Troy Takes Title Hopes to Georgia Southern

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TROY, Alabama – Troy has accomplished a lot over the first 11 weeks of its season, but there is still more on the horizon for the Trojans as they travel to Statesboro, Ga., this weekend for the regular season finale at Georgia Southern.

Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. (CT) and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. The Troy Sports Radio Network will have full coverage beginning at 9 a.m. on the full radio network.

Troy heads to Paulson Stadium sitting 9-2 overall and 6-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. A victory over the Eagles would give the Trojans their first 10-win season at the FBS level and also secure Troy's sixth Sun Belt Conference championship. At 7-1 in the Sun Belt, Troy would share the Sun Belt title with Appalachian State and Arkansas State, if the Red Wolves beat Texas State on Saturday.

Additionally, Troy has locked in its sixth bowl bid at the FBS level with the official announcement coming Saturday or Sunday.

The Trojans will have to buck recent history against the Eagles in order to leave Statesboro with that 10^th win as Georgia Southern has won three straight in the series, including by a combined 87-20 margin over the last two years.

Head coach Neal Brown has engineered the nation's fifth-best turnaround from a year ago and that can move into a tie for first nationally depending on results from this upcoming weekend; the Trojans have a five-win improvement last season. Troy also carries the nation's six-longest active road winning streak (four games) into the weekend.

Troy is closing in on the single-season scoring record as the Trojans are averaging 35.1 points per game on the season, just shy of the 35.3 points per game scored by the 1994 squad.

The high offensive output can be traced back to the fact that Troy players lead the Sun Belt in rushing, passing and receiving touchdowns – Jordan Chunn's 11 rushing touchdowns are the seventh most in a season in Troy history, Brandon Silvers' 21 touchdown passes are the sixth most in a season in Troy history, while Denodre Douglas' six touchdown receptions are tops in the league.

The Trojans have held conference opponents to just 18.1 points and 361.4 yards of total offense this season. Senior bandit Rashad Dillard leads the unit with 6.5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss on the year, while senior linebacker William Lloyd leads the team with 55 tackles to go along with 7.0 tackles for loss.

Georgia Southern (4-7, 3-4) opened the year with three straight victories, but have dropped seven of its last eight games. The Eagles are coming into the game off a bye week and will honor 24 seniors prior to the game.

Despite moving away from its traditional triple option offense, Georgia Southern still ranks 28^th nationally averaging 224.7 rushing yards per game. The Eagles have three players averaging over 50 yards per game – Kevin Ellison (56.3), Matt Breida (52.7) and Wesley Fields (55.1).

Defensively, the Eagles have held opponents to 26.7 points per game led by Ironhead Gallon's 97 tackles and 5.0 tackles for loss.

Quotable
"This game is a measuring stick to find out where we are at," Troy head coach Neal Brown said.
"They beat us 87-20 over the past two years, so this game will be a measuring stick to see how far we have come in a short time. We are excited to play on national TV. Last time we were on an ESPN channel; it did not go so well. We did not represent our program in the right way, so we are looking forward to the opportunity to follow up with that."

Notable
• A Troy victory would give the Trojans their sixth Sun Belt Conference championship since joining the league in 2004; no team would have more Sun Belt titles than the Trojans.

• Troy is tied for 13th nationally with 19 first-time starters this year; the Trojans are the only team among the 15 teams with 19 or more first-time starters with at least eight wins ... only two others have a winning record.

• Troy has held an opponent under 100 yards rushing five times this season, which is the tied for the third most in Troy's FBS history.

• Jordan Chunn needs 186 rushing yards needed over Troy's final two games (one regular season & bowl game) to set the Troy single-season rushing record (1,338)

Troy Takes Title Hopes to Georgia Southern

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Players Mentioned

Jordan Chunn

Rashad Dillard

William Lloyd

Brandon Silvers

Troy University Athletics