LORMAN &045; Calling Saturday’s devastating loss to Alabama State &uot;the lowest of low,&uot; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas vowed he and his staff will work diligently to get the Braves playing better football.

Thomas and the staff have time to do it with the Braves having an off week this week. The Braves struggled containing the Hornets’ blitz packages on offense and containing the run on defense, but Thomas noted things didn’t stop there.

The Braves had breakdowns on special teams, including sure-footed kicker David McConnell missing a PAT and a field goal, in the 41-8 setback.

Things will get better, Thomas said Monday.

&uot;This was the lowest of low, in my opinion,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;To me, there’s nothing better than being disappointed when you think you should have success. We couldn’t get anything going on offense. On the defensive side, we didn’t tackle well. We’re going to use this as a learning experience. You can only get better from it &045; you can’t get any worse.&uot;

The result from Saturday put the Hornets alone in first place in the SWAC’s East Division and saddled the Braves with their first loss in conference. It wasn’t supposed to be this way for a club who was favored to win the division and played awfully well for three quarters in the season opener against Grambling.

That win had observers thinking the Braves were well on their way, but now it almost seems as if that contest came during the 2003 season. The Braves scored 34 points against Grambling but have scored just 34 points the last three games.

&uot;I kind of saw this coming with this football team,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;We had some success early on and got in this mode we can turn it on when we can. You can’t play consistent football like this. We’re going to improve our execution on offense and defense. We’ll improve our ability to contain the blitz and make one-on-one tackles and group tackles.&uot;

The Braves have work to do on the defensive side, particularly in the area of run defense. They came into the game ranked last in the conference in rushing yards allowed per game but moved up to ninth after Texas Southern allowed over 400 yards rushing in a loss to Nicholls State Saturday.

Still, the Braves rank last in overall defense in the conference at 376.2 yards allowed per game.

&uot;We’re just not tackling well,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;We hit people behind the line of scrimmage and don’t wrap up and bring them down. We had opportunities for one-on-one tackles with our linebackers, and they don’t make them. I think we’ll get better at this.&uot;

The Hornets finished with 207 yards rushing Saturday night, including 130 form Keldrick Williams on 20 carries. It was enough to keep pounding away for a good part of the game and catch the Braves thinking run to hit a pass from Tarvaris Jackson to a receiver who had a size advantage on Alcorn’s secondary.

Much of the sore spot is in the middle linebacker spot, an area anchored by standout Omega Logan in recent seasons. The Braves started the season with former Jefferson County standout Tavari Hughes there but started freshman Antonio Cooper started the last two games.

Hughes may wind up back as a starter there against Prairie View, but Thomas said standout outside linebacker Dwan Wilson may move to the middle.

&uot;We’re still going with Cooper, and we might look at Tavari again,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;We’ve got to solidify that middle linebacker. That’s the heart and soul of our defense. We miss Omega Logan.&uot;

The game plan worked for the Hornets, who executed it well. But there still is hope for the Braves and a chance the Hornets can slip up with Southern coming in Saturday for a visit that will count in the conference standings.

But while the Braves are seething, the Hornets will merely stay as grounded as possible this week despite knocking off the favorite in the East.

&uot;We went down there focused, as we had to,&uot; Bama State head coach Charles Coe said. &uot;On any given day any ball club can beat you regardless of our record or theirs. It makes for good talk at the barber shop, but we’ve got to go out and play football.&uot;

NOTES &045; The Braves will likely know today the status of starting guard Todd Johnson, who went down with a knee injury during the second quarter Saturday. Red-shirt freshman Brandon Price filled in for him Š Alcorn running back Robert Lester is just 11 yards shy of 1,000 for his career Š Thomas defended his decision to withhold players from the media Saturday, responding, &uot;If you don’t like that, blame me for it. We didn’t want anybody to talk to the media except me.&uot;