JACKSON — Alcorn State’s powerful running game never got revved up Saturday, and the Braves blew a tire on the road to the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game.

Archrival Jackson State held Alcorn to 140 rushing yards — more than 100 below its average — and used a 69-yard touchdown run by Terrell Kennedy late in the first half to beat the Braves 7-3 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Alcorn (7-3, 5-2 SWAC) had already clinched the SWAC East Division title and will still get to play in the conference championship game Dec. 2 against either Grambling or Southern University. It will head to Houston with a couple of broken streaks and a need to get back on track.

Saturday’s loss marked the first time Alcorn has failed to score a touchdown since a 56-0 loss to Arkansas State on Sept. 22, 2012, and snapped an 11-game winning streak within the division. Alcorn had 746 total yards last week in a 59-0 rout against Mississippi Valley State.

“We were prepared defensively. I think that we just didn’t execute on offense. They didn’t do anything special or spectacular, we just didn’t execute on offense. That was it,” said Alcorn quarterback Noah Johnson, who was 15-of-25 passing for 199 yards on Saturday, and added 70 rushing yards on 17 carries.

Jackson State (3-8, 3-4) snapped a two-game losing streak against Alcorn and finished its season on a positive note. After losing their first seven games, the Tigers won three of four down the stretch. In those four games, they allowed a total of 28 points and only two touchdowns.

“Our defense started to play well about three weeks ago. We began to play dominant defense with a lot of young players. We were without three starters. We had true freshmen and walk-ons playing today,” JSU coach Tony Hughes said, adding of the significance of the victory, “It’s up there at the top. Nobody gave us a chance. We believed in ourselves.”

Alcorn came into the game ranked No. 1 in the SWAC and No. 8 in the Football Championship Subdivision with an average of 251.4 rushing yards per game. It was also ranked No. 1 in the conference in scoring and total offense, yet had only one scoring drive.

In the first quarter, the Braves got inside the JSU 5-yard line but had to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Corey McCullough. They never again got inside JSU’s 30-yard line. Alcorn accumulated nine penalties for 111 yards — in addition to the other categories, Alcorn also leads the SWAC in penalty yardage per game — to negate several first downs and blunt the swelling momentum of a number of possessions.

Alcorn also lost a fumble at the Jackson State 35 with 1:28 remaining, which allowed the Tigers to run out the clock.

“We came out fine. We got stopped on the goal line and I think that took a lot of air out of our offense. We never really get stopped in the red zone like that. From there on, it was like we’d been stoned,” Johnson said. “It was our fault. Our defense played phenomenal. We just didn’t put any points on the board to win the game.”

Jackson State wasn’t much better offensively. It had just 250 total yards, punted eight times and missed a pair of field goals, but it did break one big play and that was enough to get a leg up in this defensive battle.

On third-and-5 from his own 31-yard line with just under four minutes to go in the first half, Kennedy hit a hole and went straight up the middle for a 69-yard touchdown run. It turned out to be the game’s only touchdown.

“I saw one of our linemen and he looked behind me and gave me that look. All I did was run behind the line,” said Kennedy, who only had four carries for 73 yards.

And all Jackson State did, Hughes said, was win a huge game for the program.

“In the state of Mississippi, this win is huge,” Hughes said. “It’s bragging rights. It’s in the grocery story. It’s Alcorn and Jackson State at the coffee pot. It’s playing spades. It’s playing dominos. It’s playing poker. To beat Alcorn State is the greatest accomplishment we can accomplish this season.”