LORMAN &8212; Thursday night will be the most important game of the season for Alcorn State.

Of course, if they win, so will each game thereafter.

The Braves (1-3, 0-2 SWAC), who defeated Morehouse 23-6 this past weekend in Los Angeles for the Silver Dollar Classic, will now turn around on a short week and travel to Prairie View A&M.;

The game is set for 7 p.m., and will be televised by ESPNU.

These aren&8217;t your father&8217;s Panthers, who lost 80 games in a row during the 1990s, according to head coach Johnny Thomas.

&8220;&8230; Not by any stretch of anyone&8217;s imagination,&8221; Thomas said. &8220;We can&8217;t overlook anybody. Who are we to overlook anyone? We just won our first game and we don&8217;t have a conference win yet.&8221;

Thomas did say, however, that this game was monumentally important for the rest of the season.

&8220;We&8217;ve got to win our game at Prairie View to be in the thick of the race. In many ways this is the pivotal game of our season, because if we don&8217;t win it we are out of the race for the championship. If we win it, we&8217;ll still be in the thick of things and be able to control our own destiny,&8221; he said.

Last week, Chris Walker came on in relief of starter Tony Hobson Jr. and led the Braves to three scoring drives. Thomas said he expects to use Walker in a relief role for the remainder of the season.

&8220;We&8217;re going to continue to start with Tony,&8221; he said. &8220;Chris is our bullpen guy &8212; our reliever. If Tony isn&8217;t getting things done, we&8217;ll bring in Chris. If he plays well, we&8217;ll keep him in, and if he doesn&8217;t, we&8217;ll go back to Tony.&8221;

Prairie View (2-2, 1-2 SWAC) has wins over Edward Waters and Southern to its credit, to go along with losses to Texas Southern and Grambling.

Thomas said the Panthers love to run the football.

&8220;They can run the football very well,&8221; he said. &8220;They don&8217;t quit, and they&8217;ve got a tenacious middle linebacker and a solid defense. They&8217;ve got a pretty good special teams as well. You&8217;ve got to throw things out in a game like this. Both teams are struggling, both teams are going to try to show out on national television. It&8217;ll be a hard-fought football game and I hope we can be sharp in all phases.&8221;