LORMAN &8212; So you&8217;re down by two touchdowns less than four minutes into the game against the best team in the conference and your starting quarterback just left the stadium via ambulance.

What do you do?

What can you do?

Just keep plugging away with what you have left, Alcorn head coach Johnny Thomas said, even though it wasn&8217;t much to begin with. Three starters didn&8217;t suit up Saturday against Grambling, including second-team All-SWAC corner Quentin Sullivan, and quarterback Tony Hobson went down in the first quarter with a neck injury.

Grambling couldn&8217;t help but take advantage in a 46-19 win at a windy Jack Spinks Stadium to end the Braves&8217; season at 6-5.

&8220;I remember the first time I came here &8212;

I said sometimes the wind doesn&8217;t blow your way,&8221; Alcorn All-SWAC tackle Jonathan Lowe said. &8220;You can&8217;t use that as an excuse. The way the wind blows doesn&8217;t affect our game.

&8220;With Tony&8217;s injury, that really kind of took us out of our plan. Not because of the quarterback situation, but because of the time to get him off the field. We missed him today, but we can&8217;t use that as an excuse.&8221;

And to top it off, Alcorn coaches couldn&8217;t get the call on the toss they wanted and had to face the win. The Braves went into the win to start the game despite winning the toss and struggled moving the ball.

When the second half started, they did the same thing. And the wind blew just as hard. But by that time, they used a score late in the first half to all but put the game away.

&8220;The first mistake we made &8212; when the officials had their meeting with me and asked if I wanted to receive the ball. I said yes,&8221; Thomas said. &8220;When we walked on the field, we realized the wind was blowing extremely hard. We told our captains we wanted to change our strategy. When we won the toss, the referee said he wouldn&8217;t let us change it.

&8220;That&8217;s the first time that&8217;s happened to me since I&8217;ve been at Alcorn. That to me was the beginning of a snowball effect.&8221;

As if the Braves needed anything else stacked against them. Grambling quarterback Bruce Eugene and the Tigers&8217; offense was able to work with the win at its back in the first and third quarters, and GSU led 38-13 after three.

It might have been the score right before the half that sealed it. The Braves cut it to 25-13 with Milton Green at quarterback before Grambling drove down to the ASU 6 with under a minute to play and on fourth down.

But Eugene hit Henry Tolbert on a 6-yard pass on fourth down &8212; the Tigers were four of five on fourth downs &8212; for a touchdown for a 32-13 lead with 41 seconds left.

&8220;We didn&8217;t know the wind was so strong,&8221; said Eugene, who threw his 50th TD pass of the season while throwing two interceptions for the first time all season. &8220;We had to adjust going into the wind, and we did. That (score) was right before half going into the wind. That was big. I guess they didn&8217;t think we could do it.&8221;

From there the Braves fell behind 46-13 thanks to two more touchdown passes from Bruce. Both came on the heels of Alcorn turnovers as the Braves put the ball on the ground seven times and lost four of them.

The last one came on a fumble at the GSU 1 when fullback Ken Williams lost the ball and Melvin Matthews recovered it. Grambling&8217;s Landry Carter took the first play 64 yards, and after a delay penalty Eugene hit Tolbert on a 35-yard TD pass for a 46-13 lead.

&8220;The main thing was to come in here and get out without anybody injured, and we did that,&8221; GSU head coach Melvin Spears said. &8220;We&8217;ll go back tonight and watch the film. We&8217;ve looked at (A&M) for a long time. We&8217;ll enjoy this and get ready for A&M.;&8221;

Things couldn&8217;t have gone any worse for the Braves in the first quarter battling that wind. Between Hobson&8217;s departure and Shane Phillips punting directly into a steady wind, the Tigers got into the end zone twice in the first four minutes without putting up 50 yards total offense.

Phillips&8217; first punt went for 14 yards, and the Tigers scored three plays later on a 1-yard run from Ab Kuuan. Phillips&8217; next one went 17 yards, and Eugene hit George Piggott on a 13-yard pass on the first play for a score.

The only time the Tigers got on their own side of the field

the 49 &8212; the Braves held them to a fourth down at the ASU 45. Yet punter Tim Manuel hit a wide-open Brandon Logan on a fake punt pass, and Logan took it to the end zone for a 19-0 lead.

Three plays later the Tigers hit Green in the backfield and forced a fumble that Antonio Hughes recovered.