Trojans Look to Rebound on Rocky Top

TROY, Ala. – Two-high powered offenses will collide on Saturday in the nation's third-largest college football stadium when Troy and Tennessee meet for the first time. Kickoff between the Trojans and Volunteers in Neyland Stadium (102,455) is scheduled for 11:08 a.m. (CDT) in a game that will be televised across the Fox Sports Net family of networks.

Troy will bring to Knoxville a passing attack (292.4) thanks ranks 22nd nationally and offensive unit (459.6) that ranks 26th in the NCAA. Lying in wait along the banks of the Tennessee River will be the Vols' offense that ranks 21st in the country through the air (292.2) and 29th overall (456.0).

Throw in picture-perfect weather conditions – 70 degrees and a five mile-per-hour wind – and you have all the ingredients for an old-fashioned shootout.

“We'll try to control them in all three phases and we'll have a plan to win,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said at his weekly press luncheon. “It's not a plan to go look good losing close. If it was, I promise you I'd burn more clock and burn 40 seconds every time we had it. But that's not how we play and that's not how we are successful to get wins and that's not what we will do.”

Tennessee (3-5, 0-5 SEC) will have to prepare for Troy's (4-4, 3-3 Sun Belt) two-quarterback machine of Corey Robinson and Deon Anthony. Robinson has thrown for 1,806 yards and eight touchdowns on the season, while Anthony has five touchdown passes, completed 68.9 percent of his passes and rushed for a trio of touchdowns.

Robinson ranks among the top six active quarterbacks in the country in career attempts, completions, yards and yards per game. Only a junior, Robinson set the Sun Belt Conference career pass completions record last week at Florida Atlantic as he passed ULM's Steven Jyles with 791 over his two plus years.

Anthony filled is as the starter two weeks ago against FIU after Robinson suffered an injury the week before. Anthony was named the Allstate Sugar Bowl Manning Award Player of the Week after he tallied 360 yards of total offense and accounted for all five of Troy's touchdowns against the Panthers.

"They have one guy that throws it real well and one guy that runs it real well,” Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley said. “I wouldn't really say it's 'wildcat' because he can throw it too. But the one quarterback does a lot more. You have to defense those quarterback runs a lot harder. Their other guy can really shoot it down the field."

The Trojans are more than just a passing game thanks to the work of an offensive line that has been devastated by injuries, but has persevered, and the senior leadership of running back Shawn Southward.

Southward enters the weekend second in the Sun Belt averaging 86.5 yards per game on the ground and is fourth with seven rushing touchdowns on his tally. His is well on his way to becoming the first player in Troy history to lead the Trojans in rushing four straight years and is just four rushing touchdowns shy of tying the Troy career mark of 34.

“They have a pretty sophisticated run game,” Tennessee safeties coach Josh Conklin said. “They do some things that will give you issues schematically. They also have a really good passing attack, as well. They throw the ball really well and they have some guys who can run."

Tennessee is led offensively by junior quarterback Tyler Bray with his 20 touchdowns and 285.2 passing yards per game. Bray's passing yards are good for 16th nationally with his favorite receiver, Justin Hunter, checking in a tick behind Troy's Chip Reeves at 34th in the NCAA with 82.1 yards per game; Reeves is 32nd with 82.5 yards per contest.

The Vols have been without leading rusher Rajion Neal the past two games with an injury, but the junior running back resumed practice this week.

The Tennessee offense has scored at least 31 points in six of its eight games this season and have totaled 276 points through its first eight games; the fourth most in school history at this point in the season.

Defensively the Trojans enter the matchup with the advantage statistically both in points allowed and in total defense. Troy ranks 37 spots ahead of Tennessee in scoring defense (26.9-33.9) and 39 spots ahead in total defense (399.4-453.5).

The Troy defense has forced 10 turnovers over the past four games with Chris Pickett leading the charge. The junior safety has forced a fumble in three straight games and ranks 12th in the nation in the category.

Pressure against Bray will be hard to come by as the Vols are third in the country with only four sacks allowed on the season. Defensive end Tony Davis has three sacks for the Trojans in the last three games and the Troy defense taken down the opposing quarterback 10 times this year.

For Tennessee, linebacker A.J. Johnson leads the defense with 88 tackles on the season, while Darrington Sentimore has a team-best 4.0 sacks. The Vols have allowed at least 38 points in four straight games, but have performed well against non-conference opponents having allowed an average of 20.0 points in three victories.

The Trojans are coming off a disappointing 34-27 loss at Florida Atlantic last Saturday night. Southward put Troy in front 27-26 with just under two minutes to play with his second rushing touchdown of the night, but the Owls were able to navigate the length of the field to escape with the victory.

“I talked to the team (Sunday) and I told them they just experience the proverbial trap game and that we're not good enough to think about being trapped,” Blakeney said. “The humanness of this particular thing is hard to overcome no matter how good a people you are. We've got kids that care and want to win and do everything they can. I thought our kids really tried hard and we did everything we could do.”

Tennessee enters its Homecoming contest looking to snap a four-game losing streak that dates back to a 47-26 victory over Akron on Sept. 22.

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