LORMAN &8212; It may be the one play that epitomized Saturday afternoon&8217;s disappointing loss and told the tale of a frustrating day at times on defense for Alcorn.

On third and nine at the start of the fourth holding a 21-14 lead, Alabama A&M quarterback Kelcy Luke threw a little screen pass to running back Travis O&8217;Neal on a play that may have been a last resort against Alcorn&8217;s coverage.

O&8217;Neal, however, had other plans. The 235-pound back showed he&8217;s got quick feet despite being a big man, broke tackles and would have got into the end zone had it not been for Alcorn cornerback Ken Bradford running him down.

That play, however, set up what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown. And after weeks of improved play at stopping the run and tackling, Alcorn&8217;s defense showed it may still have work to do heading into this week&8217;s game against Jackson State.

&8220;When they threw the football out to the running back in the flat, he ran through four or five tackles,&8221; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &8220;You just can&8217;t do that. I give credit to the running back. He had the will to break through all of them. His effort was greater than our effort. We have to match the intensity of our opponents.&8221;

Missed tackles on that play and in the Bulldogs&8217; ground game at times made for long stays on the field for the Braves&8217; defense and the momentum for A&M, who locked up the SWAC Championship with the win and Alabama State&8217;s loss to Mississippi Valley.

The Braves gave up 211 yards on the ground, the most since that disappointing loss at home to Arkansas-Pine Bluff a month ago. In the Braves&8217; four-game win streak they didn&8217;t allow more than 145 yards on the ground, but on Saturday the streak came to a halt when A&M ran the football with success at key times.

Now Alcorn coaches have to go back and fix the problem.

&8220;That is a concern,&8221; Thomas said. &8220;A&M did an outstanding job of recognizing certain things we did not do defensively, such as one or two times we missed an align. Other times when we did align properly and executed the defense the way it ought to be played, we shut them down. There were other times we didn&8217;t make the tackle.&8221;

The Braves&8217; defense picked it up later in the game and forced A&M to punt, but the offense couldn&8217;t move the ball in the passing game. Yet the damage was done &8212; the big play from O&8217;Neal that set up Nic Luke&8217;s touchdown for a 28-14 lead and a 96-yard scoring drive just before half that ended in a score.

Nic Luke&8217;s 1-yard run with 20 seconds left capped a 13-play drive that encompassed more than five minutes. The Braves had no time to build a drive and kicked off to A&M to start the second half.

&8220;We still had the threat of the pass,&8221; A&M head coach Anthony Jones said. &8220;I came in there and told the guys (at half) that was a great, great drive. It was late in the half, and to drive the ball against a team like that &8212; that was major. It gave us the confidence to run the ball at will. It got us fired up.&8221;

Credit the Braves&8217; defense for keeping up the fight, even after the long screen play and the 14-point deficit. The Bulldogs had three more possessions after that but couldn&8217;t get a first down, much like the start of the game when their first three possessions had the same result.

The Braves just couldn&8217;t close the gap offensively after scoring on fourth down to cut the lead to seven.

&8220;The bottom line is we did a poor job of tackling,&8221; safety Brandon Brown said. &8220;We came in fired up. As the game went on, they made more plays than we did. It hurts. Our coach told us last week against (Valley&8217;s) Aries Nelson &8212; we laid a big egg as far as the passing game. We wanted to shut them down and make them one-dimensional.&8221;

Up front, the Braves were forced to shake up their lineup a bit when interior lineman JoJuan Johnson turned an ankle during practice. Coaches inserted sophomore Oren Long into his place to go alongside Robert Browne, although Johnson played sparingly and registered two tackles.

&8220;It was tender the day of the game, and we had to go with Oren Long more than JoJuan,&8221; Thomas said. &8220;He tried to go on it, but he couldn&8217;t go as fast as he normally goes. Any time you lose JoJuan Johnson in there not playing full speed, it disrupts the continueity of the defensive line&8221;

&8220;All week long Coach Thomas preached to us about having faith,&8221; Brown said. &8220;He said keep the faith. You can&8217;t get down.&8221;