Orange Blossom Classic

The Orange Blossom Classic is an American annual college football game first held between 1933 and 1978 and again since 2021.

History
In its first incarnation, the Classic featured two historically black colleges and universities (HBCU)—Florida A&M and another program. The game sometimes served as a de facto championship game, depending on the record of the participating teams. The game was played late in the season, with Florida A&M inviting another top black team as its opponent. The game could be seen as a mythical "Black National Championship" game. For example, the December 5, 1942, Afro American newspaper refers to the 1942 game as a national title game, as does at least one source for the 1945 game. From 1952 to 1962, 10 of the 11 teams that won the Classic were named national champions. However, there were also numerous seasons in which neither Florida A&M nor its Classic opponent were selected as national champions.

The Classic was discontinued after its 1978 playing. The name was sometimes applied to subsequent regular-season meetings between Florida A&M and the FIU Panthers.

In its second incarnation, the Classic returned in 2021. That season, Florida A&M played Jackson State in a season opening game at Hard Rock Stadium in September. The game has continued as an annual early-season contest between those two programs. The 2022 matchup had the most viewed HBCU football game with close to 958,000 viewers, trailing only the Celebration Bowl. In 2024 Florida A&M will no longer play in the game and the will find another team to play Jackson State.

1933–1978
Denotes a team selected as Black college football national champions for the season in question (in some seasons, different teams were named champions by different selectors).

Rankings from The Pittsburgh Courier (1946-1958, 1961-1969), Associated Negro Press (1959-1960), and Jet (1973-1978)

Appearances by school
Source: