McNeese holds on to beat Alcorn State 17-14

LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) Cody Orgeron had two touchdown tosses in the first half and McNeese held off a fourth-quarter Alcorn State rally to hold on for a 17-14 victory on Saturday night.

Orgeron was 19-of-29 passing for 191 yards and no interceptions. Trevor Begue pulled in eight of those passes for 94 yards and one score. Cyron Sutton caught four for 66 yards and the other touchdown as McNeese built a 14-0 lead. McNeese's final score came when Noah Anderson booted a 37-yard field goal with 8:52 remaining in the second quarter.

Alcorn State came alive in the final quarter as Felix Harper hit Chris Blair on a 13-yard scoring strike and Niko Duffey hauled in a 14-yard touchdown toss from Harper to cut the score to 17-14 with 1:21 remaining in the game. The Cowboys (2-1) recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.

Darion Dunn had two interceptions that helped McNeese keep Alcorn in check through three quarters.

Harper finished with 132 yards passing and 15 yards rushing for the Braves (1-2).