LORMAN &045; Things just haven’t gone well for Alcorn this season, and the Braves are upset about it.

There’s nothing they can do about it now, however, except go out and finish the season on a solid note today against Jackson State in the Capital City Classic. Even though they had a chance to post consecutive seven-win seasons for the first time in 10 years, there will be better taste left in their mouths when they walk off the Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium turf today.

Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m.

&uot;Of course we’re disappointed because we didn’t have the season we wanted to have,&uot; senior defensive end Ross Gordon said. &uot;But we still want to give the freshmen and sophomore something to look forward to. I’d say it’s disappointing for the simple fact that the games we lost we know we should have won. We just failed to execute and fell victim to our own mistakes.&uot;

Consider the fact that the Braves were picked in the preseason poll to win the SWAC’s Eastern Division and play for the conference championship. Never before did that happen in head coach Johnny Thomas’ seven years, but the players set that as a goal when fall camp opened.

The Braves head into today’s game with a 6-4 mark and feel the losses to Howard, Southern and Alabama A&M shouldn’t have been. Only the 41-8 loss to Alabama State was a legitimate loss, and it’s the Hornets who will go to the SWAC Championship for a second straight year.

The Braves also could have qualified for the I-AA playoffs had they beaten Alabama A&M last week and win today.

&uot;This has been a very disappointing season for me personally and professionally, my coaches, our seniors and our football team,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;We were picked to win the Eastern Division. Honestly, we feel we should have lost only one football game, and that was Alabama State.

&uot;Alabama State came in here and dominated this football team and showed us although we were picked to win the Eastern Division that it was incorrect. We beat ourselves against Howard, we beat ourselves against Southern University and we beat ourselves against A&M.;&uot;

The overall picture hasn’t been as bleak as a 6-4 record would indicate, although the Braves have had their struggles in certain areas due simply to lack of experience at the position. A large part has been their struggles defending the run against a larger-than-normal number of teams in the SWAC who have abandoned the pass as a primary offensive weapon.

The team’s defensive backs and passing game have been the biggest highlights this season, both areas where that featured the most experience.

&uot;A lot of people say we have freshmen on the line and freshmen on the inside,&uot; said Gordon, team leader in tackles for loss with 11 and hurries with 12. &uot;We haven’t been as strong as we have been in the past, but our freshmen our coming along pretty well. They’re learning fast and coming along fast. They’ve done exceptionally well for freshmen.&uot;

Gordon has been the most experienced player up front this season in the Braves four-man line. Freshmen JoJuan Johnson, Robert Browne and Oren Long have rotated the two tackles spots this season, while Martin Jackson has stepped in to play the other end spot.

That came after first-year starter Bryan Woods went out with a knee injury against Southeastern Louisiana.

The unit will get another test today against Jackson State and its ground-oriented attack. The Braves are just two yards per game away from falling back into ninth in the conference in rushing yards allowed per game at 185.

&uot;To me, to stop the run, it’s all about attitude,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;It’s making up your mind that you’re going to stop people. You’ve got to gang-tackle people and get to the ball.

&uot;We didn’t change anything defensively against A&M except get our players’ attitudes adjusted to defend the run. That’s what we’ve got to do against Jackson State.&uot;

Fortunately for the Braves’ offense, the Tigers are struggling just as much if not more on defense this season. The Tigers are the conference’s worst defense with 379.2 yards allowed per game, including 371 last week in a 45-28 win over Prairie View A&M.;

The Braves also come into the contest after having one of their better days running the ball last week in the loss to Alabama A&M.;

Despite losing fullback Ken Williams to an ankle injury the week prior against Mississippi Valley, the Braves put up 130 yards on the ground &045; their most since the Texas Southern game &045; against an awfully good A&M defense.

Freshmen Jacob Davis stepped in for Williams.

&uot;That was a pleasant surprise for us to run the football pretty good against A&M,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;Our second-string fullback came in and played very, very well and executed the plays we designed for him. As a result, we were able to run the football pretty well.&uot;

But then there’s the passing game with quarterback Donald Carrie and receivers Nate Hughes and Charlie Spiller.

The Braves are well ahead of everyone in the conference when it comes to yards passing per game, and Spiller ranks fifth in the nation in receiving yards per game.

Spiller also surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season last week.

&uot;(Jackson) plays a lot of cover 2 and cover 4,&uot; Spiller said. &uot;Their DBs are quick. We’ll do what we’ve been doing all year.&uot;