For three decades, the Southern Heritage Classic featuring Jackson State and Tennessee State University was one of HBCU football’s biggest games of the year.
Tennessee State University recently released its 2025 football schedule and the Southern Heritage Classic is not in on it. TSU had participated in all of the games since the Southern Heritage Classic’s inception in 1990.
Its primary opponent in the game has been Jackson State University. The two rival programs played in the inaugural game and all but two of the games leading up to 2023. But Jackson State, under the leadership of Director of Athletics Ashley Robinson, became discontented with the payout associated with the game and tried to pull out of the game ahead of the 2022 season. The two schools briefly quarreled over the attempted pull out.
When the dust settled, Jackson State played in the 2022 game under head coach Deion Sanders, but it was announced that another SWAC school — Arkansas Pine-Bluff — would be TSU’s opponent for the 2023 and 2024 games. The show went on, even though the crowds took a dip, but now the game’s future appears to be in real jeopardy with Tennessee State looking like it won’t be back.
Southern Heritage Classic founder Fred Jones said he was aware of TSU’s schedule and said he is in communication with the school.
Only time will tell what the future of this once foundational HBCU football classic holds.