Alcorn Game Notes | Live Radio | Live Stats
HOUSTON – In its final non-conference game of the regular season, the Alcorn State University football program will head to BBVA Compass Stadium to take on Texas Southern in a rare Friday night game at 8 p.m.
The game between the Braves (2-2, 1-0 SWAC) and the Tigers (0-3, 0-1 SWAC) can be heard live on 91.7 FM or wprl.org with Charles Edmond on the call. The contest will only be televised locally in Houston on AT&T Sportsnet Southwest Region.
Alcorn opened conference play last weekend with a 48-31 victory over Southern. Senior
De'Lance Turner rushed for 272 yards, the second-most in school history, and scored three touchdowns including two on the ground. Turner went on to win SWAC Offensive Player of the Week honors on Monday.
Turner leads the conference in rushing (111.0 ypg), scoring (9.0 ppg) and total touchdowns (6). He's third in all purpose yards with 147.5 per game.
The aerial attack is led by senior quarterback
Lenorris Footman. He leads the SWAC in passing yards (233.2 ypg) and total offense (288.8 ypg). Two weeks ago against McNeese State, Footman led all of FCS with a career-high 424 passing yards. He completed passes to eight different receivers, threw three touchdowns and also caught a touchdown on a trick play.
Defensively, sophomore linebacker
Solomon Muhammad is coming off a career-high 13 tackles against Southern. He also forced a fumble and registered a 71-yard interception return in the game. Muhammad ranks second in the conference in tackles (9.8 per game), and third in both sacks (0.5 per game) and tackles for a loss (1.38 per game).
As a team, the Braves rank first in the SWAC in scoring (33.8 ppg), total offense (444.8 ypg), pass efficiency (61.8%), first downs (77), third down conversions (51.7%) and fewest sacks allowed (4). Alcorn's 51.7 percent on third down conversions ranks top-10 in the FCS.
The Tigers fell 30-13 to Alabama A&M last weekend to begin league action. TSU also has losses to Florida A&M 29-7 and Houston Baptist 24-17.
TSU is led by Jay Christophe who is the team's leading passer and rusher. However, he left the game last week against AAMU due to injury and his status for Friday is unknown. Backup Dominic DeLira could make the start at quarterback.
The Tigers have been strong defensively against the pass. They lead the league in defensive pass efficiency, limiting teams to a 54.2 completion percentage. Senior Dondre Dobbins leads the team in both tackles (9.3 per game) and broken up passes (4).
NOTES
- The Braves are 33-18-4 all-time against TSU and are looking to beat the Tigers for the sixth consecutive year. In the meeting last season, the Braves were led by Turner who changed the game with a blocked punt and rushing touchdown to put the team ahead in a 23-20 win.
- Alcorn has won five SWAC Player of the Week awards in four weeks this year. It's the most of any team in the league. In addition to Turner's two awards, Footman won Offensive Player of the Week, junior
Marquis Warford earned Special Teams Player of the Week and Muhammad won Defensive Player of the Week.
- Footman ranks No. 8 all-time in school history in passing touchdowns with 28. He's ninth in rushing yards with 1,733 and 11th in passing yards with 3,304.
- Senior
Timothy Gardner leads the offensive line with 43.5 knockdowns through four games this year. He was named to the Preseason All-Conference First-Team.
- Junior linebacker
Trae Ferrell is the only player in the FCS to recover two fumbles this season.
- Warford, a threat on both kick returns and punt returns, ranks second in the conference with 161.8 all purpose yards per game. He ran back a punt 72 yards for a score against Miles College.
- Sophomore
Corey McCullough, who is both the kicker and punter, leads the SWAC with 43.1 yards per punt. He's six-for-eight in field goals this year and two-for-two on tries beyond 40 yards. McCullough drilled a 49-yard field goal against FIU which was the second-longest in school history behind a 50-yarder by George Green Jr. in 1984 against Alabama State.
- Alcorn is 1-0 in conference for the sixth year in a row. Next week against Alabama State, the Braves will look to go 2-0 in league play for the fourth time in the last five years.
- The Braves moved up three spots to No. 6 in this week's BOXTOROW HBCU Coaches Poll. Alcorn is also receiving four votes in the FCS Coaches Poll.
- In the season-opening 50-21 win over Miles College, Turner rushed for 131 yards and averaged 14.6 yards per carry. His 88-yard TD run was the longest in school history. Alcorn scored six touchdowns in the game; Footman accounted for three of them with two on the ground and one in the air.
- Six different receivers have caught touchdown passes for Alcorn this season. Warford and senior
Norlando Veals both average 4.5 receptions per game which ranks third in the SWAC. Veals is also third in receiving yards per game with 71.8.
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