Troy Football Debuts at The Vet Saturday

TROY, Ala. – Following a myriad of schedule changes and adjustments, Troy will finally open the home portion of its 2020 football schedule Saturday with a visit from Texas State to The Vet. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in what will be Troy's latest start to a home season since 1969.

"We love playing at home, and there's nothing like The Vet on gameday," Troy head coach Chip Lindsey said at his weekly press conference. "We have the best environment in the Sun Belt without a doubt, and I know the fans that do come on Saturday will be loud, and our players will feed off that."

Gates to The Vet will open at 12:30 p.m. and fans are encouraged to enter the stadium early to help alleviate congestion as kickoff draws nearer. Face coverings for fans are required inside The Vet and while tailgating. Additionally, fans are reminded to use their GAME 1 ticket for the game.

Troy (1-1) and Texas State (1-3, 1-0) are both coming off bye weeks following tough road losses. The Trojans were supposed to play at rival South Alabama last Saturday, but COVID-19 issues within the Jaguars' program forced the game to be postponed until Dec. 12. Troy's last game was a 48-7 setback at No. 18 BYU on Sept. 26, while Texas State dropped a 24-21 decision at Boston College on the same day.

It's been a tail of two games for the Trojans with the offense and defense performing at high levels in their season-opening pasting of Middle Tennessee, but both units struggled with consistency at BYU.

Troy enters Sun Belt Conference play with a league-leading 78 wins since joining the conference in 2004 and the Trojans' 50 home victories since 2007 rank as the second most in the conference.

"Saturday is our first conference game and we understand that in order to reach our goals we need to get off to a good start in Sun Belt play," Lindsey said. "I haven't seen the excitement die down this week. Sunday night we had one of the best practices we've had since I've been here in terms of the energy levels and the focus. Our guys were locked in and moving around, and we're excited to play."

Getting off to a good start will be key for Troy Saturday as the Trojans are 6-1 under Lindsey when leading at halftime.

Troy's defensive front led by Will Choloh, Elgin Griffin, Richard Jibunor and John Hines could be an impact group in Saturday's game. The Trojans enter the week 11^th nationally over the last four seasons with 115 sacks and the Bobcats already allowed 14 sacks in their four games this season.

Know Your Foe
Texas State has played a handful of close games with its three losses coming by a combined 13 points, including an overtime loss to Texas-San Antonio. The Bobcats have received solid production from its two quarterbacks with Brady McBride and Tyler Vitt combining for 265.2 yards per game with 10 touchdown strikes. Jeremiah Haydel already has three touchdown receptions on the year and averages 13.9 yards per reception.

Defensively, Texas State is paced by Gavin Graham's six tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, while Jarron Morris has picked off a pair of passes.

Notable
• Junior linebacker Carlton Martial is second nationally among active players averaging 8.08 tackles per game in his career.

• Troy has scored 40 or more points six times with Chip Lindsey as the head coach and play caller; the Trojans are 4-2 in those games and the tally is the 13^th most in the country over the past two seasons.

• Troy's 37 wins since the start of the 2016 season are the 16^th most nationally and sixth most among Group of Five schools.

• Troy is averaging 73.96 plays per game the last two seasons, which ranks 19^th nationally. The Trojans were third in the country over that time period before running a Chip Lindsey-era low 54 plays at No. 18 BYU.

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Players Mentioned

Will Choloh

Elgin Griffin

Richard Jibunor

Carlton Martial

Troy University Athletics