Troy University Athletics
Wednesday, October 11
Troy, Ala.
7 p.m.
Troy University
vs
South Alabama
Troy Hosts South Alabama in the “Battle for the Belt”
10/10/2017 9:49:00 AM | Football
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TROY, Alabama – Winners of four in a row, including a thrilling victory at LSU, Troy welcomes in-state and Sun Belt rival South Alabama to The Vet on Wednesday for the third installment of the "Battle for the Belt" at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
Troy (4-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) will be taking the field for the first time since its 24-21 at No. 22 LSU on Sept. 30 in Tiger Stadium. The win sent shockwaves throughout the country as Troy was the talk of the nation. Now Troy must turn the page with South Alabama (1-4, 0-1) coming to town for the Trojans' 100th all-time Sun Belt Conference game.
"It's rivalry week," Troy head coach Neal Brown said. "This is the biggest game on our schedule, I don't make any ifs, ands or buts about it. We put a lot of importance on this. It's the "Battle for the Belt" on Wednesday night on ESPN2. It's the only football game on in all of America. We look forward to showcasing not only our program but our community and our university in this unique setting."
The Trojans were in control of the game at LSU from the opening play as Cedarius Rookard forced a fumble and Troy went on to take a lead it would never relinquish as it built as much as a 17-0 advantage.
Brown has used a balanced offensive attack this season with 174 rushing attempts and 186 passing attempts. Behind a stout offensive line, senior running back Jordan Chunn has put together his best back-to-back games of the season and possibly his career the last two weeks.
Better known as MegaChunn, he rushed for 191 yards and a score at LSU after racking up 110 yards and a touchdown against Akron. It marked the first time in Chunn's historic Troy career that he went over the century mark in back-to-back games. He is just six rushing touchdowns shy of setting the Sun Belt career mark and three touchdowns shy of setting Troy's career touchdowns scored record held by Danny Grant (45).
Troy's passing game has been crisp as Brandon Silvers has completed 64.8 percent of his passes for a 248.2 yards-per-game average with just two interceptions. However, because of the success of the running game, Silvers has just two touchdown passes on the season.
"First of all, we've got to break some tackles and connect on some explosive pass plays," Brown said. "The other thing is we're running the ball better. Quite frankly, there are less things that can go wrong when you run the ball down in there tight. I don't think it's anything that Silvers or anybody is doing."
Defensively the Trojans have been strong across the board. Troy has allowed just one defensive touchdown in the first half all season long – Boise State – and held LSU off the scoreboard for the first 41 minutes of the game.
Troy has forced seven turnovers over the past two games and has allowed just two rushing touchdowns on the season – the third fewest in the country. Additionally, Troy leads the country in red zone defense as the Trojans have held opponents to points on just 57.1 percent of their red zone chances.
Linebacker duo Tron Folsom and Sam Lebbie have combined for 7.5 tackles for loss to pace the Trojans, while Blace Brown and Kris Weatherspoon have two interceptions each to account for 80 percent of Troy's total.
Know Your Foe
South Alabama enters the midweek tilt 1-4 on the season and dropped a double-overtime thriller to Idaho in its lone Sun Belt contest. The Jags enter their second game under new offensive coordinator Richard Owens after head coach Joey Jones made a change four games into the season.
Xavier Johnson leads the South Alabama offense as the talented back is averaging 69 yards per game with four touchdowns on the year. Cole Garvin and Dallas Davis have split the quarterback duties this season for the Jags and have combined to average 186.8 yards per game through the air.
Notable
• Troy has won 11 straight games when totaling 400 or more yards of total offense. The Trojans are 12-1 all-time under Neal Brown when topping the 400-yard mark with the lone loss coming in triple-overtime at Appalachian State in 2015 (Troy finished regulation with less than 400 yards).
• Troy rushed for 206 yards in its victory at LSU, which was the most rushing yards allowed by an LSU team since Alabama rushed for 216 yards in 2015 behind Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry.
• Wednesday's matchup marks the 100th Sun Belt Conference game for the Trojans. Troy joined the Sun Belt in 2004 and posted a 62-37 record since, which ranks as the most wins in the league over that time period.
TROY, Alabama – Winners of four in a row, including a thrilling victory at LSU, Troy welcomes in-state and Sun Belt rival South Alabama to The Vet on Wednesday for the third installment of the "Battle for the Belt" at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
Troy (4-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) will be taking the field for the first time since its 24-21 at No. 22 LSU on Sept. 30 in Tiger Stadium. The win sent shockwaves throughout the country as Troy was the talk of the nation. Now Troy must turn the page with South Alabama (1-4, 0-1) coming to town for the Trojans' 100th all-time Sun Belt Conference game.
"It's rivalry week," Troy head coach Neal Brown said. "This is the biggest game on our schedule, I don't make any ifs, ands or buts about it. We put a lot of importance on this. It's the "Battle for the Belt" on Wednesday night on ESPN2. It's the only football game on in all of America. We look forward to showcasing not only our program but our community and our university in this unique setting."
The Trojans were in control of the game at LSU from the opening play as Cedarius Rookard forced a fumble and Troy went on to take a lead it would never relinquish as it built as much as a 17-0 advantage.
Brown has used a balanced offensive attack this season with 174 rushing attempts and 186 passing attempts. Behind a stout offensive line, senior running back Jordan Chunn has put together his best back-to-back games of the season and possibly his career the last two weeks.
Better known as MegaChunn, he rushed for 191 yards and a score at LSU after racking up 110 yards and a touchdown against Akron. It marked the first time in Chunn's historic Troy career that he went over the century mark in back-to-back games. He is just six rushing touchdowns shy of setting the Sun Belt career mark and three touchdowns shy of setting Troy's career touchdowns scored record held by Danny Grant (45).
Troy's passing game has been crisp as Brandon Silvers has completed 64.8 percent of his passes for a 248.2 yards-per-game average with just two interceptions. However, because of the success of the running game, Silvers has just two touchdown passes on the season.
"First of all, we've got to break some tackles and connect on some explosive pass plays," Brown said. "The other thing is we're running the ball better. Quite frankly, there are less things that can go wrong when you run the ball down in there tight. I don't think it's anything that Silvers or anybody is doing."
Defensively the Trojans have been strong across the board. Troy has allowed just one defensive touchdown in the first half all season long – Boise State – and held LSU off the scoreboard for the first 41 minutes of the game.
Troy has forced seven turnovers over the past two games and has allowed just two rushing touchdowns on the season – the third fewest in the country. Additionally, Troy leads the country in red zone defense as the Trojans have held opponents to points on just 57.1 percent of their red zone chances.
Linebacker duo Tron Folsom and Sam Lebbie have combined for 7.5 tackles for loss to pace the Trojans, while Blace Brown and Kris Weatherspoon have two interceptions each to account for 80 percent of Troy's total.
Know Your Foe
South Alabama enters the midweek tilt 1-4 on the season and dropped a double-overtime thriller to Idaho in its lone Sun Belt contest. The Jags enter their second game under new offensive coordinator Richard Owens after head coach Joey Jones made a change four games into the season.
Xavier Johnson leads the South Alabama offense as the talented back is averaging 69 yards per game with four touchdowns on the year. Cole Garvin and Dallas Davis have split the quarterback duties this season for the Jags and have combined to average 186.8 yards per game through the air.
Notable
• Troy has won 11 straight games when totaling 400 or more yards of total offense. The Trojans are 12-1 all-time under Neal Brown when topping the 400-yard mark with the lone loss coming in triple-overtime at Appalachian State in 2015 (Troy finished regulation with less than 400 yards).
• Troy rushed for 206 yards in its victory at LSU, which was the most rushing yards allowed by an LSU team since Alabama rushed for 216 yards in 2015 behind Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry.
• Wednesday's matchup marks the 100th Sun Belt Conference game for the Trojans. Troy joined the Sun Belt in 2004 and posted a 62-37 record since, which ranks as the most wins in the league over that time period.
Players Mentioned
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