For a team that has never won a division championship in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Alcorn State is dealing with the weight of expectations.

The Braves won nine games last season and have all but a handful of starters back. They’re a favorite to finally break through and reach the SWAC championship game.

It’s talk that’s impossible to ignore, coach Jay Hopson said, and talk he doesn’t necessarily want his team to set aside as it begins the season Saturday afternoon at home against Virginia-Lynchburg.

“We have to guard against, and know the difference between, confidence and cockiness. We have to be ready for 2014, because 2013 is in the past,” said Hopson, a Vicksburg native. “I want a confident football team. But I don’t want them to be cocky.”

Alcorn seems to have reason to be both. One of the few significant losses was running back Arnold Walker, the school’s all-time rushing leader, but even that hole seems to have been filled.

A trio of backs — Anthony Williams III, Darryan Ragsdale and Arron Baker — has performed well in preseason camp, Hopson said.

Williams, a senior, rushed for 282 yards and five touchdowns last season. Ragsdale transferred from Hinds Community College, while Baker is a redshirt freshman from Belle Glades, Fla.

A fourth running back, senior Joe Price, will miss at least this week’s opener with a back injury.

Hopson was hopeful the group will either carry the running game by committee or one would emerge the way Walker did in a similar situation a year ago.

“We really were a running back by committee last year. Arnold just took the reins. We hope one of those guys, if not all three, step up,” Hopson said.

The first test for the revamped running game will be Virginia-Lynchburg, an independent program that is only in its fourth year of existence.

Virginia-Lynchburg went 2-8 last season and its coaching staff was fired in October.

Despite that sketchy history, and a lack of scouting information because of it, Hopson said he wasn’t taking Virginia-Lynchburg lightly.

The Dragons’ new coach, Don Lee, is one that’s familiar in SWAC circles. He led Concordia (Ala.) to a stunning upset of Mississippi Valley State in 2012, and was named United States Collegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year in 2011.

Virginia-Lynchburg will play Jackson State next week.

“It’s a dangerous first game, because you have to dance into the unknown. We have to cover everything they could possibly throw at us,” Hopson said.