In 2011, Howard University and Morehouse College, two historic HBCUs, agreed to meet in the first-ever Nation’s Football Classic at the once-revered RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The match was a reunion of sorts for a rivalry that began in the 1920s but went stagnant due to a lack of sponsorship — the last time the two teams had met was 1997.
The matches became more social events than game days — Howard solidly defeated Morehouse four years in a row, after all. This September’s Classic, with Hampton University, also an HBCU, replacing Morehouse, took on a similar role.