LORMAN — Alcorn State head football coach Earnest Collins had to cringe when he looked at the defensive statistics from the Braves’ first three games.

Collins, who was Alcorn’s defensive coordinator last year before being promoted to head coach after Ernest Jones was fired, saw some ugly numbers.

Fifty-two points allowed to Southern Miss, 48 points allowed to Central Michigan and 48 more allowed to Southern University.

But starting with Alcorn’s truncated game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, something began to change.

And now when Collins looks at the defensive numbers, he sees a much happier sight.

The Braves defense allowed no points in the one half they played against Pine Bluff before the cancellation of the game, and then allowed just 10 points against Mississippi Valley State last Saturday in a 32-10 win.

Alcorn’s defense also recorded 14 sacks in the game, which tied a Football Championship Subdivision record.

Collins said nothing major changed for the Braves defense. It just needed a little tweaking.

“We’re just continuing to work on our fundamentals,” Collins said. “We moved some guys around in the linebacking corps (after a possible season-ending injury to Herve Tonye-Tonye), and are getting some consistency with it. The guys are learning and getting better as a group. We’ve just got to keep it going.”

Collins said the Braves knew they could get pressure on Mississippi Valley quarterback Paul Roberts. They key was just bringing him down.

“The guys penned their ears back and kept going,” Collins said. “They remembered things from last year. Last year we missed about five sacks that Roberts broke away from. The guys took it upon themselves to hold on to him this time. It was a great effort by those guys. Brandon Morris was the SWAC Defensive Player of the Week, but about two or three other guys could have gotten it as well.”

Last week’s victory was Collins’ first as a college head coach.

“When they canceled the Arkansas-Pine Bluff game, (quarterback) Tim Buckley slid up to me and said ‘Don’t worry about it, we’ll get you with the Gatorade at home next week,’” Collins said.

Alcorn State plays its second consecutive home game Saturday, as Alabama A&M will come into Jack Spinks Stadium angry after a 21-point loss to Grambling last Saturday.

The Bulldogs sit at 4-2 overall but have the same conference record as the Braves — 1-1.

Alabama A&M’s conference win was a 28-7 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sept. 26.

“A&M is a great football team,” Collins said. “They put the rock in their running backs hands and pound the ball at you. It will be a no-nonsense, smashmouth game.”

And while Alcorn’s defense made a living in their opponent’s backfield last week, the Braves offense must be careful not to be on the other end of that this week against the Bulldogs’ blitzing defense.

“They are going to blitz our quarterback and try to make him do some things he doesn’t want to do,” Collins said. “We’ve got to be ready for whatever they bring at us.”

And part of Alcorn’s offensive plan is to continue what the Braves did successfully last week — balance the run and the pass.

Alcorn had 21 passing attempts for 187 yards and 39 rushing attempts for 148 yards in its 22-point win over the Delta Devils.

“A big key for Tim (Buckley) being able to throw the ball well was the success we had running the ball,” Collins said. “When you can run the ball and have balance it bodes well for your offense. If we can get that same balance this week, we should be OK.”