Alabama State football coach Eddie Robinson Jr. gets first SWAC win. Deion Sanders up next

Coming into Saturday's contest on a two-game losing streak with No. 10 Jackson State looming in a week, Alabama State football was in need of a bounce-back performance at Texas Southern.

That's exactly what the Hornets got with a 16-13 victory in Houston. Former NFL linebacker Eddie Robinson Jr., ASU's first-year coach, has his first conference win and the Hornets (3-2, 1-1 SWAC) have momentum going into their Homecoming clash with Deion Sanders and the Tigers.

Here are three things we learned from Alabama State's win over Texas Southern (1-4, 1-2).

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Defense shines

With the exception of a 45-7 loss to UCLA, Alabama State has allowed an average of 15.8 points per game this season. Saturday was another strong performance for the Ryan Lewis-led unit.

The Hornets held Texas Southern, which was second in the SWAC in scoring and total offense in 2021, to 238 yards and kept dangerous quarterback Andrew Body in check. Body torched ASU to the tune of 297 total yards in last season's meeting, but completed less than half his passes Saturday and threw an interception to Keenan Isaac.

While the Hornets didn't reach Robinson's stated goal of three turnovers per game, their emphasis on forcing them seemed to finally pay off. Brandon Gaddy stripped the ball from Ladarius Owens early in the fourth quarter, giving ASU the ball deep in Tigers territory. The Hornets took advantage of the great field position to score the go-ahead touchdown on a 2-yard Ja'won Howell run.

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Slow and steady on offense

The Hornets leaned heavily on their ground game, running for 225 yards with Santo Dunn, Ja'won Howell and Jacory Merritt all contributing. ASU used its rushing attack to dominate the time-of-possession battle, holding the ball for nearly 40 minutes.

Dunn (15 carries, 101 yards) was the early standout, but the Hornets leaned on the powerful Howell in crunch time. The North Alabama transfer picked up 60 of his 75 yards after halftime, including a crucial fourth-and-1 conversion near midfield with five minutes to play and a 12-yard rush on third-and-7 later on the drive.

Dematrius Davis only threw for 104 yards on 9-of-19 passing but didn't turn the ball over and had some key gains of his own on the ground (nine rushes, 30 yards).

Kicking game rebounds

After Nathanial Eichner missed two field goals (one of which was blocked) and had an extra point blocked against Prairie View A&M, Robinson expressed confidence in his freshman kicker.

"He's that type of kid where I'm just going to make sure he doesn't over-kick, because he's a perfectionist," Robinson said. "He goes out there late after practice and sometimes you go to tell him, 'That's enough.' "

Whatever Eichner did in preparation worked. He split the uprights on all three of his attempts, including a career long of 42 yards, and hit his lone extra point.

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at 334-201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.