The last time Alcorn State stepped on the field against a team from the Football Bowl Subdivision, it gave a good showing before losing to Mississippi State.

Two years later, the Braves will try again.

Alcorn (1-2) heads north to Jonesboro, Ark., to take on defending Sun Belt Conference champion Arkansas State (1-2) on Saturday night. Alcorn wide receiver Terrance Lewis said the rise in competition is nothing new.

“We played Southern Miss my freshman year and Mississippi State my sophomore year,” Lewis said. “We just have to focus on what we have to do.”

Hopefully, that will mean a sharper effort than in last week’s 24-6 loss to Arkansas-Pine Bluff. That loss spoiled coach Jay Hopson’s home debut.

Alcorn is averaging 154.7 rushing yards per game.

Quarterback Darius Smith has completed 49 percent of his passes for 371 yards. The Braves have scored just nine points in their last two games, against UAPB and James Madison.

Despite the offensive struggles, Hopson said his team continues to show progress.

“I’m pretty pleased where we are,” Hopson said. “We are getting better every week. We were much better with our run fits.”

Now the Braves get to go up in class by taking on their third defending conference champion in four weeks — and one that isn’t struggling nearly as much as its record might indicate.

Arkansas State opened its season under new coach Guz Malzahn — the former offensive coordinator at Auburn when it won the national championship in 2010 — with a 57-34 loss to No. 3 Oregon. Last week, the Red Wolves went to Big Ten contender Nebraska and lost 42-13.

“We know the competition will be stiff as it always is when a FBS team plays up,” Hopson said. “We’ll have our hands full. They (Arkansas State) did some good things at Nebraska and they put up 30 points on Oregon.”

The Red Wolves are led by quarterback Ryan Alpin. He’s thrown for 763 yards and four TDs. Wide receivers J.D. McKissic and Josh Jarboe have combined for 40 catches for 374 yards and two scores.

Arkansas State’s top two defensive players, linebackers Don Jones and Nathan Harrold, are NFL prospects. Harrold has 31 tackles, while Jones has 17.

Malzahn said in his weekly press conference that his defense focused on stopping the Cornhuskers’ run game.

“We put eight, sometimes nine, in the box to stop the run and they hit us over the top a couple of times. But, I like that our defense did force some turnovers,” Malzahn said.