BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ Ryan Lewis ran for 156 yards and two touchdowns Saturday night as Southern University crushed Alcorn State, 28-6, and moved closer to an unbeaten season and a fifth Heritage Bowl appearance.

Southern (8-0), ranked No. 3 in Division I-AA, finished with 434 yards of total offense _ 282 rushing _ while holding Alcorn (3-4) to just 35 yards rushing and 255 passing yards.

Before erupting for 25 unanswered points, Southern spotted Alcorn slim early leads of 6-3 and 6-5 in its first interdivisional Southwestern Athletic Conference game.

A 50-yard touchdown run by Lewis early in the third period broke open a tight game and gave Southern an 18-6 lead. His 51-yard touchdown run with 3:30 left in the game concluded the scoring.

Southern also scored on field goals of 29 and 41 yards by, Justi Mattingly, on a safety when Alcorn quarterback Damion Ford grounded the ball into the end zone and on a 14-yard touchdown run by Dain Lewis.

Alcorn's only points came on a 3-yard pass from No. 3 quarterback Surhaver Fair to Ronald Gilmore that gave the Braves a 6-3 lead with 10:34 left in the second period.