Bayou Classic turns 50 in New Orleans
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The Bayou Classic pits Southern University against Grambling State. Photo: John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Bayou Classic celebrates 50 years of gridiron rivalry this week.
Why it matters: The annual matchup between Grambling State and Southern University is arguably the biggest rivalry in HBCU football.
Flashback: Grambling and Southern first met on the football field nearly 100 years ago in 1932.
- But Bayou Classic history began on Thanksgiving weekend in 1974, according to the NCAA.
- The game was first broadcast nationally in 1991. That year also handed up the closest result in the rivalry's history, with Southern eking out a win, 31-30.
Between the lines: The game itself "was really beside the point," writes Tom Aiello in "Bayou Classic: The Grambling-Southern Football Rivalry."
- Instead, the Bayou Classic "was a culmination of sorts — a theater for a variety of different cultural, political, and athletic negotiations that gave the game its meaning, its significance."
- As Aiello writes, the rivalry between northern rural Louisiana's Grambling and Baton Rouge's Southern University "would be reflections of race relations in Louisiana and the nation as a whole."
Details: The 2023 edition of the Bayou Classic begins Thursday with a Thanksgiving Day parade at 3pm.
- The Greek Show and Battle of the Bands is Friday at the Caesars Superdome at 6pm.
- A free fan festival, with Boosie as a headliner, begins Saturday at 9am.
- The football game kicks off at 1pm. A clear bag policy is in effect for the fan festival and the game.
- More events are detailed on the Bayou Classic website.
Watch the game locally on WDSU.