standout players that were already on the team during Dawson Odums' regime.
Spartan fans and stakeholders hope that Michael Vick will be able to have a Deion Sanders-esque turnaround for the program and become instant contenders in the MEAC. By 2028, many Norfolk State fans would hope that the MEAC/SWAC Challenge that year won't be the first time the Spartans are in Atlanta for a game against a SWAC opponent, as they have Celebration Bowl aspirations.
Although details are forthcoming and the matchup hasn't been formally announced yet, North Carolina Central and Southern University are scheduled to face off on Saturday in the 2025 MEAC/SWAC Challenge. The game will be aired on ABC at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
