The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will replace Jackson State University in the Southern Heritage Classic football game for the next two seasons.
Fred Jones, the founder of the annual game in Memphis, made the announcement Wednesday on Facebook with a post welcoming UAPB’s team, the Marching Musical Machine of the Mid-South (M4) band and the M4 Golden Girls to the game, which will be played Sept. 9, 2023, and Sept. 14, 2024, at the 58,000-seat Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.
“The answers you’ve all been waiting for,” Jones said. “Welcome to the Southern Heritage Classic University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff!”
The game, first contested in 1990, traditionally would pit Mississippi’s Jackson State against Nashville-based Tennessee State University, with the exception of Mississippi Valley State and Grambling State universities playing TSU in 1991 and 1993.
Tennessee State led the series with Jackson State 17-12, but Jackson State had won the last three meetings.