LORMAN — After a disappointing 24-17 loss to Alabama State last Saturday, the Alcorn State Braves are trying to regroup and pick up their first road win of the season when they travel to Houston, Texas to take on Texas Southern this Saturday.

The Braves (2-4, 2-2) are still tied for first place in the SWAC East Division with Jackson State and still controls its own destiny to play in the SWAC championship game.

However, the Braves must win their remaining three games to keep that destiny alive.

But Alcorn State head coach Earnest Collins isn’t worried about three games down the road. He is only concerned about the Texas Southern team the Braves will face this Saturday.

“We’re just going to take it one game at a time and let the chips fall where they may,” Collins said. “We’re getting ready for Texas Southern, go down there this weekend and hopefully come home with a win.”

The Tigers (2-4, 1-1) had a bye week last week following one of their biggest victories in years, as they defeated Jackson State 19-17 two weeks ago.

Collins said Texas Southern’s defense shouldn’t take a backseat to any team in the SWAC.

“Texas Southern is a very aggressive football team,” Collins said. “Their defense is playing as well as any defense in the conference. They are very aggressive on the defensive side of the football. Those young men play hard.”

One thing that Alcorn has spent extra time working on this week is special teams.

The Braves had a punt blocked that led to a touchdown last week and have surrendered too many yards on kickoff returns this season.

“We’ve got to cut down on mistakes on special teams,” Collins said. “Of the games we have lost in conference play, special teams has played a major part of it. We’ve got to find a core group of kids who will hit somebody on special teams.”

Alcorn will also be looking for its first road win of the season, which is something Collins said would be nice to get.

“It’s one of those things we haven’t done yet, and hopefully we’ll get it this weekend,” Collins said. “It’s important to get the monkey off your back when it comes down to winning road games, but on the road or at home, you want to win all your games.”