On a defensive unit that is as talented as it is young, Dwan Wilson had no choice but to step up and make a statement.

The handful of seniors were just about like everyone else following that disheartening 41-8 loss to Alabama State two weeks ago, but now it got personal. The defense, coaches admitted, played poorly on perhaps the team’s biggest stage so far this season when a win would have put the Braves alone in first place.

The defense, Wilson said, will get better.

&uot;We’ve never lost that bad at home since I’ve been here,&uot; said Wilson, the senior linebacker who shares the team lead in tackles with fellow senior linebacker Leo Nobles. &uot;We’ve been working hard this off week trying to get our confidence back. We’ve got to get back refocused. It was tough coming off that loss. We didn’t want to play like that at home.&uot;

Unfortunately, the loss came in front of the 8,400 folks who came to see what was billed as the biggest game to date in the SWAC’s East Division. The Hornets threw a number of things at Alcorn offensively, but they preyed on one of the Braves’ biggest struggles of late &045; the ability to stop the run.

The Braves have given up 211 yards per game through four games this season and gave up 207 yards on the ground to Alabama State. It’s an issue they are hoping to improve on Saturday at Prairie View.

&uot;They just out-played us, and I put that on myself,&uot; defensive coordinator LaTraia Jones said. &uot;I was coming out here feeling ill, but that’s not an excuse. I didn’t get them physically and mentally ready to play Alabama State.

&uot;The big emphasis is shutting down the run. We were giving up 3 or 4 yards a pop. We’ve got some young kids, and they said, ‘We’ll try to run it at you.’ Then we came into the SWAC, and they said, ‘We’ll do a little of both &045; throw it and run it down your throat.’ We couldn’t stop either one.&uot;

Fortunately for the Braves, the week off last week came at an opportune time to get everyone going back in the right direction. This unit is young &045; two freshman at tackles, a first-year starter at one end spot and a freshman at middle linebacker &045; and may just need time to grow and mature.

And it isn’t anything schematic about what’s wrong. There were enough missed tackles against Alabama State to leave everyone fuming.

&uot;We didn’t tackle well against Alabama State,&uot; ASU head coach Johnny Thomas said. &uot;We really didn’t execute well. We’ve worked on that for the last week, and we’re still working on it. We’re constantly trying to make that happen. A big concern is tackling &045; one-on-one tackling and putting people down on the ground. We worked on that diligently this week.&uot;

The defensive results against Alabama State may not have been a huge surprise, but it didn’t make the coaches’ headaches subside any. The Braves had been ranked last in the conference in stopping the run prior to that game before Texas Southern took that spot when it gave up 425 yards rushing in a loss to Nicholls State.

The Braves gave up 200 yards in each game this season except the 190 yielded to Howard in that Week 3 loss &045; a game where the Bison won despite completing a single pass. Both Grambling and North Carolina A&T put up 224 yards rushing on the Braves, and Alabama State finished with 207.

Things will get better, Jones said, thanks in part to the off week. They have to.

&uot;It’s given us a chance to sit down and a chance to relax,&uot; Jones said. &uot;It gave us a chance to breathe. When you’re playing two teams out of the top 20 in the nation, it’ll take you out of the emotional high of each game.&uot;

The next issue for the coaching staff is solidifying that middle linebacker spot that Omega Logan anchored for most of the last two seasons. Thomas admitted the Monday after the loss the staff still misses Logan, and the Braves have used two players in that spot this season &045; senior Tavari Hughes and freshman Antonio Cooper.

It’s a critical position when you have to stop the run up the middle, one that needs to be solidified quickly.

&uot;I don’t know &045; we’re looking at two or three people at that position,&uot; Thomas said. &uot;We won’t know until gameday who actually will be starting. We’ve got to be able to stop the run. If we don’t stop the run, people can eat up the clock to death. That’s been our focus the last two weeks, and hopefully we can do a much better job against Prairie View.&uot;

Hughes or Cooper could play the spot, or it could be Wilson (&uot;Whatever helps the team,&uot; he said). Jones likes freshman Lester Mosley, a 6-1, 220-pound true freshman out of Mobile, Ala., and another member of that February recruiting class that’s latching on quickly.

&uot;That freshman class is a doozie,&uot; Jones said. &uot;We’re still experimenting, and I think right now they look good at that position. But that’s what so good when you have that kind of attitude and the kids wanting to do whatever it takes to be better.&uot;

No one is denying there is talent on that side of the ball regardless of class. Both Wilson and Nobles have developed into leaders on defense up front, and everyone realizes they can get better at defending the pass as well.

The loss to Alabama State may have just brought things home the best was possible, and now it’s time to regroup.

&uot;We’ve been getting the basics back underneath us and trying to get a foundation back under us,&uot; senior defensive end Ross Gordon said. &uot;It’s been a good week, though, a really good week. Losing that game, it hit me pretty hard. We didn’t expect to lose games at home. When you lose one at home, it really does something to you.&uot;