Fred McNair was a member of the Alcorn State football family.

The brother of the best-known Brave, quarterback Steve McNair who guided the Tennessee Titans to the Super Bowl once, Fred also played the QB position at Alcorn.

He coached as an assistant there for three seasons before becoming the Braves head coach in 2016. From there McNair led the program for seven seasons, posting a 48-33 record and winning five SWAC Division titles.

McNair also led the Braves to back-to-back wins over McNeese State the last two seasons.

At the end of last year, a strange set of circumstances led to his being let go by Alcorn, as he was believed to be in line for the Texas Southern job. When that fell through McNair took the job as tight ends coach at Southern University.

Alcorn moved on and hired Cedric Thomas last December. Thomas was given a tough start, with two games against FBS foes to start his tenure.

Alcorn lost to Alabama-Birmingham and Vanderbilt by a 96-3 count in the first two weeks.

Last week the Braves bounced back, roughing up Division II Edward Waters 38-7.

“It was a really good game for us,” said Thomas. “Exciting time for our guys to get a chance to win.” 

Now Thomas’ club will come to a place Saturday where they had success just two years ago. They are the only SWAC team to have ever beaten McNeese State.

“We are looking forward to going down there and playing McNeese,” said Thomas. “See if we can keep going.”

Clearly, the Cowboys know all about Alcorn after the last two seasons.

“They coach hard, they recruit and they do those things well,” said McNeese head coach Goff. “They coach them right and they have talent. We expect them to play hard.”

The Braves are led by quarterback Xzavier Vaughn, a transfer up from Division II Lincoln University in Missouri. Vaughn is 28 of 47 for 300 yards on the year but has yet to throw a touchdown.

Vaughn has rushed for four of the Braves’ five TDs though, with 25 carries for 128 yards.

“Our quarterback is a triple threat,” said Thomas. “The quarterback has been big in the history of our program. He fits in.”

It is hard to judge with the three blowouts just where Alcorn is right now. McNeese will be the first FCS team the Braves will have played.

That means we will know more about Alcorn after the game than before. 

The Braves defense hasn’t been as bad as the scores would indicate. Alcorn has allowed just 336.3 total yards a game despite the competition.

Thomas said it is his secondary that makes it hard to throw against his team. The Braves have picked off three passes and have forced seven turnovers already.

“We have to take care of the football,” said Goff. “They have a good defense, a talent line that will be a challenge.”

Alcorn will spread the ball around, with 11 rushers already having carries and 10 receivers grabbing passes.

One thing the Cowboys know is the last two years, the Braves have been the more physical team. While there are a lot of new faces on Alcron, Thomas wants to keep the power factor on his side.