Troy Hosts No. 15 Coastal Carolina Saturday at The Vet

TROY, Ala. – Saturday marks a huge opportunity for the Troy football program as the highest-ranked team to visit The Vet comes to town in the form of No. 15 Coastal Carolina; kickoff is set for 11 a.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN2.

Gates to The Vet will open at 9 a.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 4 ticket for the game.

Troy (4-3, 2-2 Sun Belt) is looking to bounce back from a tough 20-13 loss at Georgia Southern last weekend where the offense failed to find the end zone as starting quarterback Gunnar Watson missed his second straight game.

The Trojan defense was stout and scored for a third straight game – fourth overall score – thanks to a pick six from safety Dell Pettus. Troy's four defensive touchdowns lead the country while its 11 overall turnovers forced rank 24^th; the Trojans have scored on 10-of-11 drives following an opponent turnover.

Coastal Carolina (7-0, 5-0) becomes the third ranked opponent to play at The Vet in as many years after No. 22 Boise State opened the 2018 season in Troy and No. 22 App State closed out the 2019 season at The Vet.

Quotable – Troy Head Coach Chip Lindsey
"(Coastal Carolina) has a very solid football team and have picked up two big road wins already this season at Louisiana and Kansas. It's a great opportunity for us, and I know our guys are extremely excited to play these guys at home. We'll need to play really well in three phases and have a great week of practice. If we can do that and our guys are able to refocus, we'll have an opportunity to do something really special."

Know Your Foe
Coastal Carolina is on its longest winning streak since the 2016 season, its last as an FCS member. The Chanticleers have not allowed a touchdown in 10 straight quarters after holding Georgia State scoreless two weeks ago and South Alabama to a pair of field goals last week. Redshirt freshman quarterback Grayson McCall has completed 69.6 percent of his passes for 232.2 yards per game with 16 overall touchdowns and just one interception.

Notable
• The 11 a.m. start time is the earliest for a Troy home game since a 2002 contest against Utah State.

• Austin Stidham ranks third nationally (min. 300 pass blocking opportunities) among all tackles with a 98.0 efficiency rating per Pro Football Focus (pressures allowed on a per-snap basic with weighting towards sacks allowed).

• Will Choloh is the highest rated pass rusher among interior defensive lineman nationally per PFF; ranks sixth among all defensive linemen.

• Troy's offensive line ranks second nationally behind only Clemson (min. 300 passing situations) as a unit with a 91.7 efficiency rating.

• Tray Eafford leads the Sun Belt with nine catches on third down that have resulted in a first down.

• Troy is 1-6 on coin tosses this season ... Troy had received the opening kickoff in 14-of-19 games under Chip Lindsey and has scored on nine of those possessions.

• In Troy's four wins, the Trojan defense is holding its opponents to just 17.5 points, 4.6 yards per play and 324.8 yards per game.

• Troy has scored 30-plus points in 14-of-19 games the last two seasons, which ranks 13th nationally.

Troy University Athletics

Troy Hosts No. 15 Coastal Carolina Saturday at The Vet

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Players Mentioned

Will Choloh

Tray Eafford

Dell Pettus

Austin Stidham

Gunnar Watson

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