LORMAN &8212; The numbers could tell a different story.

Alcorn put up the most yards rushing Alabama A&M has surrendered all season. Outside of Alabama State, Alcorn piled up the most yards offense on A&M in a month. And Jeremy McCoy was the first back all season to put up 100 yards on A&M&8217;s stingy run defense.

Yet it was the passing game &8212; and, consequently, the scoreboard &8212; that told a different story Saturday afternoon at Jack Spinks Stadium.

The passing game failed to get on mark at key times in Alcorn&8217;s 28-21 loss, and that came despite standout receiver Charlie Spiller finishing the day with 100 yards receiving.

But Tony Hobson had many of his passes go high, and he completed only eight of 31 passes with four interceptions for 145 yards.

It was the lowest total for the standout freshman since the Braves struggled in that 17-7 loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff over a month ago.

&8220;It was one of those days &8212; leave it at that,&8221; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &8220;You&8217;ve got to be very particular about what you say about your players, especially your quarterback. There&8217;s nobody on this football team that wants to win any more than anybody else. We had our opportunities but couldn&8217;t make the connection in the passing game, and that&8217;s the way it is.&8221;

It was a disappointing day for everyone involved, and anyone who&8217;s followed the Braves this year realizes the young quarterback has already displayed signs of greatness. Hobson has quietly moved up in the rankings among SWAC quarterbacks thanks to four straight games of improvement.

Was Saturday just a bad game? Possible. While Hobson is a standout freshman with loads of potential, coaches will remind you he&8217;s human.

&8220;I told Tony in the summer he&8217;s a great quarterback,&8221; senior offensive tackle Jonathan Lowe said. &8220;He has the potential to be one of the greatest quarterbacks this campus has ever seen. It was just one of those days &8212; a little high, a little low, a little too far to the left and a little too far to the right. I know everybody who wore an Alcorn jersey played their heart out, but it was just one of those days.&8221;

And when the Braves needed the passing game to click the most late in the game, nothing seemed to work. At the start of the fourth quarter the Braves got down to the A&M 8 on all running plays, but Hobson threw incomplete on third down before having a pass intended for Tabari Lott in the end zone picked off by A&M&8217;s Stephen Tucker on a tip.

On the next drive, the passing game fared better as Hobson found Spiller on a 12-yard touchdown pass on fourth down for a score that trimmed the lead to 28-21.

But the next drive featured four incompletions. The Braves&8217; final two plays were incomplete and interception.

&8220;We had many, many opportunities in the passing game to make things happen, but we simply couldn&8217;t,&8221; Thomas said. &8220;That&8217;s what makes it so frustrating. We had an opportunity and couldn&8217;t connect. When we stopped them, we scored the football, but others times I felt we could have scored the football if we could have made the connection in the passing game.&8221;

The solid running game helped keep the Braves in the game as they chalked up 210 yards rushing against a team that had allowed on average under 70 yards a game. Hobson hit two passes on the Braves&8217; opening drive that set up Michael Shepherd&8217;s 15-yard touchdown run that tied the game at 14-14 with 9:35 left in the third.

But as soon as the Bulldogs scored on their next possession, the Braves couldn&8217;t fire in the passing game and threw incomplete on first and third down before having to punt. The Bulldogs scored on their next possession to take a 28-14 lead and let their defense take it home.

&8220;A&M&8217;s defense is a blitzing type of defense,&8221; Lowe said. &8220;With Charlie Spiller as a deep threat, they really couldn&8217;t blitz us. They blitzed us later when we got behind, and we picked it up well. What they fail to realize was we have a senior-junior offensive line, and the blitzing really didn&8217;t faze us.&8221;

The struggles in the passing game overshadowed McCoy&8217;s day on the ground as the junior put up 121 yards on 22 carries, the first back to put up 100 yards on A&M thi season.

That effort keeps McCoy in line for a possible 1,000-yard season with 748 with two games remaining. But on a disappointing Saturday afternoon,

milestones were of little consolation.

&8220;We&8217;re going to try to get that 1,000,&8221; Lowe said. &8220;I believe he&8217;ll get that. But when it all boils down, it&8217;s about wins and losses. He had the yards, and that&8217;s wonderful, but we wanted to win.&8221;