Alabama A&M 28, Alcorn State 21

November 12, 2005

ALCORN STATE, Miss. ­ Alcorn State and Alabama A&M entered Saturday’s SWAC showdown with a simple mandate: Win and stay in the conference title race.

Alabama A&M walked out of Jack Spinks Stadium with a 28-21 victory and the SWAC Eastern Division championship after Mississippi Valley defeated Alabama State later in the day.

Nic Luke and Kelcy Luke scored two touchdowns apiece, and the Bulldogs (8-2 overall, 6-2 in SWAC) survived a late Alcorn State rally. The loss snapped Alcorn’s four-game winning streak, and it also prevented Alcorn (5-4, 4-3) from securing a winning season.

“It’s disappointing because we didn’t play the kind of football we needed to play against a football team I really think we should have beaten,” Alcorn State coach Johnny Thomas said. “We had opportunities offensively, and we couldn’t capitalize, and we couldn’t stop them defensively when we had to.” The Bulldogs controlled much of the action with a methodical running game. Nic Luke finished with 110 yards on 21 carries, including TD runs of 7 and 2 yards. Quarterback Kelcy Luke added 46 yards rushing and two 1-yard TD runs, and he also completed 8-of-15 passes for 167 yards.

Alcorn, meanwhile, struggled offensively ­ especially quarterback Tony Hobson, who completed just 8-of-31 passes for 145 yards and four touchdowns.

“I told Tony at the beginning of the season that he has the potential to be one of the greatest quarterbacks this campus and this university has ever seen,” Alcorn offensive lineman Jonathan Lowe said.

“It was just one of those days ­ a little too high, a little too low, a little left, a little right.” Despite the struggles, Hobson directed a six-play, 47-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter. He capped the drive with a 12-yard TD pass to Charlie Spiller on a fourth-down play.

Running back Jeremy McCoy also continued his quest for 1,000 yards with a 121-yard effort on 21 carries. It marked the first time a back has reached the 100-yard mark against Alabama A&M this season.

Spiller also continued his hot play, finishing with 100 yards on five carries.

None of those statistics provided any consolation for Alcorn players, who took the loss hard as their title hopes are gone.

“The bottom line is they made more plays than we did,” said senior safety Brandon Brown.

Added Thomas, “We didn’t play well enough to win.

Alabama A&M is the team that played well enough to win the football game.” Alcorn scored first when Michael Shepherd scored on a 2-yard run, capping a six-play, 37-yard drive with 4:42 to go in the first half.

The Bulldogs tied the game at 7 when Nic Luke scored on a 7-yard run early in the second quarter.

A&M took control with a 13-play, 96-yard drive that took 5:27 off the clock, and Kelcy Luke scored on a 1-yard run with 20 seconds to play before halftime.

Alcorn trailed 14-17.

Alcorn tied the game at 14 when Shepherd scored on a 15-yard run with 9:35 to play in the third quarter.

A&M then scored back-to-back TDs to take control, as Nike Luke scored on a 2-yard run, and Kelcy Luke added a 1-yard TD run for a 28-14 lead.