Troy University Athletics
Back Home for Homecoming
10/21/2009 4:45:00 AM | Football
Homecoming has arrived at Troy University, and the Trojans are getting prepared to take on conference foe North Texas on Saturday to close out the week's events. The Trojans and the Mean Green are set to kick off at 2:30 pm on Saturday in Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium.
The game between the Trojans (4-2, 3-0 Sun Belt) and the Mean Green (1-5, 0-3 Sun Belt) will be televised by CSS and also available on the Troy ISP Sports Network.
“We're looking forward to homecoming,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said. “There's a lot of things that go on during homecoming, and I have watched and followed Todd Dodge and North Texas. They could have two or three wins in the league. They have been awful close in almost every game.”
The Mean Green has won just one game on the season with a 20-10 victory at Ball State to start the year, but the season has been one of heartbreaking games since. A one-point loss followed the opener when the Mean Green faced Ohio, and they are fresh from back-to-back four-point losses to Louisiana Lafayette and Florida Atlantic respectively.
“They are certainly more prolific on offense than I have seen from them,” Blakeney said. “Right now it's kind of like 'can you win one more for me?' It's just the same thing every week. You're going to face a competitive group and a well coached team. We have to make sure we match and exceed that in order to win.”
The last meeting between the two schools saw Trojans quarterback Levi Brown complete 40 of 50 passes for 391 yards on the day. Brown did all of this in just his second start, and the quarterback tossed two touchdown passes in the effort.
Brown has posted similar outings in previous games. Just last week against Florida International the signal caller hit the 391 yard mark again in the passing category. Against Arkansas State he posted 355 yards and against UAB he broke the 400 yard achievement with 413 on the day. The quarterback is hoping for another solid performance in the homecoming affair this Saturday.
Brown was also named Sun Belt Conference player of the week for his efforts against FIU.
“I'm seeing the field really well right now,” Brown said. “I'm making clear reads and seeing everything pretty well. I don't want to say it's easy. It's never easy, but everything seems to be working for us offensively right now.
The Trojans defense will have to handle a powerful rushing attack that the Mean Green possesses. Running back Lance Dunbar rushed for 238 yards in their most recent game against Florida Atlantic. Dunbar averaged 10 yards per carry through his first ten runs in the game en route to the career high performance. In fact, Dunbar has been a large part in pushing the Mean Green rushing attack into one of the top 25 best in the nation.
The Mean Green passing attack can do work on the field as well as they post a balanced offensive attack.
“It's going to be a lot like the Middle Tennessee game for us,” linebacker Bear Woods said. “Yards after the catch is big. We have to tackle them and can't allow them to get any yards after the catch. As far as the flow of the game, we need to dictate the tempo. If they want to go fast we have to go faster. We can't let them decide how the games going to be run. We're going to run the game.”
The Trojans will look to add another notch in their dominance of the series with the seventh meeting overall this Saturday. Troy leads the series 5-1 with the only loss coming in 2003.
“When you get to where we are now being on a little roll practice becomes more important,” Woods said. “Going every day and practicing hard and not letting a day go by worrying your not getting any better is the main focus. Practice is the main focus. Keep practicing hard and the wins will keep coming.”
The game Saturday marks the first of a two game home stand for Troy before hitting the highways again to Western Kentucky.
The game between the Trojans (4-2, 3-0 Sun Belt) and the Mean Green (1-5, 0-3 Sun Belt) will be televised by CSS and also available on the Troy ISP Sports Network.
“We're looking forward to homecoming,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said. “There's a lot of things that go on during homecoming, and I have watched and followed Todd Dodge and North Texas. They could have two or three wins in the league. They have been awful close in almost every game.”
The Mean Green has won just one game on the season with a 20-10 victory at Ball State to start the year, but the season has been one of heartbreaking games since. A one-point loss followed the opener when the Mean Green faced Ohio, and they are fresh from back-to-back four-point losses to Louisiana Lafayette and Florida Atlantic respectively.
“They are certainly more prolific on offense than I have seen from them,” Blakeney said. “Right now it's kind of like 'can you win one more for me?' It's just the same thing every week. You're going to face a competitive group and a well coached team. We have to make sure we match and exceed that in order to win.”
The last meeting between the two schools saw Trojans quarterback Levi Brown complete 40 of 50 passes for 391 yards on the day. Brown did all of this in just his second start, and the quarterback tossed two touchdown passes in the effort.
Brown has posted similar outings in previous games. Just last week against Florida International the signal caller hit the 391 yard mark again in the passing category. Against Arkansas State he posted 355 yards and against UAB he broke the 400 yard achievement with 413 on the day. The quarterback is hoping for another solid performance in the homecoming affair this Saturday.
Brown was also named Sun Belt Conference player of the week for his efforts against FIU.
“I'm seeing the field really well right now,” Brown said. “I'm making clear reads and seeing everything pretty well. I don't want to say it's easy. It's never easy, but everything seems to be working for us offensively right now.
The Trojans defense will have to handle a powerful rushing attack that the Mean Green possesses. Running back Lance Dunbar rushed for 238 yards in their most recent game against Florida Atlantic. Dunbar averaged 10 yards per carry through his first ten runs in the game en route to the career high performance. In fact, Dunbar has been a large part in pushing the Mean Green rushing attack into one of the top 25 best in the nation.
The Mean Green passing attack can do work on the field as well as they post a balanced offensive attack.
“It's going to be a lot like the Middle Tennessee game for us,” linebacker Bear Woods said. “Yards after the catch is big. We have to tackle them and can't allow them to get any yards after the catch. As far as the flow of the game, we need to dictate the tempo. If they want to go fast we have to go faster. We can't let them decide how the games going to be run. We're going to run the game.”
The Trojans will look to add another notch in their dominance of the series with the seventh meeting overall this Saturday. Troy leads the series 5-1 with the only loss coming in 2003.
“When you get to where we are now being on a little roll practice becomes more important,” Woods said. “Going every day and practicing hard and not letting a day go by worrying your not getting any better is the main focus. Practice is the main focus. Keep practicing hard and the wins will keep coming.”
The game Saturday marks the first of a two game home stand for Troy before hitting the highways again to Western Kentucky.
Goose Crowder - T-Day
Saturday, April 18
Donnie Smith - T-Day
Saturday, April 18
Gerad Parker - T-Day
Saturday, April 18
Gerad Parker - April 16
Thursday, April 16