| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| First meeting | November 30, 1929[1] Southern, 98–0[1] |
| Latest meeting | September 27, 2025 Jackson State, 38–13 |
| Next meeting | 2026 |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 73 |
| All-time series | Southern Leads series, 37–36[2] |
| Largest victory | Southern, 98–0 (1929) Jackson State, 41–0 (1981) |
| Longest win streak | Southern, 8 (2013–2021) Jackson State, 7 (1977–1983) |
| Current win streak | Jackson State, 7 (2021–present) |
TheJackson State–Southern football rivalry, often informally called theBoomBox Classic,[3] is acollege footballrivalry between theTigers ofJackson State University (JSU) and theJaguars ofSouthern University (SU). An annual conference game between twohistorically black universities in theSouthwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), its location usually rotates between JSU'sMississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium inJackson, Mississippi and SU'sA. W. Mumford Stadium inBaton Rouge, Louisiana, but it has also been held at larger venues to accommodate the large crowds that the game draws. As of 2025, the Jaguars lead the series 37–36.
The teams first met on November 30, 1929, a 98–0 win by Southern.[1] After that game, the series was not resumed again until 1958, when Jackson State joined the SWAC. Since then, the conference rivals have played each other every year—and twice in 1999 and 2013, when Southern defeated Jackson State inSWAC championship games. In fact, both schools are among the most successful SWAC members. Through 2024, Jackson State and Southern each won 19 SWAC football titles, tied for second-most.
Both JSU and SU are known to have finished among the top tenNCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision schools in past annual home attendance figures.[4] Due to the game's substantial crowds, it has sometimes been played at alternative venues to accommodate the numbers. In 1961 it was played inMobile, Alabama as part of the second annual "Claver Classic." It was played inBaton Rouge'sMemorial Stadium in 1978,[5] since it could hold upwards of 25,000 fans, while Southern's stadium could only hold 13,000 at the time.[6] It was played inNew Orleans in 2000,[7] 2002, and 2004[8]—the latter as part of the then-annual "Big Easy Classic" series.[7] In 2009, Southern voluntarily surrendered a home game to keep it at JSU’s home stadium to take advantage of the larger capacity.[9] The 2012 game was played as part of the annual "W. C. Gorden Classic" series.[10]
The intense rivalry extends beyond the game itself, featuring a battle between the schools' well-respected and popularmarching bands, Jackson State's "Sonic Boom of the South" and Southern's "Human Jukebox."[9] Hence, in the past, the game had been commonly referred to informally by using aportmanteau of the bands' names—theBoomBox Classic. The BoomBox battle traditionally starts about an hour before the game begins and continues for about an hour after the game has been decided, known as the "Zero Quarter" and "Fifth Quarter" respectively in the HBCU community.
JSU's hiring ofDeion Sanders as head coach in 2020 drew a great deal of attention to the Tiger program in general[11] and the JSU-SU series in particular. On October 23, 2022,ESPN'sCollege GameDay program announced that it would broadcast live from Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium on the morning of the game.[12]GameDay had previously made appearances at only three other HBCU games: the 2005Grambling State–Southern game at theBayou Classic inHouston,[13] the 2008Florida A&M–Hampton game inTallahassee, Florida, and the 2021Alcorn State–North Carolina Central game at theMEAC/SWAC Challenge inAtlanta.[14]
| Jackson State victories | Southern victories | Tie games | Vacated games[2] |
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