Troy University Athletics
Trojans Not Looking Past FIU
10/6/2007 5:00:00 AM | Football
The last thing the Troy Trojans have planned for their trip to Miami to face Florida International is to overlook or underestimate the Panthers.
Yes, FIU owns the longest losing streak in college football at 17 games.
Yes, the Panthers have scored just 28 points in five games this season while Troy is averaging 34 points per game.
Yes, Troy is almost a three touchdown favorite entering play at the Orange Bowl tonight.
But, the Trojans know they will have to be ready to play because, for FIU, a victory over Troy would make their season. At the same time, a loss to FIU would ruin Troy's year. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT). There is no television coverage of the game.
“Our mentality is the same as in any other game, we have to go in there gunning,” Troy senior linebacker Marcus Richardson said. “We have to give them our best shot from the beginning because they are a good enough team to beat you if you sleep on them. We can't make the mistake of taking them lightly.”
Troy coach Larry Blakeney said his team is just starting to develop some confidence, but he wants to see the players continue to work hard so that confidence level grows.
“We have to continue to put the pieces of the puzzle together,” Blakeney said. “I think we are getting more confident, but preparation is going to be the key this week, the same as last week.”
In addition to the game with FIU, there will be plenty of opportunities for distractions for the Trojans. Of Troy's 66-member travel squad, 21 are Florida natives. That means there will be a lot of family and friends on hand for the game.
Quarterback Omar Haugabook, a native of Belle Glade, Fla., knows the trip home for him is still a business trip, and he plans to handle it in that manner.
“It will be good for me to be able to go home and play in front of family and friends because they can't come to Troy to see me play very often,” Haugabook said. “We know going in that we have to be ready for their best shot because we do have a bull's eye on our backs, so we have to understand that we need to play almost perfect to win this game.”
The Panthers are also aware of Haugabook, who used his legs to help Troy to a 26-13 victory over FIU last year. In that game Haugabook rushed for a career-high 111 yards to earn Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week honors. It was also the only game of Haugabook's career at Troy when he was held to less than 100 yards passing.
“He is a very dynamic young man,” FIU head coach Mario Cristobal said. “He can run very well and he can sling it and his receivers go up and catch the football.”
The Troy offense, however, has something to prove itself after a sub-par performance in the win over Louisiana-Monroe last week. One of the things the offense wants to do a better job of is to take what the defense gives them.
“We were close last week, but were never able to quite make the plays we needed to make,” Blakeney said. “I think we were a little greedy early, trying to throw down the field too far too much. In the second half we did a better job of taking what the defense gave us, and that was the reason we were able to make that long drive to start the third quarter.”
What the Trojans hope to do this week is put together a solid performance in all three phases, which is something the team has failed to do in the first five weeks of the season.
“The team element is going to be very important this week,” Blakeney said. “We are probably going to have to furnish our own excitement a little bit, but we have to be excited about playing FIU and staying on top in this conference race.”
Yes, FIU owns the longest losing streak in college football at 17 games.
Yes, the Panthers have scored just 28 points in five games this season while Troy is averaging 34 points per game.
Yes, Troy is almost a three touchdown favorite entering play at the Orange Bowl tonight.
But, the Trojans know they will have to be ready to play because, for FIU, a victory over Troy would make their season. At the same time, a loss to FIU would ruin Troy's year. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT). There is no television coverage of the game.
“Our mentality is the same as in any other game, we have to go in there gunning,” Troy senior linebacker Marcus Richardson said. “We have to give them our best shot from the beginning because they are a good enough team to beat you if you sleep on them. We can't make the mistake of taking them lightly.”
Troy coach Larry Blakeney said his team is just starting to develop some confidence, but he wants to see the players continue to work hard so that confidence level grows.
“We have to continue to put the pieces of the puzzle together,” Blakeney said. “I think we are getting more confident, but preparation is going to be the key this week, the same as last week.”
In addition to the game with FIU, there will be plenty of opportunities for distractions for the Trojans. Of Troy's 66-member travel squad, 21 are Florida natives. That means there will be a lot of family and friends on hand for the game.
Quarterback Omar Haugabook, a native of Belle Glade, Fla., knows the trip home for him is still a business trip, and he plans to handle it in that manner.
“It will be good for me to be able to go home and play in front of family and friends because they can't come to Troy to see me play very often,” Haugabook said. “We know going in that we have to be ready for their best shot because we do have a bull's eye on our backs, so we have to understand that we need to play almost perfect to win this game.”
The Panthers are also aware of Haugabook, who used his legs to help Troy to a 26-13 victory over FIU last year. In that game Haugabook rushed for a career-high 111 yards to earn Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week honors. It was also the only game of Haugabook's career at Troy when he was held to less than 100 yards passing.
“He is a very dynamic young man,” FIU head coach Mario Cristobal said. “He can run very well and he can sling it and his receivers go up and catch the football.”
The Troy offense, however, has something to prove itself after a sub-par performance in the win over Louisiana-Monroe last week. One of the things the offense wants to do a better job of is to take what the defense gives them.
“We were close last week, but were never able to quite make the plays we needed to make,” Blakeney said. “I think we were a little greedy early, trying to throw down the field too far too much. In the second half we did a better job of taking what the defense gave us, and that was the reason we were able to make that long drive to start the third quarter.”
What the Trojans hope to do this week is put together a solid performance in all three phases, which is something the team has failed to do in the first five weeks of the season.
“The team element is going to be very important this week,” Blakeney said. “We are probably going to have to furnish our own excitement a little bit, but we have to be excited about playing FIU and staying on top in this conference race.”
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