“With this year’s Classic being the season opener for both teams, the energy and level of play is going to be that more intense” Howard head football coach Gary Harrell tells nationsfootballclassic.com.
Last year, the first Nation’s Football Classic was the first time in 14 years that the Bison and Tigers shared a field. Morehouse left the nation’s capital not just defeated 30-27 in football, they also lost the inaugural Mordecai Wyatt Johnson – Benjamin E. Mays Student Debate, also known as “The Game Before the Game”.
After winning the first nation’s classic, the HU Bison also won its homecoming game against rival school, North Carolina A&T University, and defeated its number one rival, Hampton University. The constant competition to answer the question “Who is the real HU?” is serious amongst HU Bison and HU Pirates, as both share a number of traditions and a couple similarities, including ‘HU’. “Nothing is as intense as the feeling and emotion on the field at an HU vs. HU game in the 4th quarter with a tied scoreboard” says Chloe Johnson, a senior at Howard University studying Sports Management.
“We’ve been working extremely hard training both our minds and bodies for a high level of competition. The Nation’s Classic is big for us yet it’s just another game. Saturday’s mission is to dominate. As a 
captain, I am constantly pushing the team to stay focused and positive.” says senior Keith Pough.
Events at the 2011 classic led to the Nation’s Classic Football Trash Talk Facebook page. The page was intended to allow both students and alumni to represent their HBCU, historically black college/university, and to encourage pride. As the quarters of the game passed, and as more of the Bison and Tiger families caught wind of the page, the the uglier posts got. So far so good this year. On the official Nation’s Classic Facebook page nothing more than “GO HU” and “GoTigers” pop up in comments, cultivating pride and celebrating the friendly rivalry.
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