By: Corey Gunkel

The Vicksburg Post

This was supposed to be the game that finally tested Alcorn State.

After rolling through its last four FCS games in an eerily similar fashion to that of the Braves, Alabama State (4-2, 3-1) came into Jack Spinks Stadium as Alcorn’s main challenger in a seemingly wide-open Southwestern Athletic Conference.

But the Braves’ quickly shut ASU’s door of opportunity before Alabama State could even reach for the knob to remain unbeaten and untested.

Alcorn State (5-1, 3-0) racked up 607 yards on 88 plays to dispose of Alabama State 33-7 Thursday, leaping into the driver’s seat of the SWAC’s competitive East division.

Hopson’s team continues to utilize a deep arsenal of running backs to pound away at opponents with relative ease, rushing for 389 yards behind four different backs. Darryan Ragsdale set the tone for Alcorn early with a 40-yard touchdown scamper with just eight minutes gone in the first quarter and the ground assault snowballed from there. Ragsdale ended the game with 173 yards and two scores.

“I just played hard and do what I do every week,” he said. “(My first run) set the tone and just made everybody play better.”

Not to be outdone, junior quarterback John Gibbs Jr. rumbled for 115 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown, for an average of 9.6 yards per carry. The Braves added nearly 400 yards to their No. 2-ranked rushing attack, and Gibbs tacked on 218 more in the air for an offense that didn’t punt until 57 seconds remained in the third quarter.

“We ran the ball well. Offensively, I thought the players and coaches did a tremendous job,” Hopson said. “There’s always things on both sides of the ball you’ve got to go clean up and you’ve got to go get better at, but on the whole I thought it was a really good night.”

Alcorn’s defense stymied Alabama State’s offense to just 56 rushing yards and 261 total in the dominant win.

“I thought we played physical today. I thought we had good gap integrity. I thought we tackled well,” Hopson said. “That’s how you have to shut down a good running attack and that’s what we did.”

The Braves cruised to a 26-point victory despite a host of errors that otherwise would have put the game away even earlier. Gibbs threw an interception in the red zone and was unable to taken advantage of two busted coverages in the first half, missing on two open receivers who were poised to walk into the end zone. Ragsdale also fumbled at the one-yard line to wipe away a potential touchdown in the second quarter, but in the end it wouldn’t matter.

“We’re proud of that, but we don’t want to have those (mistakes),” Hopson said. “I thought the kids played well and I’m proud of that.”

Alcorn will now go on the road to face a Grambling team that is also undefeated in SWAC play, so Hopson knows his team will have little time to celebrate the win before moving on to next week.

“We have to have a short memory. We enjoy it today and a little bit tomorrow, but then we’ve got to go to work because we’ve got a good Grambling team we’ve got to play next week,” Hopson said.