End of an Era; Troy Hosts UL Lafayette Saturday

TROY, Alabama – Larry Blakeney will lead his Trojans onto the field for 292^nd and final time Saturday when Troy hosts UL Lafayette in the 2014 season finale. Kickoff is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

Blakeney announced back in October that he would retire at the end of the season. The Trojans have won 178 of the previous 291 games with Blakeney on the sideline, a number that ranks as the third most by a coach in the state of Alabama. The number that the legendary coach is really proud of is Troy's 100-22-1 record at home during his tenure.

"There are so many good things that have taken place over the years, personally and professionally for me at this place. I could sit here all afternoon; things that are positive about how Janice and I and our girls have been treated," Blakeney said at his weekly press conference. "I wrote a little article in the paper, myself, just to let the people of Troy and the Wiregrass and Troy University know that we are appreciative for what we've been able to do while we've been here at Troy. Anyhow, this is an opportunity for us to go out with a win. If we can, it will be glorious. I'm looking forward to the game and I think our players will get into proper mode and will be prepared to play."

Pregame festivities get underway at 9:15 a.m. with Trojan Walk at the corner of George Wallace Drive and University Avenue, while the first hour of the pregame show on the Troy Sports Radio Network will broadcast live from 9:30-10:30 a.m. in Tailgate Terrace.

Troy (3-8, 3-4 Sun Belt) enters the game with UL Lafayette (7-4, 6-1) on a modest two-game winning streak after victories over Georgia State and Idaho, while the Cajuns come to Troy after suffering their first conference loss of the season, a 35-16 setback to Appalachian State.

The Trojan offense has performed well at home this season as they have averaged 426.4 yards in their previous five home contests. Troy will have to get the ground game going against the league's top rushing defense. The Trojans are averaging 326.7 yards rushing in their three wins and just 109 yards in the eight losses; ULL enters the game allowing just 148.9 rushing yards per game.

Another big part of Troy's success on offense has been ball protection by quarterback Brandon Silvers. The redshirt freshman has thrown just three interceptions this season and the Trojans rank 11^th nationally with just 11 lost turnovers this year.

Silvers has completed 68.4 percent of his passes, the second-best mark in school history. Troy has also got solid production out of its triple-headed running back monster in Brandon Burks (53.4 YPG), Jordan Chunn (43.5 YPG) and Khary Franklin (30.1 YPG).

Defensively, junior safety Montres Kitchens is coming off the game of his life as he tied a school record with three interceptions in Troy's victory at Idaho. Kitchens was named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week and one of his picks was the No. 4 play of the week on SportsCenter.

The Trojans have forced 10 turnovers in their three wins and just eight in their eight losses this season. Eleven of Troy's 18 takeaways have come via the interception, which is the most since the 2010 squad had 14 interceptions.

"I think we will have to play our best game to win against UL Lafayette," Blakeney said. "You have to take care of the running game. You have to take care of turnovers. You have to convert third downs and you have to score in the red zone. You have to tackle in the grass, kick it well and cover and tackle on the other teams returns."

Sophomore running back Elijah McGuire is hands down the leader of the ULL offense. He enters Saturday's game leading the Cajuns with 996 rushing yards and 414 receiving yards to go along with 14 total touchdowns. Senior quarterback Terrence Broadway has completed 60.3 percent of his passes with 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

The Cajuns have a huge passing rushing threat in Christian Ringo, who brings 10.5 sacks and 19.0 tackles for loss into Saturday's contest. ULL is allowing 424.5 yards per game this season and a league worst 275.6 passing yards per game.

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Players Mentioned

Brandon Burks

Jordan Chunn

Khary Franklin

Montres Kitchens

Brandon Silvers