Troy University Athletics
Haugabook Leads Troy to New Orleans Bowl Victory
12/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The talk around Troy practice all week leading up to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl was about being the first team in school history to win a bowl game.
The Trojans made sure their first trip to represent the Sun Belt Conference in New Orleans was a memorable one by jumping on the Rice Owls with 21 first quarter points and never looking back in a 41-17 victory in front of 24,791 fans at the Louisiana Superdome.
We talked about what it means to win and what it meant to us since it was our first ever bowl win,” Troy coach Larry Blakeney said. We knew we had to play well and it was a game in which we were able to get the momentum early.”
Junior quarterback Omar Haugabook showed why he was named Sun Belt Player of the Year by running and passing for five touchdowns in earning game Most Valuable Player honors in unanimous fashion.
Haugabook rushed for 92 yards and one score and completed 14 of 28 passes for 217 yards and a New Orleans Bowl record four touchdowns. The Trojans finished the 2006 season with an 8-5 record while Rice closed its year at 7-6.
It was a real good game for me,” Haugabook said. During the week we were doing a lot of work on beating the man press and, tonight, we beat the man press. They tried to be real aggressive with us and we were able to burn them deep a couple of times.”
The Trojans got off to a fast start in the game with a little help from the Big East Conference instant replay crew.
After stopping Rice on three plays on the opening possession of the game, the Trojans took possession on their own 46 yard line. Junior quarterback Omar Haugabook missed wide open receivers on second and third downs before Troy converted on fourth down.
Haugabook again went deep, hitting Mykeal Terry with a 40-yard strike to the Rice two, but the play was ruled incomplete. With the Trojans lined up to run another play, the replay board in the Louisiana Superdome clearly showed Terry had come down with the pass inbounds.
When the partisan Troy crowd erupted, the officials halted play for a review, resulting in a first and goal for the Trojans. Haugabook ran the ball in on the second play and Greg Whibbs added the PAT for a 7-0 Troy lead.
Troy made the plays and tonight just wasn't our night,” Rice coach Todd Graham said. We had a lot of confusion on defense. We just did a poor job of preparing our kids for the game, but we also want to give Troy a lot of credit.”
The Trojans quickly added another score when Boris Lee intercepted a pass from Rice's Joel Armstrong, a receiver who started at quarterback for the Owls in place of injured starter Chase Clement. Lee took the pick back to the Rice one and, three plays later, Haugabook hit Gary Banks for a three-yard touchdown and a 14-0 Troy lead.
Rice answered the Trojans with a drive down the length of the field. The Owls needed nine plays to cover 76 yards, and got help from the instant replay on Armstrong's 11-yard scoring pass to Mike Falco at the 5:12 mark of the opening quarter. Replay showed Falco was able to drag his right toe while diving out of bounds for the TD catch.
Troy came right back, scoring on a 56-yard pass from Haugabook to Terry with two seconds left in the opening quarter. The PAT gave Troy a New Orleans Bowl record 21 first quarter points, which was also just two points shy of the Trojans' first quarter output of 23 points for the entire season.
Rice cut into the Trojans' lead at the 12:05 mark of the second quarter when Clark Fangmeier hit a career-long 43-yard field goal. It was the first field goal in Rice bowl history and cut the Troy lead to 21-10.
The Trojans came right back, riding their junior quarterback down the field on a seven-play scoring drive. Haugabook had runs of 21 and eight yards on back-to-back plays, setting up a seven-yard scoring pass to Andrew Davis at the 9:41 mark of the second quarter.
The two teams went to halftime with the Trojans holding to a 28-10 lead. The 28 points scored by Troy in the first half of the game set a Sun Belt Conference bowl record for scoring, surpassing the 25 points scored by North Texas in winning the 2002 New Orleans Bowl.
After both teams had scoring drive end on interceptions in the end zone early in the third quarter, the Trojans got their offense back on track later in the period. Haugabook was again the driving force, rushing for 60 yards on five carries during Troy's 13-play drive, which ended with a 25-yard Whibbs field goal for a 31-10 Troy lead.
The Trojans added another Whibbs field goal with 9:16 left in the game, again from 26 yards, to push their advantage to 34-10.
Rice got back to withing 34-17 when staqr receiver Jarett Dillard took in a one-yard pass from Armstrong with 4:58 to play. It was Dillard's 14th consecutive game with at least one TD reception.
After the Owls failed to recover an onside kick attempt, the Trojans needed only to run out the clock, but Haugabook had other ideas and capped a six-play scoring drive with a five-yard touchdown pass to Toris Rutledge with 1:56 to play.
Terry led 11 Troy receivers with 96 yards on just two catches.
Defensively, the Trojans held Rice to just 39 rushing yards and 344 yards of total offense. Armstrong passed for 305 yards, hitting a bowl record 35 of 54 pass attempts, but he was intercepted five times.
Junior Elbert Mack recorded two of the Trojans' five picks, just days after the death of his father in California.
We did a great job of preparing and, even though I missed a few days, I was able to catch up,” Mack said. The coaches kept things very simple for us and we just went out and executed.”
Junior Leodis McKelvin led the game with 11 total tackles. Troy piled up 11 tackles for loss in the game, including four sacks of the elusive Armstrong.
I am not sure what the future holds for this program, but I am sure proud of where we are right now,” Blakeney said. I am proud of the staff, of these guys, and especially of these seniors.”
Game Notes
The total of 21 matched two other quarters this year - the second against Alabama State and the second against Louisiana-Lafayette.
