Football | 9/6/2019 2:15:00 PM

Alcorn Hosts Mississippi College in Home Opener Saturday

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LORMAN, Miss. – Making its first appearance at Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium this season, the Alcorn State University football program will welcome Mississippi College at 6 p.m. Saturday.
 
Prior to the game, members of the 1969 Championship team will be recognized on the field in honor of their golden 50th anniversary reunion. Alcorn was crowned as both Black National Champions and SWAC Champions that year with an undefeated 8-0-1 record.
 
The Braves (0-1) have won six straight home openers, and are 16-11 all-time in openers at Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium. Additionally, Alcorn carries over a three-game home winning-streak from last year.
 
Alcorn will look to bounce back from a season-opening defeat at Southern Miss last weekend. The Braves won the time of possession battle 34:07-25:53. Alcorn's touchdown came on a 15-yard sprint up the middle by senior De'Shawn Waller, which cut the deficit to 13-7 with 10:43 left in the third quarter.
 
A noteworthy moment came in the third quarter when senior Corey McCullough became the school's all-time leader in most field goals made with 35. The record-setting kick came on a 44-yarder, as he surpassed the mark of 34 held by Wilfredo Rosales.
 
The Braves are expected to start seniors Noah Johnson and De'Shawn Waller, respectively, in the backfield. Both were named to the Walter Payton Award Watch List, which goes to the best offensive player in FCS. Johnson was the 2018 SWAC Offensive Player of the Year and SWAC Championship Offensive MVP, while Waller was the 2018 SWAC Newcomer of the Year. Johnson and Waller were the only student-athletes from the SWAC on the list.
 
On the visiting sidelines will be an MC squad playing its first game of the season. Head coach John Bland enters his sixth season at the helm, and coaches an offense that ranked eighth nationally in NCAA Division II in rushing yards last year with 269.6 yards per game. The Choctaws scored 25 rushing touchdowns last year, which more-than tripled the amount they had the previous year.
 
At quarterback, senior Detric Hawthorn was named to the All-GSC First-Team last year and averaged over 100 rushing yards per game. On defense, MC has a new defensive coordinator in Tony Gilbert who spent the last two years at Stephen F. Austin as a defensive backs coach.
 
Saturday's game can be watched live on Braves All-Access with a subscription. It can also be heard live for free on 91.7 FM or wprl.org with Charles Edmond on the call.
 
NOTES
- Saturday marks the first-ever meeting between Alcorn and MC.
 
- The Braves have won 12 straight games against non-Division I opponents. Last season, Alcorn defeated Louisiana College 78-0, which set stadium records for most points scored and largest margin of victory.
 
- The Braves are ranked No. 3 in the national HBCU Poll released Monday. They are also receiving 48 votes in the FCS Top-25.
 
- In the Alcorn career record book, senior quarterback Noah Johnson ranks fifth all-time in passing completions (354), seventh in passing yards (4,166), eighth in touchdown passes (30) and 10th in rushing yards (1,867). Last season, Johnson ranked third in the nation in rushing yards per carry (7.5) and 16th in completion percentage (.621).
 
- Alcorn was picked to win the SWAC East Division in the 2019 Preseason Poll. The Braves are the five-time defending SWAC East Division champions and the reigning SWAC Champions. Alcorn returns eight starters on offense and seven on defense.
 
- The Braves landed 14 student-athletes on the SWAC Preseason All-Conference Teams. The list included Johnson who was named the SWAC Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, and senior linebacker Solomon Muhammad who was tabbed the SWAC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Fred McNair
Recapping Southern Miss
"We had a great week of preparation for Southern Miss, just going into the game I thought we had a chance to pull one out. Early, we gave up the kickoff return which we can't allow, and at the half it was 13-0. We went into the locker room, made some adjustments, received the ball and went down and scored to make it a 13-7 game. Next possession on defense, third-and-long we commit a dumb foul – unsportsmanlike conduct – and then on 3rd and 17 they went up top; I thought we had pretty good coverage but our defensive back fell down and the guy was able to make a catch for the touchdown. Then after that, the wheels kind of fell off, and we gave up the punt return for a touchdown. Things of that nature we just can't allow, but overall I'm pleased with the way the defense played and some aspects of our offense did well. The defense played a pretty close ballgame for us and kept us in the game. Take away those two return for touchdowns and the long pass for a touchdown and it's a ballgame with those guys. Special teams-wise, we just got to get better. We've worked on it this week and emphasized covering lanes. Southern Miss was a good ball club and I've got to give them credit. They scored 38 points and we scored 10."
 
Scouting Mississippi College
"They are going to bring a load of kids down and Coach John Bland is great at what he does. He was a quarterback coach at Rice University and he's been around football for a long time. What they do on defense is going to be similar to what we saw this past weekend. Offensively, they're going to run the Georgia Tech style stuff so we just got to prepare ourselves for that. It's nothing we haven't seen before, we just have to be very disciplined in what we do and make sure the things that happened this past weekend don't happen this coming weekend against them."
 
On What Alcorn Needs To Do To Stop The Running Attack That They Expect To See Saturday
"Good eyes, timing, do your assignments, if you're supposed to take the dive, take the dive, if you've got the quarterback, take the quarterback, it's as simple as that. They have a good running game. I think over the 10 games last year they rushed the ball over 500 times on the ground and probably threw it 12 per game so we have to be prepared, good eyes, good discipline, good alignments and assignments is how we have to play defense. Offensively, we need to protect the quarterback and we need to be able to run the football."
 
On Bright Spots Offensively Versus Southern Miss:
The first possession we moved the ball down on them and we were able to attempt a field goal. Corey [McCullough] just missed it wide right and we had a chance there to put the score at 7-3 so we had opportunities. We moved the ball pretty well at times, and sometimes we didn't do it so well. We had some issues upfront and they got at us pretty good. We gave up some sacks, but the biggest thing is the team feels good right now, they know what they do to correct the things they made mistakes on so that's why I'm excited about them for knowing what they did wrong. They were quick to admit that they were bad upfront, we made some corrections at the half and came back out in the third quarter, drive down and scored, 13-7. The wheels kind of fell off after that and we didn't do as well as we had planned on - just got to be better this week."
 
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