Troy University Athletics
Troy University
Arkansas State
Troy Earns Outright Title and Bowl Bid
12/6/2008 6:00:00 AM | Football
TROY ? For the second season in a row, the Troy Trojans had an opportunity to earn an outright Sun Belt Conference championship, but this year the Trojans capitalized, earning their first outright title and a bid to the 2008 R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
The Trojans (8-4, 6-1 SBC) claimed the title with a 35-9 victory over Arkansas State on Saturday night at Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium. With the win, they also earned their third bowl bid in five years, a date with Southern Miss on December 21 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Troy took the lead in the first quarter and never relinquished, despite out-gaining Arkansas State by just five yards, 337-to-332.
“This is a family deal, this is something we have wanted for a long time. We wanted to do it outright and we did it, and it is sweet. They are a real fine program (Southern Miss) and they did a good job this year to get to the bowl game. We want to be sure to prepare well, they are a very good team. We are looking forward to being in New Orleans,” head coach Larry Blakeney said.
Arkansas State's Josh Arauco had a chance to give Arkansas State an early 3-0 lead, but missed a 29-yard field goal attempt with 5:19 remaining in the first quarter.
Jerrel Jernigan made a 27-yard reception on third down to set up Levi Brown to Cornelius Williams on a crossing route for 19 yards and a touchdown to cap an eight-play, 80-yard drive giving the Trojans a 7-0 first quarter lead. Brown completed all five pass attempts on the drive for 70 yards.
Brown finished the game with 181 yards on 15-of-23 completions with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Jernigan led the team in receiving with 69 yards on three receptions.
Faced with another third down, Brown found Jernigan for 29 yards and then connected with Zack Marcum for 26 yards. Two plays later, Xavier Moreland caught a swing pass from six yards out to put Troy up 14-0 with 8:28 remaining in the first half.
Arkansas State (6-6, 4-3 SBC) picked up a big third-down conversion of their own on a 21-yard completion from Corey Leonard to Taylor Clements, but the drive went for naught as Arauco missed his second attempt of the night, this time from 51 yards with 4:34 remaining in the second quarter.
Troy's third down dominance continued again with a minute to go when DuJuan Harris scampered in from six yards out for his 10th touchdown of the season to push Troy's lead to 21-0.
The Trojans had their only field goal attempt of the night blocked on their first drive of the third quarter. Alex Carrington broke through a pair of blockers to deflect Sam Glusman's try.
Arkansas State converted a key fourth down midway through the third quarter with a 24-yard strike from Leonard to Brandon Thompkins down to the one-yard line, but the Trojans turned the negative into a positive when on the next play Leonard fumbled the exchange from center Brandon Ciaramitaro. The fumble was recovered by Trojan safety Tavares Williams.
Troy could not muster a first down on the ensuing drive and was forced to punt the ball away. The Red Wolves then put their perfect 4th down record on the line, and for the first time in the game the Trojans were able to stop a fourth down attempt.
On the play, senior lineman Steve McLendon halted Leonard's progress on a quarterback keeper forcing ASU to turn the ball over on downs with 14 minutes remaining in the game.
Leonard finished the game with 172 yards passing and two interceptions to go along with 69 yards on 18 carries. Reggie Arnold led ASU on the ground with 84 yards on 18 carries.
For the second time in the game the Trojans took over on their own one-yard line and this time Brown was stopped for a safety by linebacker Demario Davis putting Arkansas State on the board 21-2 and giving them the ball back off a free kick.
The safety was the third surrendered by the Trojans in 2008 and the first since their loss to ULM on November 1. On both of the previous safeties, the ball was snapped past Brown into the end zone.
Troy got another chance to show their mettle on an ASU fourth down attempt, this time Leonard's pass attempt was tipped by Brandon Lang and intercepted by Williams. The pick was Williams' third of the season.
Harris completed the first 1,000 yard rushing year of his career in the fourth quarter. He finished with 72 yards for the game as he became just the sixth player in Troy history to break the thousand yard threshold and the first since DeWhitt Betterson in 2004.
The drive ended when Brown connected with Austin Silvoy on a 24-yard touchdown strike. The touchdown was Silvoy's third of the season, and boosted the Trojans lead to 28-2 with 8:50 remaining in the game.
The Red Wolves picked up their only touchdown late in the fourth quarter against Troy's reserve defense on a one-yard touchdown run by Travis Hewitt.
Terrence Moore added a late interception, his sixth of the 2008 campaign.
The championship is Troy's first outright conference title since 2000 when they were members of the Southland Football League. This is also the Trojans' second trip to the New Orleans Bowl, they defeated Rice 41-17 in the 2006 game.
Tickets for the New Orleans Bowl can be purchased through the Troy Ticket office beginning on Sunday from 1-4 PM. The ticket office can be reached by phone at 1-877-878-WINS.
Troy Game Notes:
- Today's game captains were Chris Jamison, Dion Small, Tavares Williams, and Sherrod Martin. They were joined at mid-field by the entire senior class.
- The Trojans won the toss and elected to receive the ball in the second half.
- For the sixth time in the last seven games, the Trojans did not let their opponent score on their opening drive of the game.
- Xavier Moreland caught his first touchdown in the second quarter. He was the 11th different Trojan to catch a touchdown pass this season.
- Dujuan Harris surpassed the 1,000 mark rushing in the 2008 season with a ...... performance against Arkansas State.
- The Trojans will play in the New Orleans Bowl on December 21, 2008 against the University of Southern Mississippi. This is the third bowl for the Trojans in the past five season.
- Troy has won back-to-back-to-back Sun Belt Conference championships. This time, Troy was the outright champion.
- For the first time since 2000,the Trojans won an outright conference championship.
