Sun Belt East Showdown Looms for Troy in Atlanta

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TROY, Ala. – Playing for just the second time in 21 days, Troy heads to Atlanta Saturday for a pivotal Sun Belt Conference East Division matchup against Georgia State at Georgia State Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. (ET) and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

A pregame tailgate party and pep rally will take place in the Blue Lot adjacent to the stadium from 5-6:30 p.m. (ET), and the Troy Sports Radio Network will have complete coverage beginning at 5 p.m. (ET).

Troy (3-3, 1-1 Sun Belt) is one game removed from a 37-13 pasting of rival South Alabama while Georgia State (5-2, 2-1) is off to its best start in school history thanks to consecutive wins over Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina and Army.

"(Georgia State head coach) Shawn Elliott does a great job and you can see the recruiting success paying off for them," Troy head coach Chip Lindsey said. "They're a very good football team with a couple of really good wins over an SEC team in Tennessee, and then they beat a really good Army team last week. We'll have our hands full this week."

The Trojans are on an impressive conference run having won 15 of their last 18 league games. Troy has also won 10 of its last 13 road games overall and boasts 33 victories on the road in league play since 2006, the most in the Sun Belt.

Saturday's winner keeps pace with East leader Appalachian State heading into the home stretch of the season. Both Troy and Georgia State still control their own fate in terms of advancing to the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game.

In the win over South Alabama, Troy held the Jaguars to just 274 yards of total offense, 91 yards on the ground while forcing three turnovers. It marked the third time in six games this season that Troy has held an opponent to fewer than 300 yards of offense and 100 yards rushing.

The strength of the Trojan defense has been the ability to stop the run where the Trojans are limiting opponents to just 93.3 yards per game and 2.8 yards per carry, both the 11^thbest in the country. Those numbers will be put to the test on Saturday with Georgia State's 13^th-ranked rushing attack at 238.3 yards per game.

Troy's aggressive defense has forced nine turnovers in the last four games after recording none in the first two games. The Trojans lead the country averaging 2.13 turnovers forced per game since 2016.

A big reason for the aforementioned success is the play of sophomore linebacker Carlton Martial. A Freshman All-American last season, Martial ranks fifth nationally among active players in fumbles forced per game and currently ranks third in the country with 2.0 tackles for loss per game.

"We've played really good run defense all year if you look at the rankings," Lindsey said. "We played some teams early on that could really hurt you in the passing game, and we had younger guys playing back there. Every week is a different challenge based on the type of offenses you're playing so we need to be able to adjust. I like the way we're running to the ball and starting to tackle. Our front seven has been strong all year and the backend is getting better."

Know Your Foe
Georgia State has been a little Jekyll and Hyde this year with victories over Tennessee, Army and Arkansas State coupled with a triple-overtime loss at Texas State and a blowout at the hands of Western Michigan.

As quarterback Dan Ellington goes, so do the Panthers. In Georgia State's five wins, he is completing 68.2 percent of his passes for 247.4 yards with a 12/1 TD/INT ratio, while in the two losses Ellington is completing 59.3 percent for 172.5 yards with a 4/2 TD/INT ratio. Additionally, his rushing yards dip from 76.6 yards to 48.5 yards between the wins and losses, respectively.

The Panthers rank 13^thnationally averaging 238.3 rushing yards per game led by three straight 100-yard performances from Tra Barnett.

Notable
• Troy's defense has allowed just 20 points in the second half over the last four games … two touchdowns and two field goals. In fact, Troy has not allowed a second half touchdown in three of those four games.

• Troy's 210 points scored through the opening six games are the third most in the school's FBS era through six games.

• Troy's defense is allowing just 19.8 points per game when taking out points directly attributed to the offense or special teams, plus points on drives of fewer than 35 yards because of turnovers leading to a short field.

• Troy is 5-1 all-time against Georgia State and the teams have averaged a combined 55.67 points per game over the life of the series.

Sun Belt East Showdown Looms for Troy in Atlanta

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Players Mentioned

Carlton Martial

Troy University Athletics