Alcorn taking big payday for second straight game

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Saturday, September 19, 2009

LORMAN — Alcorn State head coach Earnest Collins knows his team will be a huge underdog once again this week as they hit the road to take on their second consecutive Bowl Subdivision opponent.

But there’s nothing the Braves can do except fight for respect and pride.

Such is the life of the Braves, and most other SWAC schools that have to take large payouts from big schools in order to help fund their athletic programs.

Alcorn State opened its season two weeks ago with a 52-0 loss to Southern Miss, which paid the Braves $195,000 to come to Hattiesburg for the game.

And now Alcorn will travel up to the upper Midwest to take on a Central Michigan team that defeated Big Ten team Michigan State last Saturday.

Kickoff for today’s game is at 2:30 local time. Fans can listen to the game live on WPRL 91.7 FM or www.alcornsports.com.

Alcorn State officials weren’t available to comment on how much money the school is receiving from Central Michigan, but it most likely is comparable to the payday it got from Southern Miss.

Collins isn’t exactly thrilled with the situation the Braves are in, but says playing top level opponents is one way to see who on his team will step up and not quit.

“Anybody that’s playing the game of football, your first focus is going to win the football game,” Collins said. “When that doesn’t happen, you refocus and want to see who on the team is going to fight to the end. Whether you’re 50 up or 50 down, you see which of your players is going to fight no matter what the situation is.”

Alcorn isn’t the only school to take a large payday from a bigger school to go on the road and play a Bowl Subdivision opponent.

Jackson State played Mississippi State, Mississippi Valley State played Arkansas State, Southern played Louisiana-Lafayette, Texas Southern played Louisiana-Monroe and Prairie View played New Mexico State.

Of those games, only Prairie View was able to stay within 23 points of its opponent, losing 21-18 to the Aggies.

Three SWAC teams lost by more than 50 points, including Alcorn’s 52-point loss to USM.

MVSU lost 61-0 to Arkansas State and Texas Southern lost 58-0 to Louisiana-Monroe.

Collins said he understands the school’s need to take big paydays from larger programs, but thinks that if Alcorn’s program can be improved, the school can make that much money from ticket sales.

“I look at it like yeah, you play Division I teams to get revenue, but at the same time, if you build the program up to a successful program, the revenue you would get from 1A schools would instead come from fans packing out the stadium,” Collins said.

“Instead of 10,000 people coming, you might get 20,000. I’m not a math major, but I think that would make a big difference in revenue.”

Alcorn State is also put at a disadvantage by only having three home games this season and its first home game isn’t until Oct. 10.

That is something Collins wants to see changed in the future.

“Every once in awhile, it’s OK to play a (Bowl Subdivision) school to see where your club is, but you don’t want year in and year out to put yourself out there playing all these games,” Collins said. “Now you come home and you only have three home games to play. I hope in the future that we schedule a little better for ourselves.”