Troy Looks to End Season on High Note at UL Lafayette

TROY, Alabama – Riding a wave of momentum into the offseason can carry a college football team a long way as it prepares for the following fall. Troy will look to jump on that wave Saturday when it travels to UL Lafayette to close out the initial season under head coach Neal Brown.

"Our message to our football team is we need to finish this year strong," Brown said. "We have a chance to get another conference win, and we need to finish this year on a strong note. I think our senior class has done a nice job of buying in. They've done a good job of continuing to play hard and I'd love to send them off with a win and going into our offseason for the rest of the team."

Kickoff between the Trojans and Ragin Cajuns is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Cajun Field and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3. The Troy Sports Radio Network will have full coverage of the game beginning with the pregame show at 2 p.m. on the full 16-station network.

Troy (3-8, 2-5 Sun Belt) will be looking to bounce back from a pair of losses, while ULL (4-7, 3-4) enters the final weekend of play having lost three straight games. The Cajuns have won four straight in the series after Troy won seven of the previous eight meetings.

Trojan fans will have a close eye on the rushing stats as senior running back Brandon Burks enters the contest needing 113 yards to become just the eighth player in school history to reach 1,000 yards in a season. He's averaged 8.4 yards per carry against the Cajuns and rushed for 126 yards on 15 carries two years ago at Cajun Field.

It will also be the final game for wide receiver Teddy Ruben, who has seven touchdown receptions – the second most in the Sun Belt among receivers. Center Dalton Bennett and wide receiver K.D. Edenfield will make their 36^th consecutive and final starts on Saturday.

Brown will be looking for a good day out of sophomore quarterback Brandon Silvers. In four of Troy's past five games, Silvers has struck for 12 touchdown passes and averaged 290.8 yards through the air (New Mexico State, App State, ULM and Georgia State).

On the other side of the ball, it will be the final games for safety Montres Kitchens and nose guard Lonnie Gosha, who will be both making their 24^th straight start. The Trojans will also say goodbye to one of the best defensive players in school history as bandit Tyler Roberts will make his 42^nd and final start for Troy.

Roberts is currently tied with Osi Umenyiora for second in Troy history with 38.5 tackles for loss, while ranking 13^th in sacks and seventh in sack yardage. The Hoover, Ala., native enters the weekend leading the Sun Belt with 1.58 tackles for loss and 0.75 sacks per game.

Under defensive coordinator Vic Koenning, a Broyles Award nominee, the Trojans have posted the sixth best turnaround in the country in yards per play allowed (-1.01). Additionally, Troy has the second best turnaround in third-down defense (-14.72) and fifth best in tackles for loss (+2.49).

ULL was picked to finish second in the league and was 4-3 after a pair of narrow victories over ULM (30-24) and Georgia State (23-21), however the Cajuns have dropped consecutive games to South Alabama, New Mexico State and Appalachian State.

Preseason Sun Belt Player of the Year Elijah McGuire has found the end zone 12 times on the ground and has rushed for 972 yards on the year. The Cajuns have split time at quarterback between Brooks Haack and Jalen Nixon; Haack has completed 61.4 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and six interceptions, while Nixon has completed 53.2 percent of his attempts with seven touchdowns and five interceptions.

Leading the way on defense for the Cajuns in Dominique Tovell with 76 tackles, 14.0 tackles for loss and 7.0 sacks. The Cajuns are allowed 31 points, 188.8 rushing yards and 229.6 passing yards per game this season.

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Players Mentioned

Dalton Bennett

Brandon Burks

K.D. Edenfield

Lonnie Gosha

Montres Kitchens

Tyler Roberts

Teddy Ruben

Brandon Silvers