Texas Southern (1-0) travels to Alcorn State (1-0). No market line yet; the model gives Alcorn State (1-0) a 68% shot.
What’s at stake
Alcorn State
- Alcorn State is coming off a 49-point win.
Texas Southern
- Texas Southern is the Texas HBCU with a 1952 black college national championship and Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan as its most famous product — a program rebuilding under Cris Dishman in year two.
The series
Alcorn State leads the series 11-7
18 meetings since 1977 · Alcorn State has won the last 2
- 2025Alcorn State 33–14
- 2024Alcorn State 42–21
- 2023Texas Southern 44–10
- 2022Texas Southern 34–27
- 2021Alcorn State 44–27
Face-off
What each fanbase carries into this one.
Texas Southern
The chip · vs the blue bloodsFans here believe texas Southern won a national championship in 1952 and has been competitive ever since but never reached that peak again. The chip is that the program knows the standard exists and is determined to prove the 2025 competitive season is the foundation for a championship run.
What this game touches
The long championship drought since 1952. Texas Southern won a black college national championship in 1952 (73 years ago), but has not returned to that peak. The program remains competitive in the SWAC but hasn't demonstrated championship-level consistency. Cris Dishman is in year two (11-11 overall record) tasked with building toward that standard.
Alcorn State
The chipThe fanbase has seen Alcorn win national championships under three different coaches across five decades -- Casem in the '60s-'80s, Hopson in 2014 -- and knows the program is capable of reaching that peak again. An 11-12 start under Thomas reads as a rebuild, not a redefinition of what the program is.
What this game touches
The post-2014 championship drought. Alcorn State won its fifth black college national championship in 2014 under Jay Hopson -- the last such national championship ever awarded by poll before the Celebration Bowl became the sport's de facto title game the following season. Alcorn has not returned to that standard since; Fred McNair (2016-2023, 48-33) won two SWAC titles but no national championship, and Cedric Thomas is now in year three of a rebuild (11-12 through 2024-2025).
Conditions
Alcorn State is 78% at home, 45% on the road since 2018 (29-8 home, 19-23 away).
Recent games
Alcorn State
- Wk 1Wvs Miles56-7
Texas Southern
- Wk 1Wvs North Carolina Central42-30
Conference standings
- Alcorn State#50-0
- Texas Southern#80-0