Troy University Athletics
Trojans Must Solve Turnover Riddle Before Facing North Texas
9/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Coaches talk about it more than virtually any part of the game. You have to protect the ball and you have to create turnovers to have a chance to win.
Turnovers are the biggest difference makers in football. For the 2005 Troy Trojans, turnovers are the primary reason the Trojans are off to a 1-3 start, the teams' worst since 2001.
So far this season, the Trojans are 0-2 in the turnover game. Troy has not protected the ball and, even more importantly, the Trojans have not created any turnovers.
From 2001-04, the Trojans averaged forcing 2.5 turnovers per game. The 2005 squad has gone the last 12 quarters, 180 minutes of playing time, without forcing a single turnover. During that same time, the Trojans have allowed 10 turnovers, which have led directly to 45 points for Troy's opponents.
Against South Carolina last week, the point swing that resulted from turnovers was even worse. In addition to the 28 points the Gamecocks scored off five Troy turnovers, twice the turnovers ended Troy scoring threats that could have led to 14 Trojan points.
Very few teams could stand a 42-point swing as the result of five plays, and the Trojans are no exception.
The result of the Trojans' dearth of turnovers is a three-game losing streak that Troy will take into Sun Belt Conference play next Tuesday night in Denton, Texas. If Troy has any hope of ending the 25-game league win streak of four-time defending league champion North Texas, the team will have to protect the football and find a way to force the Mean Green into some turnovers.
Troy enters league play with a three-game losing streak for just the fourth time in Coach Larry Blakeney's 15-year tenure as head coach. Only once, late in the 1997 season, has a Blakeney coached Troy team lost four straight games. That team lost those four games by a combined 22 points.
The 2005 Trojans have dropped three straight games by a combined 76 points and have managed just three offensive touchdowns over the course of the three-game streak.
While the Trojans have struggled, North Texas has found the going rough as well. Despite having the last two NCAA rushing champs in the backfield, the Mean Green is dead last in Division I in total offense and ranks among the bottom seven teams in the country in nine major statistical categories.
The one area the Mean Green has done well in, and the reason they are already 1-0 in Sun Belt play, is that they rank 19th in the country in turnover margin. North Texas has scored just 23 points in three games and has allowed more than 480 yards of total offense per game, but they are still in the driver's seat in the race for the New Orleans Bowl.
For the Trojans' to have a chance at that bowl berth, they will have to find a way to win the turnover battle against North Texas, and they will have to do it on the road against a foe that knows nothing but wins in Sun Belt Conference play.
TUESDAY'S MATCHUP:
Even though North Texas comes into the game against Troy with a 25-game Sun Belt Conference win streak, the Mean Green has lost to Sun Belt teams since the streak started. In 2001, Troy defeated the Mean Green 18-16 to close the season in a game played in Troy. The Trojans were not yet members of the Sun Belt at the time. Last year, North Texas dropped a 20-13 decision to Florida Atlantic in a non-conference game ... The Trojans have played eight Texas schools in football through the years and owns a 20-7-1 overall record against teams from the Lonestar state ... The appearance on ESPN2 will be Troy's third. The Trojans defeated Missouri on "The Deuce" last year and lost to Northern Illinois in the Silicon Valley Classic on the network in December ... The Trojans have one player on the roster from the state of Texas. Junior linebacker Andre Morgan hails from Garland where he played at South Garland High. North Texas has one player from Garland, redshirt freshman David Adams, who prepped at North Garland High ... Troy sophomore defensive tackle Junior Tagovailoa played one season at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College before arriving in Troy. The Mean Green have a trio of players from Coffeyville -- defensive end Willie Ransom, and defensive backs Aaron Weathers and Gary Oubre.McKELVIN STRIKES AGAIN: For the third time in four weeks this season, Troy sophomore Leodis McKelvin has been named Sun Belt Conference Special Teams Player of the Week. Against South Carolina, McKelvin returned his first career kickoff for a touchdown, tying four others for the longest return in school history (100 yards, last accomplished in 1986). The return for a score was the Trojans second in its Division I history, the first coming on Oct. 28, 2001 against Southern Utah (94 yards by Demontray Carter). Including last season, McKelvin has now been named league Special Teams Player of the Week four times in his career.
