Troy Claims a Thriller in The Vet, Moves to 8-1

Saturday, November 12

Troy, Ala.

2:30 p.m.

Troy University

8-1 , 5-0

Appalachian State

7-3 , 5-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Appalachian State

Troy

Troy Claims a Thriller in The Vet, Moves to 8-1

11/12/2016 8:39:00 PM | Football

Box Score Final Stats Photo Gallery (1)Photo Gallery (2)Troy Game Notes Season Stats

By: Adam Prendergast

TROY, Alabama – Jordan Chunn scored from 11 yards out with 62 seconds remaining in the game and Troy's defense held off a last-ditch effort by Appalachian State as the Trojans knocked off the Mountaineers, 28-24, Saturday night in a battle of Sun Belt Conference heavyweights in Veterans Memorial Stadium.

App State took a 24-21 lead with 3:29 to play in the game after Jalin Moore found the end zone on third-and-goal from the 5-yard line. Following a holding penalty on the kickoff, Troy started the eventual game-winning drive on its own 15-yard line.

A couple of quick strikes pushed the Trojans near midway, but Troy managed just four yards on its next three plays to set up a fourth-and-six on the Troy 46-yard line. Quarterback Brandon Silvers worked to the third read on his progression and found Sidney Davis on a wheel route for 43 yards to the App State 11-yard line. Chunn found the end zone on the next play to send The Vet into pandemonium.

Following the score, App State was able to move the ball to the Troy 38-yard line, but the Trojans came up with three straight stops, including a break up by Cedarius Rookard on the final play, to seal the victory.

Troy improves to 8-1 on the season and 5-0 in Sun Belt play; the Trojans have now won seven straight games, which is their longest winning streak since winning eight straight in 2009. App State falls to 7-3 overall and 5-1 in the Sun Belt.

Jordan Chunn became Troy's ninth 1,000-yard rusher in school history as he finished with 129 yards to push his season total to 1,028 yards. He needs 310 yards over Troy's final four games of the season (77.5 yards per game) to set the school's single-season record.

After falling behind 14-0 in its last two games, Troy turned the tables and jumped out to a two-score lead on touchdowns from Chunn and Deondre Douglas in the first quarter.

Momentum flipped on a dime as Troy was driving looking for a three-score lead, but A.J. Howard ripped the ball from Sam Letton as he tried to gain possession and returned it 71 yards for a touchdown. After a Troy three-and-out, App State tied the game with a five-play drive capped by a 32-yard touchdown run from Moore.

The Mountaineers made it 17-straight points when Michael Rubino hit a 47-yard field goal midway through the third quarter.

Just as App State flipped the momentum with a big play, a big play got the crowd of 25,782 and the Troy sideline back in the game.

On a drive dominated by Silvers, the junior quarterback put an exclamation point on the proceedings with a 51-yard touchdown run as he kept the ball on an option play. Silvers accounted for all 73 yards on the drive as he rushed for 57 yards and threw for 16 yards.

Silvers finished 20-of-35 for 223 yards and a touchdown through the air and rushed for 56 yards on six carries. John Johnson led the Trojans with five catches for 59 yards, while Chunn and Douglas both finished with four catches.

Blace Brown intercepted his sixth pass of the season and Troy held App State to just 334 yards of total offense and 167 yards on the ground; the Mountaineers entered the game averaging 399.8 total yards and 220.6 rushing yards per game. Tyquae Russell led the Trojans with six tackles and also forced a fumble in the second half.

Taylor Lamb completed 14-of-28 passes for 167 yards for the Mountaineers. Troy became just the second team (Miami, Fla.) to hold either Moore or Marcus Cox under 100 yards rushing this season as they finished with 91 and 50 yards, respectively – they entered the game with 10 combined 100-yard rushing games.

Quotable
"I thought it was a great college football game," Troy head coach Neal Brown said. "It was a great atmosphere. It's been a huge week for Troy Athletics; breaking ground on the new facility before the game and then hosting this game, which is the biggest Sun Belt Conference game this late in the season in a long time. It opened up an even bigger game on Thursday night in front of a national audience."

Turning Point
Quarterback Brandon Silvers showed off his wheels as he kept an option read and ran 51 yards for a touchdown to give Troy a 21-17 lead late in the third quarter. It was the longest run of Silvers' career and the longest for a touchdown by a Troy quarterback since 2002.

Stat Geek
Running back Jordan Chunn found the end zone twice for the Trojans which marked his seventh straight game with a rushing touchdown; he had a streak of eight straight games with a rushing touchdown as a freshman.

Notable
• After recording two combined sacks in the first three games, Troy has recorded 23 sacks over the past six games after the Trojans had one sack against App State.

• Troy improved to 8-0 under Neal Brown when rushing for more than 150 yards; the Trojans finished with 187 rushing yards in the game.

• Troy extended its Sun Belt Conference winning streak to six games, which is the longest since the Trojans won 14 straight league games from 2008 to 2010.

• Attendance for the game was 25,782, which was the fifth largest in Veterans Memorial Stadium history and the largest in stadium history to watch a Sun Belt Conference game.

• Jordan Chunn finished the game with 129 rushing yards for his fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season; he has rushed for over 100 yards in every other game this season.

On Tap
It doesn't get any easier for Troy as the Trojans welcome Arkansas State to Veterans Memorial Stadium on Thursday night. The Red Wolves have won five straight games – all in the Sun Belt – after going 0-4 in non-conference play. The game will be televised live on ESPNU and is scheduled to kickoff at 8:30 p.m.

Troy Head Coach Neal Brown
Opening statement:
"Thank you all for coming. Huge win for our program. It gets us to 8-1 and 5-0 in our league. It's a big win. (Appalachian State) over the last two years has—along with Arkansas State, which we'll talk about later—has been the top of this league. (They are) extremely well coached. Their guys know how to win. They battled. They had answers for everything we did offensively and defensively.

I thought it was a great college football game. It was a great atmosphere. It's been a huge week for Troy Athletics; breaking ground on the new facility before the game and then hosting this game, which is the biggest Sun Belt Conference game this late in the season in a long time. It opened up an even bigger game on Thursday night in front of a national audience.

I thought our fans were great, especially our students. That's the loudest I've ever heard Veterans Memorial Stadium and I've coached a lot of games here. That was the loudest I've heard it. In the fourth quarter there when they had the ball and when Sidney Davis made the big paly to set up that touchdown. A lot of credit given to them. I challenged our students here on campus all week. I challenged our fans. I'm not sure what the number was, but they were loud and the ones that were here, I really, really appreciate them.

It sets up an even bigger opportunity. Vic Koening and our staff did a great job. Appalachian State has really done a great job over the last two and a half years of running the football. They tried to tonight and they had some marginal success, but by and large—besides that long run—I thought our guys did a great job. Special teams we were good, not our best, but we were solid. Offensively, I thought we controlled the game in the first half."

On Silvers:
"I thought he pressed a lot early in the game and that happens. Right or wrong, we haven't been in a whole lot of games like this. We tried to approach it like any other game all week, but (the players) knew this game had ramifications. I thought he pressed. I thought we pressed. My message to them at halftime was just, 'Hey, let's just make routine plays. We don't have to do anything extraordinary.' On the next-to-last play that Sidney Davis caught with pass interference that was a play where he got to his third progression. I thought the offensive line really did a good job. We rushed to the line. We had three timeouts and my philosophy is you don't use your timeouts right there because if you don't get it you want to be able to get the ball back. I'd rather not use my timeouts on offense. I'd rather use them on defense. We hit a big play and then we ran the ball in the very next snap. Brandon did a nice job."

On the win from a national perspective:
"I think it's to be determined. What it does is it validates us within our league. Nationally it's to be determined. I know this: we're 8-1 and our only loss is to the No. 2 team in the country at their place on a questionable call that made a 14-point swing in the game. We've lined up and played everybody that we're supposed to. Besides that game, we've won them all. I think having the national stage on Thursday night against an Arkansas State team that's won our league and been co-champions three of the last four years is a bigger opportunity with a national television audience."

On Silvers as the second leading rusher:
"That's a package that we put in back in January coaching wise. We made a decision that the two best teams we played last year were Georgia Southern and Appalachian State and they had a lot of success with some option plays. For us to get our defense prepared to play those types of teams, we had to install it offensively so our defense is seeing it 15 times in spring practice and another 18 times in fall camp. We got a lot of reps logged into that and it's something that we've held. We used it against South Alabama and we used it since the South Alabama game. We've had some success with it. It's been good to us. We've used it with Sawyer when he played earlier in the year and with Brandon since the South Alabama game. He's got a good feel for it. He did a lot of that kinds of stuff in high school."

On Chunn and the line:
"I think Jordan is a stud. He was a little banged up coming out of the game last week. He pushed through practice, which is important. I sell our guys on the fact that you have to practice to be able to play in the game. He pushed himself through practice and we took care of him. I could tell early in the game he had a good feel. We kept them off-balanced early in the game. We did some things in the running game that we hadn't shown. In the second half they made some adjustments and we really struggled there in the third quarter, especially. I thought (Chunn) did good with not having any negative runs. That's the biggest thing I can say about him. He's a load to tackle. I thought he got north-to-south. He's a really good player. Anytime you play these games where you have two really good defenses, I knew it was going to come down to running the football and special teams. That's what it is. For a guy whose background is throwing around the football for the most part, that's something as a head coach that I've learned is that we have to make our defense better and we have to give our defense opportunities to win. We've got to be great on special teams. I don't know if we were great on special teams today, we were solid, but I thought we played really good defense and we ran the ball against a team that is extremely difficult to run against.

On the first two progressions on the Davis catch:
"The first one was to DeAndre Douglas on a sit-route over the middle. John Johnson was the next option on an outside curl. Sidney had a wheel route, which was the third read. We had it open several times over the game—especially in the first half—we had some pressure on that. Brandon came off of it a few times, but I felt really good about the play.

On going up 14 early:
"Here's what I think: I thought our guys were ready to play. We prepared really well. I didn't know if we were going to win the game, but I knew we were going to have a great opportunity because we were prepared. Our guys were locked in all week. We sell them on being process focused, and I know that gets talked about a lot in this state, but all it is is focusing on what's next. Our guys bought into that. We were prepared. We had as good of a pregame as we've had all year. We switched a couple things up in practice. We switched a couple things up before the game to get our guys coming out of the locker room strong. They answered the bell. Let's be honest: it was a freak play that changed the momentum. Sam (Letton) catches the ball and the ball kind of slips down to his hip and they take it from him and run it back for a touchdown. It's a funny game. I understand that that ball bounces a lot of different ways. I thought our coaches did a good job of staying even keel and our players reflected that."

On Sidney Davis:
"The thing that I'm most proud of about Sidney is that he's a selfless guy. He came in here late and has really gone about his business in a quite manner. His first day on campus was the first day we practiced in the fall. He's got a quiet demeanor, but he works and learns. It means a lot to him. His playing time probably hasn't always been what he thought it would be, but I've never heard him say a word about it. All he's done is show up on Monday and go to work. He continues to make big plays. The thing that I'm probably most excited about is that he's a sophomore. What kind of player can he be next year? "

On the defense:
"Our assistant coaches are doing a hell of a job right now. I can't say enough about our assistant coaches. Defensively, I felt like coming into the year we had the makings of a really good defense. I have a lot of faith in Vic Koening and what he does. Our kids are motivated. They ran the ball for 200 plus yards on us last year and that's the mainstay of our defense is that we want to be able to take away the run. That hurt. That was a pride deal. Our guys stepped up and answered the challenge."

On nerves at the end:
"You know what, I don't know if nervous is the right word. I can't do anything to control it. I just make the call and let it be. I have faith in our preparation. That's what it comes down to. At that point, if something freak happens, it happens. It wasn't meant to be. I don't really get too nervous. I probably got a little too upset at the officials a few times, but other than that I stayed pretty low-key."

Appalachian State Head Coach Scott Satterfield:
That was a great college football game. Two really great teams battling it out. We went down and thought we won the game with a heck of a surprise, then they went down and did the same thing. We ran out of time there at the end.

They ran a curl wheel on the side line and got one on one coverage over there. Great throw by the quarterback. Great catch. We pass interference on the catch and he still caught the football, which put them down here in the red zone and they ended up scoring. Players make plays. I think you look at games like this and coaches can call this play and that play but it's ultimately that players make plays. Their kids made more plays than we did tonight. They played to win the game.

It's all about how you want to finish. I think that's the biggest thing. We've got to finish strong. We've got two more games and who knows. They've got three more games. There's a lot of ball left to be played in college football season. We see the stuff that happens each and every week. we've got to take care of our business and that's coming back at home next week playing a good Monroe team and winning the game. It's about how we finish this season and we've got to finish strong.

Troy Player Quotes

Cornerback Blace Brown

Just talk about this big win, now sitting at 8-1 on the season.
It's big motivation for us. We're about to go into this game focused and start preparing for Arkansas State early. Coach (Brown) will have us ready.

What were those two plays like where they basically had two chances at a Hail Mary?
We just had to get that ball on the ground. We knew we had to eliminate their chance of scoring.

What was going through your mind on that interception?

It was a big missed opportunity. I'm just glad we got the win, that's what I was worried about.

Talk about the offense, did you wish they ran more clock after the game on the game-winning drive?

Coach (Brown) had a plan from the get-go. They let us score early. Coach knew the defense could hold.

Quarterback Brandon Silvers

On the touchdown run…

I told the guys last week that I didn't get caught from behind and I backed that up, didn't I? I don't ever get out that far away from everybody. It was a zone option, so my read went with the option guy. I just cut up and was glad I didn't get hawked down. I was looking up at the big screen to see where they were. I tucked the ball high and put my knees up to make sure I didn't get stopped before the end zone. It was a great all-around play.

On the last drive…

It was fourth and 6 and we had all curls and a wheel. Sidney ran a great route, he got even with the cornerback and I just let it fly and he made the last catch. It was a good gutsy call and a good gutsy catch.

Mood on the bench after going up 14 and then falling behind…

Like we have been. We've been down 14 before. We knew there was a whole other quarter to play. We knew we had a whole half to play and we delivered.

Does it motivate the offense to see Chunn run the ball the way he did against the No. 6 rush defense?

It helps me out a lot with him running like that. From scoring my touchdown, it was all him because they collapsed on him. Our offensive line did a great job, too, letting him run through all the holes.

Running Back Jordan Chunn

On having 1,000 rushing yards…
I can't thank our offensive line enough. Those guys got me to that point.

Was the game plan to run right at them?

That's our game plan every game to run right at them. If they stop that then we can throw it over their heads.

What was the flow when you guys had the last drive?

We practiced that like every day in practice. Just getting first downs, we practice that every day.

Do you feel like this win will put you over the edge?

We shall see. We really don't keep up with that, that's for our fan base.

How does it make you feel to be so involved in the game?

Going into the game, I really didn't think we were going to run the ball that much. As the game goes, you really don't pay attention to those types of things.

How was the crowd and the atmosphere tonight?

Since I've been here, that's the loudest crowd I've played in front of. The big plays and the big defensive stop on third down, the crowd was in it and we thank them for all they do.

Wide Receiver Sidney Davis

How much contact did you draw on that last catch?

I kind of felt him pull my jersey the whole time I was running the route. I was pretty sure they were going to throw the flag after the catch. I still focused on the ball and made the play.

How were you able to adjust and make the catch, despite all the contact?

I just focused on the ball and exaggerating the catch. That's something that coach Brown tells us about every single day, along with coach Edenfield and coach Williams. They really tell us to exaggerate the catch and when it hit my hands I looked it all the way in.

How big was it to go up by 14 points early?

We started bad last week. We really started slow and things like that. Coach Brown really stayed on us this week about coming ready to go. I think we were ready to go, but we just got a little down and then had to get back up.

On the importance of that catch and it being fourth down…

It was fourth down, so it's either you make the catch or you lose. You win or you go home. As he called the play, I was thinking the ball is probably not going to come to me. The ball was snapped, I ran my route and beat the corner. I looked back and (Brandon) Silvers was looking at me and I knew he was going to throw it to me.