Troy & Middle Tennessee Rekindle Palladium Rivalry Saturday

TROY, Ala. – The opponent has changed three times and the date twice, but Troy will finally open its 2020 season Saturday afternoon when the Trojans rekindle its Battle for the Palladium rivalry with Middle Tennessee. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. from MTSU's Floyd Stadium; the game will be televised on ESPN2.

"We're excited that it's finally game week and it seems like we've been waiting on this week to arrive for a long time," head coach Chip Lindsey said at his Tuesday press conference. "Our players had a lot of energy in our first practice Sunday, and they're looking forward to Saturday afternoon. We've got a lot of work to do between now and then but it's exciting and surreal to finally be in game week."

Saturday marks the debut of sophomore Gunnar Watson as Troy's starting signal caller following two seasons in a relief role. Watson, a top 25 quarterback in the country coming out of Taylor County (Ga.) High School, will have plenty of weapons around him with the most experienced receiving corps in the country and a loaded backfield led by return of B.J. Smith (1,186 yards, 13 TDs in 2018).

Troy is expected to roll out four seniors at receiver with 2019 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year Kaylon Geiger leading the way after a team-best 77 receptions for 873 yards last year. Joining him at the slot position is speedster Tray Eafford, whose nine career touchdown receptions have averaged nearly 36 yards in length. On the outside, Reggie Todd and Khalil McClain combined for 87 catches, more than 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.

All eyes will be on the rebuilt Trojan defense with the return of cornerback Terence Dunlap and the debut of bandit Richard Jibunor. Those two join a pair of returning All-Americans in linebacker Carlton Martial and safety Dell Pettus plus All-Sun Belt tackle Will Choloh to form a solid core.

Martial became just the 12^th player in the last 20 years at the FBS level to finish a season with at least 100 tackles, 15 tackles for loss and three interceptions. Troy's bread and butter has been its ability to force turnovers with the Trojans entering the season third nationally since 2016 with 103 forced turnovers.

Battle for the Palladium
Named one of the top five Group of Five conference rivalries in college football by ESPN in 2008, the Battle for the Palladium is renewed, twice, this season. While the series dates back to 1936, the Battle for the Palladium began in 2003. Greek mythology holds that The Palladium is a wooden statue that fell from the Heavens. It was kept at the Temple of Athena in the city of Troy. According to legend, as long as The Palladium was preserved within the walls of the city, Troy would be safe and could not be taken. However, a Raider by the name of Odysseus—also known as the Raider of Cities—stole the Palladium during the Trojan War leading to the fall of Troy.

Troy leads the series with Middle Tennessee, 7-3, since the introduction of the Palladium.

Know Your Foe
Middle Tennessee (0-1) opened its season two weeks ago with a 42-0 loss at Army where everything went wrong for the Blue Raiders. MTSU turned the ball over four times, managed just 13 first downs against Army's ball-control style of play and allowed the Black Knights to convert on 13-of-15 third down opportunities.

Safety Reed Blankenship earned preseason all-conference honors for the Blue Raiders, while quarterback Asher O'Hara passed for 2,616 yards with 20 touchdowns in addition to adding 1,058 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground last year.

Notable
• Troy and Middle Tennessee will meet twice during the 2020 season thanks to all four of Troy's originally scheduled non-conference games being canceled. The in-season home-and-home with Middle Tennessee will mark just the third time since 1999 that Division I teams will meet twice in the same regular season. New Mexico State and Liberty played twice in both 2018 and 2019; previously, the last time it was done was between UConn and UMass in 1998 when both programs were FCS members.

• It will be the first time that Troy has played an opponent twice in the same season since 2000 when the Trojans met Appalachian State in both the regular season and the FCS Playoffs. The last time Troy played the same team twice in the REGULAR season ... 1942 against Marion Military Institute.

• Among players active this fall, Kaylon Geiger's reception (77) and receptions per game (6.4) totals from last season rank second nationally while his five 100-plus yard games rank third.

• Troy's bandit has earned All-Sun Belt First Team honors in four of coach Bam Hardmon's five seasons coaching the position -- Hunter Reese (2017 & 2018), Rashad Dillard (2016) & Tyler Roberts (2015).

Quotable – Troy Head Coach Chip Lindsey
"I want to thank our administration and our medical staff because they've done an outstanding job of helping us navigate all of the protocols and guidelines. The health of our players and staff is our number one priority. I've been impressed with how our medical staff has laid out a plan, and how well our players and staff were able to follow it. I'm excited about our 2020 team and I'm pleased with how our team has come together. This season is going to be a 12-week grind without a bye week, but we're excited to begin our normal game week schedule today."

Troy & Middle Tennessee Rekindle Palladium Rivalry Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Will Choloh

Terence Dunlap

Tray Eafford

Kaylon Geiger

Richard Jibunor

Carlton Martial

Khalil McClain

Dell Pettus

Hunter Reese

B.J. Smith

Reggie Todd

Gunnar Watson

Troy University Athletics