Around this time last season, would you have guessed that the Alcorn State Braves would be in position to advance to the 2009 SWAC football championship? Entire coaching staffs being fired on Thanksgiving Day without the head coach’s knowledge, lawsuits, rehirings, and more firing.
Alcorn State was the laughing stock of college football.
But the drama has not deterred the new-look Braves under first year head coach Ernest Collins. Needing a win in the Capital City Classic against Jackson State and some help from Alabama A&M, the Braves are in position to win a Eastern division title and to secure a match-up with Prairie View in the SWAC Championship game.
The Braves are inexplicably bad on defense, but their offense frequently keeps them in games. Behind senior quarterback Tim Buckley, the Braves have been good for at least 220 yards through the air and 20 points per contest this year.
The Braves are miles away from the two wins they put up in 2008, and have closed out some of the close games that they dropped a season ago. Who knows where they would be if there had been some continuity and common sense at the executive levels of Braves sports. But no matter.
Out of a broken down situation, Alcorn has built something to be proud of.
