Good Morning POU!
The Bayou Classic is the annual college football game between the Grambling State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars, first held under that name in 1974 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, although the series itself actually began in 1932. A trophy is awarded to the winning school.
Since 1990 the game has been held the final Saturday in November (i.e., the Saturday after Thanksgiving) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, organizers moved the 2005 event from the Superdome to Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, where many of New Orleans’ evacuees were living. This was the only time that the Bayou Classic was held outside of Louisiana. The 2006 Bayou Classic returned to the Superdome.
It is the best known annual game and rivalry in HBCU football and was nationally televised in the U.S. by NBC from 1991 to 2014. Since 2015 it has aired on the NBC Sports Network. The Bayou Classic was the only National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Championship Subdivision game to be shown regularly on broadcast television.
Of the many activities held in conjunction with the game, the most well-known and well-attended is the two-part Battle of the Bands, where both universities’ marching bands—Grambling’s “World Famed” Tiger Marching Band and Southern’s Human Jukebox—perform. Following the Greek show, the two renowned bands stage elaborately choreographed performances on the Friday night before the game. The second part is held during the football game’s halftime show. There is no official judge for the band battle.