Troy University Athletics
Monster Task At Hand For Trojans
9/12/2009 1:30:00 PM | Football
The Troy Trojans football team will travel to “The Swamp” to face the nation's top-ranked team in the Florida Gators on Saturday.
Kickoff for Saturday's game is slated at 11:21 a.m. (CT), and the game will be televised by the SEC Network.
The Trojans upcoming bout with the heavyweight Gators comes on the heels of a disappointing loss to the Bowling Green Falcons. The Trojans are ready to put that game in the past and focus on the number one task at hand.
“We're not making any excuses,” Trojans head coach Larry Blakeney said of the loss to Bowling Green. “We got beat. Kudos and credit go to the victors. Now we've got to figure out how to beat these guys somehow, some way.”
Blakeney recognized the challenge his team will face on Saturday.
“My evaluation of them is still the same. They may have the best football coach in America. They have the best football player in America, and probably the most dynamic group of guys on defense that they have ever had.”
The dynamic Gators only allowed 95 rushing yards in their first game, and quarterback Levi Brown realizes Troy will need to be efficient in the running game to move the ball.
“Obviously I would like to see us run the ball a lot better than we did,” Brown said. “It makes it easier to throw the ball when they are not playing pass every down. You're always going to have more success when you have a balanced offense.”
With week one behind, Brown is ready to take on the biggest challenge in college football.
“It's exciting. We're playing the number one team in the nation who won the national title last year and it's at 'The Swamp'. There are tons of reasons for us to be excited. They are the best team I have ever seen. I have watched a pretty good bit of film on them. They are fast. They have great size. Everything you would expect from the best team in the nation, they have.”
While the entire team is highly motivated to face the Gators, none are more excited than the Trojans who call Florida home.
Wide receiver Austin Silvoy is a native of St. Augustine, Fla., and played his high school career alongside Florida quarterback Tim Tebow at Nease High School.
“It's exciting to go back home and play in front of a bunch of people I grew up with, friends and family,” Silvoy said. “It's going to be an exciting experience. It's a chance to get back from last week and play another team, and hope we come back with a win.”
Silvoy has many close friends and former teammates who will play opposite of him this Saturday, and the Trojan receiver has had success in “The Swamp”.
“That was probably one of the most electrifying feelings being in 'The Swamp'. It got me used to being in the big time atmosphere, and it has shown me that you can show up in a big time stadium and do big time things.
“We're going to go into any stadium and go with our game plan. We're going in there to win. We're not going in there to just try and show up and go home. We want to win.”
Winning at Florida means stopping an offense led by a Heisman Trophy winner. Defensive end Brandon Lang is no stranger to the play style of the Gators led by Tebow.
“I remember,” Lang said of the 2007 game. “We're going to try to improve a whole lot from the last time we went. I feel like we're a much better team than we were the first time we went. We have got the players and the talent. We just have to show up and play.”
Lang said a successful outing will have to start with solid leadership.
“This game we're going to have to come with it. We're planning on coming out with a better attitude, and we're going to come out intense and ready to play. Our seniors are going to have to step up and be vocal leaders. We have to lead by example.”
The meeting will be the second in series history between the Trojans and Gators. Florida won the last meeting, and they also were the defending national champions that season as well. Troy has faced the defending national champion in three of the past four seasons.
This will be the second time in Troy's Football Bowl Subdivision history facing the nation's top ranked team. The Trojans fell to the top-ranked Miami Hurricanes in 2001.
