South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Celebration Bowl Picks & Odds

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Celebration Bowl Betting Preview

The Celebration Bowl crowns the HBCU national champion as South Carolina State faces Prairie View A&M in Atlanta. This matchup pits the MEAC champion against the SWAC champion with a tight spread and competitive moneyline.

South Carolina State rides a dominant winning streak into this game, while Prairie View A&M looks to extend its Cinderella run after an upset in the SWAC title game.

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Celebration Bowl Overview

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Prediction, Picks & Odds for Today — Celebration Bowl

Farmer's prediction: Expect South Carolina State to put its pedigree on display in the Celebration Bowl.

The College Football Playoff may still be a week away, but the FCS level deserves attention as well. The FCS playoffs are into the third round, and Saturday’s Celebration Bowl will decide the HBCU national championship.

My South Carolina State vs. Prairie View A&M predictions and college football picks expect a Cinderella run to stop in its tracks at kickoff at 12:00 p.m. ET on December 13.

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Predictions for the Celebration Bowl

Who will win the Celebration Bowl?

The South Carolina State Bulldogs' seven-game winning streak demands enough faith to bet on them outright on Saturday. Only two of those seven wins have been by single digits, both of those relatively tight wins coming on the road.

Compare that run of dominance to the Prairie View A&M Panthers' form, an inspired four-game winning streak, but one that should have ended a week ago at Jackson State.

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Best Bet

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M best bet: South Carolina State moneyline

As difficult as it can be to knowledgeably discuss FCS matchups, information is even more scarce on HBCU games. The Celebration Bowl — effectively the HBCU national championship — warrants some thought, though.

Defering to the MEAC champion, South Carolina State, by default makes sense. The MEAC has won the Celebration Bowl in six of nine games, and this is the Bulldogs’ third appearance in five years, winning in 2021 and getting blown out in 2024.

So if South Carolina State was blown out in 2024, why believe in it now? Even by some of the best FCS analytics, the Bulldogs are roughly comparable to last year’s quality.

This year’s Celebration Bowl opponent, Prairie View A&M, is more than a touchdown worse than last year’s SWAC champion, Jackson State.

That is the benefit of an upset in the SWAC title game, an upset sparked by three field goals. The Panthers turned six quality drives into only 23 points. They found the end zone once on four red-zone trips.

South Carolina State comes from the deeper of these two conferences, but the top of the MEAC is usually worse than the top of the SWAC. It was again this year, until Prairie View A&M stumbled into upsetting the top of the SWAC, suddenly creating value in the MEAC champion this weekend.

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Same-Game Parlay

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M same-game parlay

South Carolina State moneyline
Under 52.5

Prairie View A&M’s struggles in scoring territory last week are too staunch to ignore. Those alone should doom this game Under its total.

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Odds

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M odds

Spread: South Carolina State +1.5 | Prairie View A&M -1.5

Moneyline: South Carolina State -104 | Prairie View A&M -118

Over/Under: Over 52.5 | Under 52.5

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Game Predictions

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Spread Prediction

This is a pick’em, ignore the spread. Both teams can be found as 1.5-point underdogs if you shop around at books, effectively sportsbooks acknowledging they need to move the moneyline around a little bit and the odds board always looks better with numbers in both the spread and moneyline columns.

South Carolina State vs Prairie View A&M Over/Under Prediction

All due respect to all HBCUs, but the dredges of the MEAC and the SWAC struggle enough that blowout scores become inflated during the regular season.

South Carolina State seeing totals of 71 and 66 in wins against the worst in the MEAC, Norfolk State and Morgan State, artificially inflates this total. As does Prairie View A&M beating Mississippi Valley State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Alabama A&M by scores of 59-6, 56-9 and 48-5, respectively, in recent weeks.