technically ends Thanksgiving Weekend which is also the start of the First Round of the FCS Playoffs. However, teams from both conferences are technically eligible to be selected as an at-large team. Instead, the MEAC Champion and the SWAC Champion played in the Heritage Bowl. When the MEAC decided it wanted its champion to participate in the FCS Playoffs, the Heritage Bowl was discontinued and the SWAC decided to add a CCG even though it only had 10 members. Technically the SWAC was in violation of the bylaws for all those years, but the schools and NCAA (HQ) opted never to pursue for various reasons. Also, it is worth mentioning that the format the SWAC used (2 divisions and round robin conference schedule or 9 games) is essentially the same format the NCAA later adopted to allow the Big XII to host a CCG when it only had 10 members. Then a few years ago the MEAC decided it no longer wanted to participate for competitive reasons. As a result, the MEAC Champion went back to playing the SWAC Champion in the Celebration Bowl (aka Heritage Bowl 2.0) and the SWAC kept its CCG which is still played the same weekend as the other CCGs. Also, it is worth mentioning that the MEAC is having membership trouble. FAMU and Bethune-Cookman left the MEAC to join the SWAC. While schools like Hampton left the MEAC to join non-historically black conferences because history has shown that the traditional conferences offer HBCUs a brighter future in athletics (think finances). HBCUs historically have funding issues (academics and athletics), so they are more dependent on the revenue from the conferences than most schools. Hence why Tennessee State made the decision to join the Ohio Valley Conference back in the '70s or '80s. Plus, not as many African-Americans are as interested in attending a HBCU as before, so it isn't as uncommon for a HBCU's non-revenue roster to have no African-Americans on it. At the very least, it helps paint the picture as to why the MEAC made the decision it did in football.