Troy Runs Wild Over Alabama State in Home Opener

Saturday, September 9

Troy, Ala.

5 p.m.

Troy University

1-1

Alabama State

0-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Alabama State

Troy

Troy Runs Wild Over Alabama State in Home Opener

9/9/2017 10:30:00 PM | Football

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By: Jace Sanders

TROY, Alabama – Troy's offense exploded for 605 yards of offense to power past in-state foe Alabama State, 34-7, in front of a record crowd at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Jordan Chunn and Jamarius Henderson combined for five rushing touchdowns – three for Chunn and two for Henderson – and put on an impressive ground show for the 29,278 fans at The Vet Saturday night.

Henderson led the rushing attack with 107 yards on eight carries. Overall, Troy (1-1) finished the game with 251 total rushing yards – the most since last year's home opener against Austin Peay.

Chunn kicked off the scoring with a four-yard touchdown rush just 3:47 into the ballgame to give the Trojans an early 7-0 lead.

Alabama State (0-2) struck for its only points of the game when Ronnie Scott stepped in front of a Brandon Silvers pass and returned it 80 yards to tie the game up at 7-7.

The Trojans responded with 28 unanswered points, starting with another MegaChunn touchdown run in the second quarter.

Troy then marched down the field with an eight play, 95-yard drive that was capped off by a 12-yard Henderson rushing touchdown – his first in a Troy uniform.

Chunn added his third touchdown of the day in the third quarter, before a 36-yard Henderson house call with 9:03 left in the fourth quarter wrapped up the scoring.

Brandon Silvers finished the game 32-for-40 with 345 yards to move into second place all-time in Troy history. Troy threw for 354 yards but did not find the end zone through the air, which is most passing yards in a game without a passing touchdown in the Trojans' FBS history.

The Trojan defense stood strong all night, not allowing an offensive point and holding the Hornets to only 80 passing yards and 85 rushing yards. The 165 yards allowed was the eighth fewest in Troy's FBS history and lowest output since Savannah State totaled just 147 yards in 2013.

Quotable – Head Coach Neal Brown
Tonight was a good win. I told our team college football is hard. It's difficult to win and we need to celebrate every time we win. The mission of our program is we're going to have fun, we're going to have positive energy and we're going to celebrate when we win.

Turning Point
Leading 13-7 with 4:21 left in the first half, Troy started a drive at its own five-yard line. The Trojans proceeded to drive the ball 95 yards for the score to build a two-score advantage right before halftime.

Stat Geek
Troy's 354 passing yards were the most since at least 1998 without a passing touchdown in a game.

Notable
• A Veterans Memorial Stadium record crowd of 29,278 was in attendance; the previous record was 29,013 when Troy hosted Mississippi State on Sept. 15, 2012. Alabama State also has the fourth largest crowd on record at The Vet when the Hornets visited in 2007.

• Jordan Chunn finished the game with three rushing touchdowns for his 10^th career multi-touchdown game and second career three-touchdown game. Chunn now has 40 career rushing touchdowns and is eight rushing touchdowns shy of tying the all-time Sun Belt record.

• Brandon Silvers moved into second place all-time in Troy history with 7,878 passing yards after throwing for 345 Saturday. He passed both Sim Byrd and Brock Nutter on the list.

• Troy failed to force a turnover for the 30^th time since it joined the Sun Belt in 2004; the Trojans are now 6-24 in such games.