Jackson State football coach T.C. Taylor and Prairie View A&M coach Tremaine Jackson are both accustomed to competing for and winning championships .
Taylor's Tigers are the reigning SWAC Champions and also won the 2024 Cricket Celebration Bowl. Even before that, Taylor had five conference titles in his time as an assistant at JSU and North Carolina Central.
Jackson, the Panthers ' first-year head coach, is a Division II champion, having won two Gulf South Conference titles in three years at Valdosta State.
The two accomplished coaches will bring their varying levels of experience with them when JSU (9-2) and PVAMU (9-3) face off in the SWAC Championship game at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium on Dec. 6 (1 p.m. CT, ESPN2).
"It's a big matchup this weekend," Taylor said on the SWAC Championship media call Dec. 1. "You talk about the top two teams left in the conference playing for a championship here in Jackson, Mississippi. We look forward to the challenge."
The winner of the game will go on to face MEAC champion South Carolina State in the Celebration Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Dec. 13.
Despite being the coach with more SWAC experience, Taylor claimed he's coaching "an entirely new roster" with 20 transfers the team added in the offseason.
Because of this, the trust Taylor has in his team doesn't come from what JSU has accomplished in previous seasons, but rather the way the Tigers have been "battle tested" this year.
"We had some games we've been up on people, and we had some nail-biters," Taylor said. "And those kinds of games, when you find ways to win games like that throughout your schedule, it gets you ready for this moment. It battle tests your team … and it just gets you ready for championship football."
Jackson discussed how championship experience on his staff benefits the team, regardless of it being from Division II, and how that shapes the Panthers' mentality.
"For some people when we got here, this was new," Jackson said. "This is not new to our staff. We've been playing in December for a long time. … We came here to consistently compete for championships."
He also spoke about what his team has learned from the games it played, adding that in addition to external tests, Jackson and his coaching staff have been putting the team in tough situations all season that have prepared them for this game.
"Our program is pressure," Jackson said. "We put these guys in really high-pressure situations internally so that when we do get to situations that require pressure or pressure is being applied, that we don't allow it to be applied to us. We apply it back. … We've done everything under the sun since January to make sure guys were ready for these moments."
Tia Reid covers Jackson State sports for the Clarion Ledger. Email her at treid@usatodayco.com and follow her on X @tiareid65 .
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: SWAC Championship, what Jackson State, Prairie View coaches said
