Alcorn State Rolls Past Mississippi Valley State 52-17 Behind Jaylon Tolbert's 320 Yards

Mississippi Valley State landed the first punch. Alcorn State spent the rest of the afternoon hitting back, and hitting harder.

The Alcorn State Braves fell behind early, then took over behind a near-perfect day from quarterback Jaylon Tolbert and rolled to a 52-17 Southwestern Athletic Conference win over Mississippi Valley State at Rice-Totten Stadium in Itta Bena, Mississippi, on Saturday. Tolbert completed 23 of 29 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns, ran for another score and never turned the ball over.

Alcorn State improved to 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the SWAC, snapping a two-game conference losing streak. Mississippi Valley State fell to 3-6 and 2-3.

Valley strikes first

For about 15 minutes, this looked like it might be a different kind of afternoon. Mississippi Valley State took the opening possession and went 79 yards in eight plays, and quarterback Josh Brown found tight end Jaylen King for a 40-yard touchdown with 10:55 left in the first quarter. The Delta Devils led 7-0.

Alcorn State needed only three minutes to answer. The Braves went 59 yards in seven plays, and Tolbert finished it with a 1-yard run with 7:55 left in the quarter. On the next possession, Tolbert hit Armon Wright for a 22-yard touchdown to cap a five-play, 45-yard drive, and Alcorn State led 14-7 with 6:48 to go.

Mississippi Valley State kept pace for one more series. The Delta Devils put together a 10-play, 52-yard drive and kicked a 40-yard field goal with 21 seconds left in the first quarter. After one, it was 14-10, and the 11.5-point spread looked generous.

The second quarter flood

Then Alcorn State stopped giving Mississippi Valley State any room to breathe.

The Braves opened the second quarter with a two-play, 74-yard strike. Tolbert found running back Fredrick Robertson, and Robertson turned it into a 78-yard touchdown on the first play of the period. Just like that, it was 21-10.

Robertson stayed busy. Midway through the quarter, Alcorn State went 48 yards in four plays, and Robertson ran it in from 5 yards out with 5:01 left in the half. With 1:23 to go, Tolbert capped a seven-play, 27-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Griffin. Alcorn State took a 35-10 lead into halftime, and the game had turned into a rout in a span of about 14 minutes.

The second-quarter numbers were brutal for the Delta Devils. Alcorn State scored three touchdowns in the period, and none of those drives took longer than 2:51.

Putting it away

The third quarter offered no relief. Alcorn State took the second-half kickoff and marched 65 yards in nine plays, and Robertson scored a second rushing touchdown on a 2-yard run with 11:14 left in the period. That made it 42-10.

The Braves added a 27-yard field goal to finish a 10-play, 74-yard drive with 2:40 left in the quarter. Then Ernest Temple delivered the knockout, breaking a 54-yard touchdown run with 22 seconds left in the third. That made it 52-10.

Mississippi Valley State deserves credit for finishing the game on its terms. The Delta Devils put together their longest drive of the day by time, a 15-play, 65-yard march that began at the end of the third quarter and took 7:24 off the clock, and punched it in on a 6-yard run with 7:56 to go. It did not change the outcome, but it showed some fight.

The stars

Tolbert was outstanding. The Alcorn State quarterback threw 29 passes and completed 23 of them, averaging 11 yards per attempt with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Tolbert also ran for a touchdown, and at least seven different Braves caught a pass.

Robertson was the most explosive player on the field. Alcorn State's running back carried nine times for 81 yards and two touchdowns and caught two passes for 87 yards, including the 78-yard touchdown that opened the second quarter. That is 168 yards and three scores on 11 touches. Robertson also scored four touchdowns in Alcorn State's 43-40 overtime win over Texas Southern in September, according to Alcorn State Athletics, and keeps proving to be one of the most dangerous backs in the league.

Wright led all receivers with eight catches for 126 yards and a touchdown, with a long of 57. Temple ran four times for 79 yards and a score, Joshua Tate added 43 yards on seven carries, and Damien Jones and Tyree Kelly each caught three passes. Alcorn State ran for 262 yards as a team on 32 carries.

On defense, linebacker Jakel Houston-Irving recorded the only sack of the game, and defensive back Timothy Jasper led the Braves with seven tackles.

For Mississippi Valley State, Brown was busy in both phases. Brown completed 14 of 27 passes for 173 yards and the touchdown to King and carried 18 times for 39 yards. King finished with four catches for 58 yards, Mekhi Penix added two catches for 40 yards and Dayvian Bluitt caught four passes for 37. Cornerback Tyrell Johnson made seven solo tackles.

The numbers that matter

Alcorn State outgained Mississippi Valley State 585 to 295 and won the first-down battle 26 to 18. The Braves converted 7 of 10 third downs and went 1 for 1 on fourth down. Neither team committed a turnover.

The most striking number is time of possession. Mississippi Valley State actually held the ball longer, 32:29 to 27:31. The Braves simply did not need long drives. When an offense averages 10.1 yards per pass attempt and 8.2 yards per carry, the clock stops mattering.

Penalties were a problem on both sidelines. Mississippi Valley State was flagged 15 times for 89 yards and Alcorn State 10 times for 90. The Delta Devils converted 6 of 15 third downs and 1 of 2 fourth downs. The full numbers are in the box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

Alcorn State came into the game off a bye week and two painful conference losses, a 63-59 shootout at Grambling State and a 41-38 loss at Prairie View A&M. This was the bounce-back the Braves needed. At 3-2 in league play, Alcorn State is back above .500 in the SWAC and has its offense humming heading into November. The Braves have already shown they can win close games, too, beating Arkansas-Pine Bluff 53-51 in double overtime in September.

The offense has rarely been the problem this season. Alcorn State has now scored at least 38 points in five straight games, a stretch that includes a 43-40 overtime win over Texas Southern, the 63-59 loss at Grambling State, a 63-7 homecoming rout of Arkansas Baptist and the 41-38 loss at Prairie View A&M. The difference on Saturday was that the Braves kept Mississippi Valley State from trading punches. After the first-quarter field goal, the Delta Devils did not score again until the game was decided.

For Mississippi Valley State, the loss drops the Delta Devils to 2-3 in conference play. There were positives early, especially the opening drive and the late 15-play march, but the middle of the game showed how much ground there is to make up against the top half of the league.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the team Alcorn State beat in that September overtime thriller, also won big on Saturday with a 63-21 homecoming rout of Bethune-Cookman, so the West Division race should stay crowded into the final weeks.

The last word

Mississippi Valley State had the lead, the crowd and the momentum for the first quarter. Then Tolbert and Robertson took over, and Alcorn State scored 38 straight points before the Delta Devils reached the end zone again.

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play, Alcorn State Athletics. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Alcorn State Athletics.