Troy Football Takes National Stage Thursday

Thursday, October 4

Troy, Ala.

6:30 p.m.

Troy University

Georgia State

Tickets

Troy Football Takes National Stage Thursday

10/3/2018 8:35:00 AM | Football

By: Troy Athletics Communications

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TROY, Ala. – The nation's third-longest conference winning streak is on the line Thursday night when Troy plays host to Georgia State in a Sun Belt East Division showdown at The Vet; kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be televised live on ESPNU.

Troy (4-1, 2-0) has won seven straight league games and nine of its last 10; the conference winning streak ranks behind only UCF and Oklahoma for the longest in the country. The Trojans are playing for the second time in six days after dispatching of Coastal Carolina, 45-21, in record fashion on Saturday.

"All these short weeks are different," Troy head coach Neal Brown said at his Monday press conference. "It's been a little while since we have played one where we had a bunch of consecutive games in a row. The challenge this week is we are playing the sixth game in a row and it happens to be on a short week."

The Trojans rushed for 282 yards on just 31 carries against the Chanticleers setting a school record with 9.1 yards per carry. The Troy defense racked up nine sacks, the most in the school's FBS history, and Marcus Jones returned his fourth career kickoff for a touchdown to set a new Troy school record and tie the all-time Sun Belt mark.

The Panthers (2-3, 1-0) also picked up a big win last weekend as they knocked off ULM in Atlanta in their Sun Belt opener to snap a three-game skid.

Off to their third-straight 4-1 start, the Trojans' 25 wins since the start of the 2016 season are the most among Group of Five programs and the ninth most nationally. Additionally, Troy is 16-3 over its last 19 games dating back to the 2016 Dollar General Bowl.

Troy's offense has featured a balanced attack between the passing game led by quarterback Kaleb Barker plus receivers Damion Willis and Deondre Douglas and the rushing attacked paced by B.J. Smith and Jabir Daughtry-Frye.

Barker ranks fourth among all quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts with his 71.6 completion percentage and has thrown eight touchdown passes to just two interceptions. Smith ranks 10^thnationally with six rushing touchdowns on the season, while Daughtry-Frye is second nationally averaging 11.19 yards per carry.

Troy's defense is known for causing mayhem and this season is no different. The Trojans rank fifth nationally in sacks, seventh in turnovers forced and ninth in tackles for loss. It is not a recent trend with Troy checking in third in the country over the last two seasons in negative plays forced.

Defensive standouts are all over the field for Troy with Tron Folsom leading the way with 38 tackles, Carlton Martial pacing the stops behind the line with six tackles for loss plus Tyler Murray's four tackles for loss, two sacks and two interceptions.

Know Your Foe
Georgia State broke out of a mini slump in a big way on Saturday with a 46-14 thumping of ULM after dropping its previous three games by a combined 90 points. Quarterback Dan Ellington is a true dual threat leading the Panthers with 42.2 rushing yards per game to go along with his 190.4 yards through the air. Wide receiver Penny Hart is one of the most dynamic playmakers in the league and returned a punt for a touchdown against the Warhawks.

Quotable – Head Coach Neal Brown
"I think how you start your conference play is critical because really, I talk about surviving and advancing. We win last week, we are 1-0 in our division and we survive and advance to an opportunity to play another game against Georgia State and that's the way it is. Each and every week you are surviving and advancing trying to get in a position where you can play and hopefully host that conference championship game. I think it speaks to a lot of what we are doing in the offseason. We prepare our guys by the way we setup our schedule in the summer and the spring and in the fall camp of how the season will go."

Notable
• Troy has won the turnover battle in 22 of 43 games with Neal Brown as its head coach; the Trojans are 21-1 in such games.

• Troy is 11-2 in one-score games since the start of the 2016 season; Troy's 84.62 winning percentage in such games is tied with Clemson for the second best in the country.

• Troy has forced 11 turnovers this season which is the seventh most nationally, while Troy's 2.16 turnovers forced per game since the start of the 2016 season rank as the third most.

• The Trojans have intercepted 45 passes over the last three seasons which is the second most in the country; only Wisconsin (46) has more.