BATON ROUGE &8212; Tony Hobson received perhaps his most important phone call of his brief collegiate career prior to the Prairie View A&M game.

It was Donald Carrie, the guy whom Hobson replaced.

The just-removed four-year starter just wanted to give the youngster some words of wisdom since Hobson had struggled at quarterback up until then. Ever since then, Hobson has gotten better each week with his passing numbers, decision making and overall leadership of the offense.

On Saturday, he showed improvement for the third straight week. Hobson topped the 300-yard mark for the first time and threw for three touchdowns as the Braves hammered Southern 38-16 at Mumford Stadium.

&8220;I talk to him before every game,&8221; Hobson said of Carrie, who ended his career last fall with more than 10,000 yards passing. &8220;He&8217;ll give me some advice, and I think that will help me out. He&8217;s giving me a lot of helpful advice. He&8217;s telling me to believe in myself and go with my first move.&8221;

Hobson&8217;s poise and ability Saturday showed the 17,000-plus fans at Mumford Stadium he may be the last piece to the puzzle on offense that&8217;s basically needed only a steady presence at quarterback to make things go.

The Braves&8217; running game was impressive as it&8217;s been all season, and Charlie Spiller caught his first touchdown pass of the season.

&8220;It&8217;s getting better,&8221; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &8220;Great coaching and direction by (coordinator) Coach (John) McKenzie, Coach (Richard) Myles and Coach (Michael) Ellis. They do a great job with that. We&8217;ve got great leadership on offense with (lineman) John Lowe, and our offensive line did a great job.

&8220;The guys are accepting what we do, and the younger guys are buying into the system, working hard and executing. We have had people go down, and we&8217;ve got guys stepping up.&8221;

The offense finished with a season-high 502 yards, and it came in the unlikeliest of venues. The Jaguars struggled containing both, and their score late in the game kept the Braves from posting their biggest win over Southern in 21years.

&8220;We&8217;ve got to refocus as a football team,&8221; Southern head coach Pete Richardson said. &8220;Any time you turn the football over, it puts your team in a bind. The character of our football team will have to come out now. We weren&8217;t focused going into this game. We didn&8217;t have a good week of practice. It&8217;s just things we&8217;ve got to deal with.&8221;

Turnovers put the Jaguars in a world of hurt in the second and third quarters as the Braves scored three times off them. Ken Bradford picked off a pass in the fourth quarter with the Braves leading 31-10, and the Braves drove 57 yards for a score with Hobson hitting Tabari Lott in the end zone on an 8-yard pass.

Then there wasn&8217;t a turnover in the third quarter, but the result was just the same. Hobson hit a streaking Spiller on a 57-yard touchdown pass for a 31-10 lead at the 1:14 left in the third.

It was the second touchdown catch of the day for Spiller, who has caught two against Southern in each of the last three meetings.

&8220;(Hobson) is getting better, and he&8217;s going to be a great quarterback,&8221; Spiller said. &8220;They were in single coverage. When they do that, we really open up things. Coach made a great call when they saw me open. Every time we ran that, I was open up top.

&8220;My goal is to get two (TD catches) every year against Southern. I did the first two games. Hopefully I&8217;ll do it again next year.&8221;

Alcorn&8217;s passing game caught fire in the second quarter as the Braves put up three touchdowns over a nine-minute span to take a sizeable lead. Hobson connected with tight end Tabari Lott on a 43-yard catch that set up Hobson&8217;s 3-yard touchdown run for a 10-3 Alcorn lead.

Southern fumbled the following kickoff, and Davaris Pilcher recovered it for the Braves. McCoy ran in the next play from 17 yards out for another score for a 17-3 lead.

Southern used its passing game to get into the end zone as three passes set up a 1-yard run from Steel Adams, but the Braves later hit paydirt when Hobson connected with Spiller on a 68-yard touchdown pass at the 3:35 mark for a 24-10 lead.

&8220;Every time we did that, they were going with one safety,&8221; Hobson said. &8220;I knew (Spiller) was a playmaker. All I have to do is get it in there. We&8217;ve been throwing after practice to get my timing down. I&8217;ll throw it up, and he will go up and get it.&8221;