The SWAC regular season came to a stunning conclusion, with Prairie View A&M pulling off an upset 23-21 victory over Jackson State University. Throughout the season, both Jackson State and Prairie View A&M were among the three best teams in the conference, with Alabama State being a close third due to its midseason loss to Jackson State. Ultimately, two of the SWAC's best teams faced off on Saturday. But, in recent memory, that hasn't happened.
Lopsided championship games from 2021 to 2024 left fans clamoring for changes to how the two conference championship finalists were determined, with many fans and prognosticators clamoring for a divisionless format. In this format, the top two teams in the conference would face off in the SWAC Championship, likely a rematch of a high-stakes game from earlier in the season. For example, a divisionless format this year would've seen Jackson State and Alabama State engaged in a rematch for championship gold and a trip to the Cricket Celebration Bowl. But, ultimately, that didn't come to pass.
SWAC Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland poured cold water on the idea in the 2025 SWAC Coaches Call prior to the SWAC Championship. While he said that a change was possible, contingent upon a deciding vote from the member institutions in the conference, he believes that the best teams are decided by who survives the gauntlet of regular-season play.
“I saw what happened when Alabama State lost to Jackson State, and people started asking if no divisions would guarantee the top two teams play. That’s just not correct. The only way to guarantee that is if every team plays every other team,” he said.
His comments signaled that he is against the change, believing that removing divisions will lead to confusion in scheduling and argued that there will always be an imbalance.
“There’s always going to be an imbalance/ You could have a team that didn’t play the top three teams in the conference and still finished with a better record. That doesn’t mean they were the better team.”
But he reemphasized that, ultimately, it's up to the athletic stakeholders of the SWAC to collectively decide if that's the route that the conference will go.
“That’s for the membership to debate,” he said. “We’ll go through the exercise, but I will stand firm that this should always be settled on the field.”
