LORMAN, Miss— Against arguably the toughest team they'll see this season, Savannah State football dropped a non-conference game against the Division I FCS 2018 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Champions Alcorn State, 17-42.

The Tigers fall to 3-3 on the season, but maintain a perfect 2-0 record against Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) teams as they head into a notable SIAC game next week against Clark-Atlanta in Atlanta, Ga. Alcorn State improves to 5-2 on the season.

In the tale of the tape, SSU lead in first downs with 22, in sacks with 20 and in fourth-down conversions, going 2-of-2. Alcorn put up 488 yards of offense to the Tigers' 262. On the ground, SSU racked up 175 yards of rushing in the loss while the Braves relied heavily on their air game, netting 324 passing yards. SSU led in time of possession with 37 minutes to Alcorn's 22.

Walter Yates, who leads the Tiger defense, led the day with 7 sacks. Dameien Rodgers and Bernard Brown each had sacks on the day as the Tigers defense racked up 48 tackles in the loss.

The Braves opened the game with 6-play, 75-yard touchdown drive as quarterback Harper Flex connected with Le Charles Pringle on a 14-yard pass to lift the home team to a 7-0 lead at the 12:58 mark.

SSU's first drive made it deep into Alcorn territory, but they were unable to finish and punted on fourth down. With 5:55 in the first quarter, Felix connected on a 71-yard pass to Chris Blair for their second touchdown of the day.

On the ensuing SSU drive, the Tigers got into the red zone, but couldn't put in the touchdown. Giovanni Lugo drilled a 26-yard field goal for SSU's first points of the day.

Lugo, who is currently being courted by several NFL teams, has been nearly perfect this season on field goal kicks, hitting 5 of 6 attempts. His longest was a 49-yarder during the Charleston Southern game on Oct. 5.

Early in the second quarter, Alcorn State recorded their third touchdown of the day as Felix hit Pringle on a 39-yard pass for a 21-3 lead.

But, SSU wasn't out of it yet. Following what's becoming a season motif, the Tigers facing 4th down and 2 in Alcorn territory decided to go for it. The aggressive move turned into a number of points for SSU.

Quarterback D'Vonn Gibbons broke free for a 14-yard run to give SSU a 1st and 10 on Alcorn's 43-yard line. The Tigers continued to push, earning two more first downs on the drive. On first and 10 at the Braves' 15-yard line, Gibbons connected with Cameron White for touchdown pass to cut Alcorn's lead to 21-10 with 5:31 to play in the second quarter.

Moments later, after Rodgers' big sack, Cameron Brown nabbed an attempted pass from Felix and ran it back for a touchdown to cut the Braves' lead to 21-17 with 5:21 to play in the quarter. The Savannah defense currently leads the SIAC in interceptions and scoring defense this season.

With a minute left to play in the first half, Alcorn put up another touchdown as Felix hit Chris Brown with a 24-yard pass finishing a 3-play, 13-yard drive in the end zone for a 28-17 lead into the locker room.

After SSU failed to get out of their own territory to open the third quarter, Alcorn again scored on the first play of their first possession as Felix hit Juan Anthony Jr. with huge 84-yard pass to lift the Braves to a 35-17 lead with 10:47 on the clock.

Near the end of the third quarter, Trey Turner tacked on another score, rushing for 3 yards, ending a 7-play, 71-yard drive with another Alcorn touchdown and giving the home team a 42-17 lead. The score would hold in the final quarter of play as both offenses sputtered late in the game.