ITTA BENA &8212; Three years ago it was considered to be a sign &8212; Mississippi Valley and first-year head coach Willie Totten knocked off an Alcorn team that was banged up late in the season.

In his fourth season, Totten &8212; now a member of the College Football Hall of Fame &8212; can reap the benefits of what is becoming a solid program. The Delta Devils have their best team this season under the record-setting quarterback and are poised to have their first winning season under his belt.

The Devils (5-3) could do it Saturday with a win over Alcorn at Jack Spinks Stadium that would not only end a two-game skid to the Braves but end their hopes of a Eastern Division title.

&8220;My thing goes back to when I first took the job four years ago,&8221; Totten said. &8220;I looked at this team, and I kind of assessed the team in terms of where we wanted to be in three or four years. We played freshmen when we started, and our intention was to build the program to be competitive year after year. I can see that coming into fold. A winning season is very, very important for us and for our program.&8221;

A win Saturday would cement that winning mark with three games left to play &8212; next week against Alabama State and the final game against Southeastern Louisiana. The Devils lost three straight in conference early in the season to Alabama A&M, Jackson State and Grambling that essentially eliminated them from the division race.

Now a winning record &8212; something Valley hasn&8217;t done in 10 years &8212; would be the next best thing.

&8220;We haven&8217;t really thought about that (East race),&8221; Totten said. &8220;We&8217;ll approach them as one game at a time, and we&8217;ll see what happens at the end. We still have a tough season ahead of us, and it&8217;ll give us confidence going into next year. That&8217;s why it&8217;s so important to win this year to give these guys some confidence and let them know the hard work was not in vain.&8221;

Now more than ever the Devils seem poised to make that step and finish the season with something to remember. They enter Saturday&8217;s game with a three-game winning streak after last week&8217;s 58-13 mauling of Prairie View on the road.

The Devils are among the better passing teams in the SWAC with Mississippi State transfer Aries Nelson at quarterback, and they&8217;ve improved significantly in the ground game with 247 yards on PV with Kalvin Woods accounting for 164 of them on only 14 carries.

&8220;I was very impressed with the way the guys approached the game,&8221; Totten said. &8220;We knew Prairie View had the second-best team against the run. We hadn&8217;t really run the football effectively because we&8217;ve thrown the football. My challenge to the guys this week was we had to go down and develop a solid running game.&8221;

Nelson, a junior out of nearby Cleveland, has risen among the ranks in the SWAC behind Bruce Eugene and Tarvaris Jackson as one of the top quarterbacks in the conference with 260.5 yards per game.

Valley is third in the conference in total offense, yet everything may have jelled for the Devils on that side of the ball after the Grambling game. The Tigers came away with a 37-22 win in a game where the Devils led 13-7 at half and 22-13 heading into the fourth quarter.

&8220;I think what happened was we were very disappointed in the Grambling game,&8221; he said. &8220;We felt we should have won the football game. We felt our team can play with anybody in the conference if we go in and play. It did give our team some confidence.&8221;