Southern is eligible to compete in this year's Celebration Bowl, Odums hopeful for spring practice in 2018

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — For the first time since the inception of the Celebration Bowl, Southern will be eligible to play in it.

The NCAA lifted its postseason ban on Southern, which had prohibited the football team from participating in the Southwestern Athletic Conference's only guaranteed postseason football game. The conference championship game is considered to be part of the regular season.

That said, coach Dawson Odums said not to expect his team to treat the season any differently.

“That opportunity doesn’t present itself if you don’t do what you’re supposed to,” Odums said. “That’s always been the approach. Nothing at the end matters if you don’t go through the beginning and the middle.”

While he hasn’t received official word, Odums said he is assuming it means his team will be able to go through full spring practices as a team in 2018.

Neither of Southern’s two representatives at Southwestern Athletic Conference media day, seniors Austin Howard and Danny Johnson, has gone through spring practice, as Southern has gone three years without it.

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