LORMAN &8212; There&8217;s all sorts of reasons for Alcorn freshman Tony Hobson to be hyped for today&8217;s Capital City Classic.

It&8217;s a homecoming for the Jackson native against the team he grew up watching and a chance to play in the game he attended every year for about as long as he can remember. But there&8217;s a lingering disappointment from last week&8217;s 28-21 loss to Alabama A&M where he struggled in the biggest game of his brief college career.

He&8217;ll see old friends and plenty of family today. But today is all about showing everyone last week&8217;s effort was a fluke.

&8220;I guess it was pretty much my first bad game,&8221; said Hobson, who threw a season-high four interceptions. &8220;And it came at the wrong time. I wasn&8217;t clicking and couldn&8217;t get settled, and that&8217;s what threw me off. I guess I got happy feet. I couldn&8217;t get settled down, and it caused me to rush myself when I really didn&8217;t need to.&8221;

It was disappointing for the true freshman standout who had shown signs of greatness the previous four weeks. That&8217;s why today&8217;s game against a struggling defense of Jackson State could be a cure-all for Hobson.

No one is questioning his abilities after last week&8217;s game. Coaches are quick to remind that not only is he a freshman, but he&8217;s a freshman who missed half of fall training camp.

&8220;I tell people this all the time &8212; Tony is not where he used to be and not where he needs to be at this particular point,&8221; Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said. &8220;He&8217;s growing and getting opportunities to play in games. He&8217;s got to continue to grow and maintain his poise. If he can do that, he&8217;ll be one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to come through this conference.&8221;

Yet it did come as somewhat of a surprise after he had done so well the previous four weeks, all wins for the Braves after struggling in the first four games of the season. He had his first 300-yard game in the win at Southern and led the offense back in a wild 38-36 win over a much-improved Mississippi Valley team.

But after his first bad game, he met with offensive coordinator John McKenzie on what went wrong, why his passes were off mark and what can be done to correct it.

&8220;He just pretty much kept everything positive and said it wasn&8217;t meant to be,&8221; Hobson said. &8220;He told me just to stay positive, keep working and look forward to this game. That loss hurt pretty bad. I just hate it that it came at the wrong time.&8221;

If the passing game gets back on track today against a Jackson State team that&8217;s struggled defensively, there may be no telling how many points the Braves can score. The Tigers have allowed on average 422.6 yards per game this season and have really struggled the last four games in the wake of James Bell&8217;s dismissal as head coach.

The best thing about the Tigers&8217; disappointing 27-9 loss last week to Prairie View? The Panthers didn&8217;t score 50 points as the Tigers&8217; three previous opponents did.

&8220;We want to keep it a low-scoring game,&8221; interim head coach Daryl Jones said. &8220;We figure if we keep it a low-scoring game, we have a chance. We felt we had a chance last year but didn&8217;t get it done. If we can play as well defensively this week, we&8217;ll be in the football game.&8221;

The biggest area of concern, however, may be the running game with the Tigers struggling to defend the run. The Braves have made that their bread and butter this season with their dominant offensive line, and the entire unit wants to get both 1,000 yards for Jeremy McCoy and the status of being the SWAC&8217;s No. 1 ground game.

The Braves held that title for most of the season until Alabama A&M went crazy to the tune of 394 yards rushing on Jackson.

&8220;You don&8217;t look at stats and what&8217;s happening internally,&8221; Thomas said. &8220;Jackson is going to be ready to play. We&8217;ve got to be ready to play, too. They can salvage their whole season. We can&8217;t overlook them. Who are we to overlook somebody? We&8217;ve got to do a better job of tackling, executing and refining the things that we always do.&8221;

No one is overlooking the Tigers, and coaches have made that clear all week. And their freshman quarterback certainly isn&8217;t since it could be a chance to really show everyone what he can do on the field.

&8220;I&8217;m really excited about this game,&8221; Hobson said. &8220;The Capital City Classic is a game I&8217;ve been going to for quite a few years. It&8217;s a game everybody in Jackson is looking forward to.&8221;