Jay Hopson would be lying if he said there wasn’t still a bad taste in his mouth from Saturday’s six-point loss to Southern Miss. The third-year Alcorn State head coach truly felt his team should have won the game, but a cocktail of turnovers, penalties and — in his mind — questionable calls led to the Braves’ first defeat in 2014.

“We’re ready to move on to the next game, but it’s certainly a bitter pill,” Hopson said after the 26-20 loss. “It was a tough game where we certainly had quite a few things go against us. That’s football.”

Despite 75 yards in penalties and two turnovers that helped turn the tide in the Golden Eagles’ favor, Alcorn State hung snap-for-snap with a bigger USM squad on the road. The Braves had the ball with less than a minute to play, but weren’t able to pull off the upset.

“We thought we could beat Southern Miss. That was our mindset and we didn’t get it done,” Hopson said. “We fought hard. We’ve got to execute better in order to be successful. I think that’s one big coaching point … If we execute better, we’re going to win the game.”

Despite the loss, Hopson believes the close-fought game will serve as a confidence builder for his team as it prepares to close out non-conference play against Louisiana College Saturday. The fact that the Braves were able to go toe-to-toe with an established FBS program is a good sign of things to come in Lorman.

“That’s something we’re wanting to do. That’s where we want to get the program. I hope Southern Miss wins four or five conference games this year,” Hopson said. “At the end of the day, we had too many turnovers and a couple of calls (that) I’ll go to my casket believing they weren’t the right calls.”

Louisiana College, a Division III school, will be the last primer for Alcorn State before SWAC play begins, and Hopson is hoping his team will be focused and determined to put up a strong showing before heading into the SWAC schedule.

“We have a really well-coached ball club coming in here. I just watched them on film. They have a really talented quarterback, talented wide outs,” Hopson said. “We’ve got to be ready to play football. Football is a beautiful game. You let the old one die and get ready for the new one.”

Up next

Louisiana College at Alcorn State

Saturday, 2 p.m.

Radio: 91.3 FM