N.C. A&T opponent Alcorn State took similar path to Celebration Bowl

GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- The football program was in a downward spiral.

There were five consecutive losing seasons under four head coaches before the university found its man.

Since then, the turnaround has been surprisingly quick. And now the once-moribund program has won back-to-back conference titles and is headed for a new bowl game.
Sound familiar?

It’s the story of Alcorn State, the team N.C. A&T — which has a similar story — will play in the inaugural Celebration Bowl at noon Saturday in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.

“We’ve battled through some adversities,” Alcorn coach Jay Hopson said at a news conference last week, “but we’ve battled through strong, and I’m proud of this team getting back here.”

The bowl game shapes up as a matchup of strength vs. strength.

A&T (9-2) features the No. 2 rushing defense among the nation’s 123 FCS teams. The Aggies surrender just 84.5 rushing yards per game.

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