Troy Travels to App State for Saturday Showdown

TROY, Ala. – Troy hits the road for the third time in its last four game with a trek up the mountain to take on App State on Saturday at Kidd-Brewer Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 2:30 p.m. (CT) and the game will be televised on ESPN2.

After playing last week with a depleted roster and coaching staff due to COVID-19, Troy (4-4, 2-2 Sun Belt) should be near full strength from a roster standpoint and will also look to have head coach Chip Lindsey back on the sideline.

"My symptoms were pretty mild to be honest with you," Lindsey said about his COVID-19 diagnosis. "I just felt a little fatigued, maybe a little bit of a head cold. I did lose some taste and smell, but really not as bad as I read about some people having so I am very fortunate from that standpoint. It was defiantly a shocking blow. You just don't ever anticipate not being there with your team. I think I'll be out of quarantine on Friday and should hopefully be back for this weekend."

The Trojans will be looking to shake off the sting from a pair of back-to-back losses by a combined 10 points; in fact, Troy's last three losses have come by a total of 12 points.

Despite playing with several key players, the Troy defense held Middle Tennessee to just 20 points; its third straight game allowing 20 or fewer points – a first since 2017. Overall, the Trojans are allowing 12.6 points and 40.6 yards fewer per game than they did last season.

Saturday's matchup features two of the nation's top defensive teams in terms of forcing turnovers. Troy is second nationally since the start of the 2016 season averaging 1.93 turnovers forced per game, while App State leads the country over that time period with 79 interceptions; Troy is second with 74.

Troy's linebacking trio of Carlton Martial, K.J. Robertson and Jayden McDonald have been a solid force this season. Martial leads the Trojans and ranks fourth in the Sun Belt with 8.25 tackles per game, Robertson has missed just two tackles all season – the fewest by a linebacker nationally – and McDonald is the third-highest rated pass rushing linebacker in the country per Pro Football Focus.

Offensively, Troy will be looking to get back on track after combining for just 27 points the last two games after topping the 30-point mark in five of the first six games of the season.

"For us offensively, we have to get our guys back together this week and back in cohesion and start executing a lot better," Lindsey said.

Quotable – Head Coach Chip Lindsey
Obviously disappointed in last weekend. We had some adversity for sure with a lot of guys out with COVID, including myself, which was an unusual experience for me to sit at home and watch your own team play. It was gut wrenching to be honest with you, but it was the hand we were dealt when we decided to play this year. It was something we had to have a plan for, and we did. In total we had three full time coaches out, all of our offensive GAs and going into the game about 16 players. Six of them got released the day of the game, which means they didn't practice for the last 10 days heading into the game. So, we were definitely playing less than full strength for sure.

Know Your Foe
App State, which has won four straight Sun Belt titles, saw its chances at another title take a major blow last weekend with its loss at Coastal Carolina. Under first-year head coach Shawn Clark, the Mountaineers are one of the nation's top defensive teams holding opponents to just 19 points and 338.8 yards per game. Quarterback Zac Thomas ranks second nationally among active players with a 29-5 record as a starter, while cornerback Shermar Jean-Charles leads the country with 15 passes defended.

Notable
• Troy's offensive line ranks fourth nationally (min. 300 passing situations) as a unit with a 92.1 pass blocking efficiency rating

• Troy ranks second nationally since the start of the 2016 season averaging 1.93 turnovers forced per game

• Troy is 1-7 on coin tosses this season ... Troy has received the opening kickoff in 15-of-20 games under Chip Lindsey and has scored on 10 of those possessions

• Austin Stidham ranks first 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) ... he missed last week's game against Middle Tennessee

• Will Choloh is the highest rated pass rusher among interior defensive lineman nationally per PFF with a 90.3 grade ... his 25 pressures lead the G5 and rank third nationally (interior DL)

• 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 won 62.5 percent of its road Sun Belt games since 2006; the third-highest percentage in the league

• Troy is averaging just 67.75 offensive snaps over its last four games; the Trojans were averaging 74.56 plays per game in the 16 previous contests

• Troy ranks seventh since the start of the 2017 season with 336 tackles for loss; the Trojans are 10th over that time with 127 sacks

-TROY-

Troy Travels to App State for Saturday Showdown

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Players Mentioned

Will Choloh

Carlton Martial

Jayden McDonald

Austin Stidham

Troy University Athletics