I won’t say that Earnest Collins didn’t do a decent job with the Alcorn State Braves this year. In the face of Hurricane Hamilton, 3-6 with a 3-4 conference record is pretty good.
But three more years good? I think I might have waited until next year to see what a drama-free, full off-season of recruiting and coaching could’ve accomplished before locking down for three more years of salary guaranteed.
Maybe a win against Jackson State is worth a lot more than it used to be.
Alcorn State got literally crushed by the number one Kansas Jayhawks last night. I can’t even really say mocked, because he’s telling the truth. Gleefully, but the truth nonetheless.
Your eyes don’t deceive you. According to StatSheet.com’s calculations, KU had the contest sewn up by the 1:40 mark of the first half.
At that point, the Braves were attempting to crawl out of the hole dug by the Jayhawks’ 36-0 run (as Gary Bedore pointed out in his KU hoops notebook,the second biggest scoring spurt in NCAA history). Predictably, Alcorn State never made things interesting. KU led by 41 at halftime and 67 at the merciful final buzzer.
How did KU lay such a pummeling on a Division I opponent?
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 headline on this story is that the three campuses would merge and operate under the Jackson State name and administrative oversight. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour says that the potential merger will allow the campuses to remain open while helping to stave off a $300 million budget shortfall.
So, you’re wondering why this news appears on the HBCU Sports Blog? Because it means the athletic teams at Alcorn and the Valley would be eliminated.
The governor’s office said it’s to early to say if the schools names will change, but they will all be run by Jackson State’s president. Also the sports teams at Alcorn and Mississippi Valley would be disbanded with JSU’s athletic program remaining.
Anybody that would like to argue against Steve McNair as the best black college quarterback of all-time? You better have Doug Williams on HD to compete with this.
Maybe it was the last remnants of the Darren Hamilton curse on the Alcorn State athletic program, but it was beginning to look like nothing would go the Braves way this season. They were outscored in the first two games of the season 100-0, lost a close one on the road against Southern, and had a game canceled due to lightning.
So you have to imagine that the Braves had a lot of stored frustration they wanted to get out in their home opener against Mississippi Valley State University. And did they ever, setting an FCS record with 14-sacks in a 32-10 win over the rival Delta Devils.
There’s nothing I hate more than black colleges playing guaranteed games. They don’t help teams improve their experience or talent, they have a negative effect on recruiting, and they cause severe morale problems among the alumni and supporter base.
But, until that same alumni and supporter base steps up its donation swag, black colleges will continue to seek the money in guaranteed games. So it’s good to know that the Mississippi SWAC football institutions have a head-busting friend in Mississippi State University.
While I haven’t cried about it, I do find myself regularly searching for new updates, new statements, anything new to bring proper closure and understanding to the tragic death of Steve McNair. And if it’s that consuming for me, I can only imagine what it is like for the people whose lives he directly affected.
But if there is any truth to the “silver lining” adage, it’s that his loss may be a gain for black college football. It is morose to think about before his body is committed to Earth, I know; but were McNair not lost in such a sudden and shocking way, would there be any contemporary reason for black college football to be at the forefront of sports discussion?
There are four pillars that ingrain black college football into the psyche of sports fans everywhere. Eddie Robinson, Walter Payton, Jerry Rice, and Steve McNair.
Eddie Robinson served as the tenured ambassador of black college football, ushering the sport from segregation into a brave new place of worldwide exposure and acceptance. Everything that the common sports fan knows about black college football, is a direct result of Coach Rob’s influence on the game.
Walter Payton was the first standard of excellence in a post-desegregation sports landscape. The first round pick out of Jackson State in 1975 set a standard of performance, production and humility with one of the NFL’s flagship franchises.
Jerry Rice brought black colleges into the 80′s spotlight with a story of quiet greatness. While he was a highly-touted player out of Mississippi Valley State, no one could’ve anticipated the longevity and prolific impact Rice would have on the game.
And then there is Steve McNair, a player who turned the attention of the 1990′s from many power conference teams and forced it in the direction of Lorman, MS. McNair’s exploits as an Alcorn State Brave were legendary, and unlike black college quarterbacking stars who preceded him, his career spanned more years, yielded more accolades, and did more to legitimize not only the quality of talent at black colleges, but the ability of black quarterbacks entering the NFL.
In the days to come, many tales of Steve McNair’s greatness at Alcorn State will re-emerge and remind people of his great career as an Alcorn State Brave. In the meantime, all my D.C. folks will appreciate this trip back in time to visit McNair’s SWAC days courtesy of George Michael and the Sports Machine.
Oh yeah, there is a Jay Walker sighting as well.
