Troy Honors Its Past Saturday When FAMU Comes to Town

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TROY, Ala. – As Troy looks to put its season opener against Boise State in the past, the Trojans will honor one of the all-time great Troy teams when they play host to Florida A&M on Saturday in The Vet. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

Troy welcomes back members of the 1968 NAIA National Championship team to campus this weekend for the official 50^thanniversary celebration. Members of the team will participate in Trojan Walk prior to the game and will be honored on the field during the game; there will also be one more surprise announced closer to game time.

On the field, Troy (0-1) is looking to bounce back from a disappointing performance last weekend in a season-opening loss to No. 22 Boise State.

"Each loss is different," head coach Neal Brown said at his Monday press conference. "This is a loss that should awaken some folks. This is a loss that we have to grow from. That game isn't going to make or break the season, every goal that we have both in-house and as far as a fan base is concerned is still there.

"We have to get better and it starts this week against Florida A&M," Brown said. 'We need to take pride in playing at home and playing well and we didn't do that on Saturday. We are going to use that game as a learning curve and move on and not overly dwell on it."

Statistically the game was close as the Broncos outgained the Trojans by just 37 yards and Troy held its opponent under the 100-yard rushing mark until Boise broke a 44-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter. Turnovers doomed the Trojans as they coughed up the football four times which led to 21 Bronco points, including two fumbles returned for touchdowns.

"I'm going to show the team a video of Boise of all three phases and really show them how they strain, how their attention to detail and how their fundamentals are the reason the outcome was like that on Saturday," Brown said. "I just want us to get back to playing physical, playing hard, playing the game the right way, trusting each other and communicating. I think everyone is excited about getting back to the practice field."

B.J. Smith and Jabir Daughtry-Frye each found the end zone from the ground last Saturday for the Trojans, while Kaleb Barker threw for 211 yards and a touchdown strike to Deondre Douglas in his first start under center.

All-Sun Belt bandit Hunter Reese picked up where he left off last year with multiple tackles for loss for the fourth time in the past six games, while All-American Marcus Jones broke up three passes from his cornerback position.

Know Your Foe
Florida A&M (1-0) knocked off Fort Valley State from the Division II ranks 41-7 in its opener last weekend in Tallahassee under the direction of first-year head coach Willie Simmons. The Rattlers held Ft. Valley to -12 rushing yards while accounting for 276 yards on the ground themselves. FAMU racked up five sacks and 10 tackles for loss in the win.

Notable
• Troy is 17-1 all-time against schools from the FCS since moving to the FBS level in 2001; the Trojans last played a team from the MEAC in 2013 when they beat Savannah State 66-3.

• Seven Trojans made their first career starts at the collegiate level in the opener against Boise State; on the flip side, center Deontae Crumitie made his team-leading 33^rdstart and safety Cedarius Rookard his defense-leading 31^ststart.

• Neal Brown coached offenses – offensive coordinator at Troy, Texas Tech and Kentucky & head acoach at Troy – have never been shutout ... a span of 127 games.

Troy Honors Its Past Saturday When FAMU Comes to Town

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Players Mentioned

Kaleb Barker

Deontae Crumitie

Jabir Daughtry-Frye

Deondre Douglas

Marcus Jones

Hunter Reese

Cedarius Rookard

B.J. Smith

Troy University Athletics