LORMAN &045; If difficulties on the defensive end continue today for Alcorn State, it won’t be for lack of trying on the part of the coaching staff.

But a word of advice &045; don’t offer your greetings if things do go that way tonight.

When the Braves face Alabama State at 7 p.m. today in Montgomery, they’ll need an improved defensive effort to have a shot at pulling the upset. The Braves made progress in the second half last week, and they’ll need that effort again.

&uot;From a defensive standpoint, we’re in position to make tackles but we missed a lot of tackles,&uot; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &uot;If we don’t tackle very well (tonight), it’s going to be a long ball game. It’s hard to tackle full speed during the week because you’re afraid of getting people hurt.

&uot;To me, tackling is an attitude. It comes from the heart. I always tell people &045; and I’ll go to my grave believing this &045; you can teach a kid to fundamentally tackle somebody, but I don’t think you can teach a kid run into somebody, attack somebody and viciously hit somebody.&uot;

There’s still work to be done, and that’s what really worries everyone up against an Alabama State team that has a number of their skill people returning from last year. The Hornets will run and throw the football tonight, but they won’t have to throw it if Alcorn can’t stop the run.

The Braves hope to build on the second half of last week’s game when they did a better job of that against Langston.

&uot;We came out focused the second half and were executing our plays better,&uot; red-shirt freshman defensive end Joe Keys said. &uot;We’ve just got to get the kinks out, and we’ll be all right. (Missed tackles) was where they were getting their yards. All we’ve got to do is focus on wrapping up and getting our tackles.&uot;

It’s kind of the same story from last season, although the missed tackles have been more prevalent in these first two weeks than last season. That was the main problem in the opener against Southeastern Louisiana when the Lions put up 223 yards rushing on Alcorn on 41 carries, an average of 5.4 yards a run.

Part of it’s been due to the growing pains up front. All three new linebackers are new &045; including true freshman Lee Robinson on the outside &045; while Keys rotated with Bryan Woods last week at end in the position vacated by senior Ross Gordon.

Martin Jackson at the other end had 12 tackles to lead the team, but Ken Bradford and Cory McLaurin &045; both defensive backs &045; were second and third in that category.

&uot;That first year, I was just trying to get the defensive end position down,&uot; said Keys who had six tackles and a sack. &uot;I’m still working on it, but I’m still going full speed and doing my best to help the team. In high school I played guard, and last year I had to adjust to defense.&uot;

Coaches will recall last year’s contest against Alabama State at home, one that featured little on the defensive side against an Alabama State team that had little difficulty moving the ball with the run and the pass.

The Hornets ran for 207 yards in front of Alcorn’s home crowd at Jack Spinks, and everyone is back this season. Keldric Williams, who ran for over 1,000 yards last season, returns along with Robert Randolph in the backfield and quarterback Tarvaris Jackson.

&uot;They came in here last year and beat us to death,&uot; Thomas said.

&uot;They’ve got an outstanding football team. They can throw the football very well, and they do an outstanding job of forcing people to turn the football over. We’re going to work extremely hard on preparing for them. If we concentrate on what we’re supposed to do and don’t give them many opportunities to score, I think we’ll be all right.&uot;

Turnovers have been a sore spot for the Braves in this series, too. Each of the last two meetings have featured four interceptions on their part, including the 2003 meeting in Montgomery where the picks allowed the Hornets to rally from a 14-7 deficit at half to win 49-28.

Last season the Braves had four picks, and the Hornets created much of that with a relentless pass rush.

&uot;The last two times we played them they came out in the second half and blew us out,&uot; receiver Charlie Spiller said. &uot;We’ve got to step it up. We’re just trying to play our game the second half. Hopefully we’ll give them a better showing and we can beat them.&uot;

Yet limiting the turnovers may not be as big a key as wrapping up and tackling. The Hornets will keep it on the ground tonight if it works, and that could make for a long night with Alcorn not getting many touches.

And that can’t happen.

&uot;We’re going to try to make them do some different things,&uot; Keys said. &uot;The whole team has showed improvement. There’s no I in team. We’ve got to cut out the mistakes. This is a very good team we’re about to go up against.&uot;