College football top plays: Deion Sanders’ final game at Jackson State, more

Last updated: 2022/12/17 at 5:43 PM

BigP Published December 17, 2022

It goes without saying that Deion Sanders is eager to win his last game with Jackson State.

The Tigers (12-0) aim to beat North Carolina Central (9-2) in the Celebration Bowl on Saturday and cap an unbeaten season. Sanders will then turn his focus to Colorado, the next stop on his coaching journey, where he will hit the recruiting trail as soon as time allows.

The 55-year-old Sanders will take charge of a program that’s had just one winning season since 2005 and last signed a four-star prospect in 2020. The Pac-12 Buffaloes went 1-11 this year, and most of the games weren’t close with 10 losses coming by at least 23 points.

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But at least for the next few hours, Sanders’ focus is solely on Jackson State, a program that coach “Prime,” as he likes to be called, built into a powerhouse among historically Black colleges and universities. The Tigers went 27-5 under his watch and Sanders was twice named the Southwest Athletic Conference coach of the year.

[College football scoreboard | Bowl game schedule, analysis, picks]

The Celebration Bowl is not the only college football action on Saturday. In fact, it’s one of seven bowl games on the schedule, including the Las Vegas Bowl, which features the No. 14 team in the country — Oregon State — against Florida.

Here are the highlights from the top bowl games on Saturday.

Celebration Bowl: Jackson State vs. N. Carolina Central

Farewell, friends

Coach Prime got emotional when addressing his team before the game. And the love was mutual.

Eagles all business

Nonetheless, it was North Carolina Central that dominated the early part of the game, outgaining its opponent 127-21 through the first couple of series and taking a 10-0 lead when Davius Richard ran it in from 4 yards out.

On the board!

Jackson State struck on its next drive, however, pulling within 10-7 when Colorado-bound Shedeur Sanders hit DJ Stevens on a 24-yard touchdown pass.

Las Vegas Bowl: Florida vs. No. 14 Oregon State

Highlights to come.