Alcorn Game Notes | ESPN3 | Radio
BATON ROUGE, La. – Going for its fourth consecutive victory, the Alcorn State University football program will look to knock off Southern on its homecoming Saturday when the teams square off at 6 p.m. at A.W. Mumford Stadium.
It's the first trip to Southern (2-2, 1-0 SWAC) for Alcorn (3-1, 1-0 SWAC) since 2015 since the Jaguars came to Lorman in back-to-back years. The Braves beat SU 48-31 last season.
Both teams are coming off victories to open conference play. The Braves topped Mississippi Valley State 56-20 on the road after holding advantages of 665-200 in total yards and 462-22 in rushing.
The Jaguars erased a 21-6 deficit last week to come back and beat Alabama A&M. It was SU's second straight win after beating Langston 33-18 the week prior.
Senior
P.J. Simmons, the SWAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, rushed for a career-high 210 yards and a touchdown against MVSU. The Braves won their sixth straight game over the Delta Devils and lead the all-time series 45-15-1. Alcorn has outscored MVSU 318-78 over the last six games.
Junior quarterback
Noah Johnson ranks 13th in the country in completion percentage (.684). He's thrown for 660 yards and five touchdowns, and has rushed for 273 yards and five touchdowns this year.
Defensively, senior
Alvin Wilson leads the squad with 18 tackles on the year, while junior
Darrell Henderson has three sacks. Five different Braves have grabbed an interception including junior
Javen Morrison with two.
As a team, the Braves rank first in the SWAC in scoring (40.3 ppg), scoring defense (19.0 ppg), time of possession (31:48), total defense (268.3 ypg), rushing (266.0 ypg), rushing defense (108.8 ypg), field goal percentage (1.000), sacks (14), fewest sacks allowed (3), interceptions (6) and first downs per game (15.8).
For the Jaguars, sophomore quarterback John Lampley is the team's leader in both passing and rushing. He's thrown for 605 yards (151.3 ypg) and seven touchdowns, and has rushed for 260 yards (65.0 ypg) and a touchdown. Sophomore wide receiver Kendall Catalon has hauled in 203 yards (50.8 ypg) and three touchdowns.
The game will be televised on
ESPN3 with Jay Walker and Eric Clemons on the call. It can also be heard on 91.7 FM or wprl.org with Charles Edmond as the voice of the Braves.
NOTES
- Saturday marks the 65th meeting between the Braves and the Jaguars. Alcorn leads the all-time series 36-27-2.
- The Braves are 1-0 in conference for the seventh year in a row. They are looking to start 2-0 for the second straight season.
- Alcorn is one of 15 teams in the FCS to score on 100 percent of its trips inside the red zone. On the other side of the ball, the Braves rank eighth in the country in red zone defense, limiting teams to score on just 60 percent of their trips inside the 20.
- Two weeks ago, the Braves notched a 27-15 victory over Texas Southern in a non-conference game. Alcorn raced out to a 27-0 halftime lead which was too much for the Tigers to overcome. The Braves posted their seventh straight win over TSU in the series.
- In Alcorn's home-opener, the team broke a Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium scoring record by defeating Louisiana College 78-0. It was the second-most lopsided score in school history, only behind a 101-0 victory over Paul Quinn in 1967. Alcorn won its home opener for the sixth year in a row.
- Alcorn is 9-0 when leading at halftime over the last two seasons.
- The Braves have won three SWAC Player of the Week honors this year. Morrison was named both the SWAC Defensive Player of the Week and HBCU National Player of the Week after grabbing two interceptions against TSU. Junior
Raidarious Anderson has won SWAC Offensive Player of the Week, and senior
Johnathon Hauer earned SWAC Newcomer of the Week after the win against LC.
- Morrison has led the team in interceptions in each of the last two seasons and is up to eight in his career.
- The Braves remained at No. 4 in this week's HBCU Poll and were receiving votes in the Preseason FCS Poll. Southern sits at No. 7.
- Alcorn assistant coach
Pat White was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame last Saturday. He was not present for his induction when the Mountaineers hosted Kansas State since he was with the Braves at MVSU. White's brother Coley was be present on his behalf.
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