Program Prestige · Alcorn StateThe 1968-1969-1974-1984 Casem titles
Four black college national championships in 17 seasons under Marino Casem, including the 1984 'Team of Destiny' squad that entered the playoffs ranked No. 1.
Alcorn State
2-1SWAC · Jack Spinks Stadium · 22,500 · 3,117 avg in 2026
The nationunrankedAP / Coaches
The marketno line yetat North Alabama · our model 42% Alcorn State · a number, not a pick
LastW 53–51 vs Arkansas-Pine Bluff · Sat Sep 12 · Jaylon Tolbert 485 pass yds, 5 TD, 2 INT
Nextat North Alabama · Sat Sep 19 · 7 pm ET · Braly Municipal Stadium · first meeting on record · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2
Program Prestige · Alcorn State
Power Program
Program outlook
Alcorn State has won five black college national championships across three different coaching eras and produced Steve McNair, the FCS's all-time total-offense leader — and enters 2026 trying to turn an 11-12 rebuild into the program's next championship chapter.
Read the full essay — 4 more paragraphs
Alcorn State University was founded in 1871 as the first Black land-grant college in the United States, and its football program built a national reputation almost entirely on its own terms. Marino Casem coached the Braves for 22 seasons (1964-1985), going 138-71-8 and winning four black college national championships (1968, 1969, 1974, 1984) along with seven SWAC titles — a run that earned him induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
A few years after Casem's tenure ended, Alcorn produced its most famous player. Steve McNair played quarterback for the Braves from 1991 to 1994, finishing as the FCS's all-time leader in total offense (16,823 yards) and Alcorn's career leader in passing yards (14,496) and touchdowns (119). His senior season — 5,377 passing yards, 47 touchdowns, the 1994 Walter Payton Award, and a third-place Heisman finish still tied for the best by any FCS player — remains the standard by which the program measures itself. McNair went third overall in the 1995 NFL Draft, was named co-NFL MVP in 2003, and reached one Super Bowl (a loss, Super Bowl XXXIV, to the Rams). He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2020, the first Brave so honored, and was killed in Nashville in 2009 at age 36.
The program's most recent national title came in 2014 under Jay Hopson — the last black college national championship ever awarded by poll before the Celebration Bowl took over as the sport's de facto title game. Fred McNair, Steve's brother, then coached Alcorn from 2016 to 2023, going 48-33 with two SWAC titles. Cedric Thomas has led the program since 2024 and is 11-12 through two seasons, including a 5-7, 4-4 SWAC finish in 2025 that ended with a 21-27 loss to Jackson State in the Soul Bowl — the two schools' rivalry game dating to 1927.
Alcorn's identity runs deeper than win-loss record: the Golden Girls dance line, founded in 1968, was the first in the country to perform choreographed routines to a live marching band, debuting at that year's Orange Blossom Classic in Miami. Combined with the Casem and McNair legacies, it gives the program a cultural footprint well beyond its current standing in the SWAC.
Program identity
Alcorn State's identity is built on a coaching and quarterback lineage rather than a single era: Marino Casem's four-title dynasty, Steve McNair's record-setting quarterback run, and a 2014 national championship under Jay Hopson. The current program under Cedric Thomas is rebuilding against that history, not starting from nothing.
All-time record · Alcorn State
Alcorn State has won 50% of its games since 1977 — 64% at home, 40% on the road.
112-113 all-time · 25 seasons · 1977–2026
Home
63-36
Away
39-59
Neutral
10-18
33%
1970s
26%
2000s
58%
2010s
52%
2020s
Program memory
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
Steve McNair's 1994 season
5,377 passing yards and 47 touchdowns; Walter Payton Award; third in Heisman voting -- still tied for the best finish by an FCS player.
2009
Steve McNair's death
McNair was killed in Nashville on July 4, 2009, at age 36, a loss the program and the McNair family (including his brother and later Alcorn head coach Fred McNair) still carry.
Wound
The 2014 national championship
Alcorn's fifth black college national title under Jay Hopson, and the last one ever crowned by poll before the Celebration Bowl era began.
Moment of the season — so far · Alcorn State · 2026
Moment of the season — so far · Alcorn State · 2026Won 56-7 vs Miles
Week 1 of 2026. A statement margin. Recruiting boards re-rendered overnight.
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Conference
SWAC standing · 2026
2nd in the SWAC
Alcorn State is 2nd in the SWAC at 1-0. 1 team above — that's the direct path to the title game.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama State | 1-0 |
| 2 | Alcorn State | 1-0 |
| 3 | Prairie View A&M | 1-0 |
| – | Alabama A&M | 0-0 |
| – | Bethune-Cookman | 0-0 |
| – | Florida A&M | 0-0 |
| – | Grambling | 0-0 |
| – | Jackson State | 0-0 |
| – | Mississippi Valley State | 0-0 |
| 10 | Arkansas-Pine Bluff | 0-1 |
| 11 | Southern | 0-1 |
| 12 | Texas Southern | 0-1 |
Gameday customs
Rituals
Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.
The Soul Bowl
since 1927
more
The rivalry game between Mississippi's two largest HBCUs, first played in 1927 (Alcorn A&M won 25-12). Known unofficially as the Soul Bowl since the late 1970s, the game was branded the Capital City Classic from 1993-2011 while hosted annually in Jackson, and has alternated between Jackson and Lorman since 2012. Jackson State leads the all-time series 50-38-2; the Tigers won the 2025 meeting 27-21 to close Alcorn's season and advance to the SWAC Championship Game.
The Golden Girls & Sounds of Dyn-O-Mite
since 1968
more
Founded in July 1968, Alcorn's Golden Girls were the first dance line in the country to perform choreographed routines set to a live marching band, debuting that fall at the Orange Blossom Classic in Miami. They perform alongside the Sounds of Dyn-O-Mite marching band at every home game — a signature piece of Alcorn's HBCU game-day identity.
Cultural identity
Bowls
Bowl / Postseason Ledger
Bowl / Postseason LedgerRecent postseason (2015-2019): 0-3
Most recent: 2019 — loss 64-44 (away). Last 5 postseason: 0-3.
201920182015
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