Troy University Athletics
Saturday, November 20
Troy, Ala.
2:30 p.m.
Troy University
5-6 , 3-4
7
vs
45
Appalachian State
9-2 , 6-1
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
App State
3
7
21
14
45
Troy
7
0
0
0
7
Troy Falls on Senior Day
11/20/2021 8:31:00 PM | Football
There really were some bright spots.
Deshon Stoudemire caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Gunnar Watson that gave Troy a 7-3 lead over Appalachian State. Two second-quarter Trojan interceptions -- by senior safety Kyle Nixon and linebacker KJ Robertson -- stopped Mountaineer marches in Troy territory. Carlton Martial made 18 tackles.
That concludes the highlights.
Final score: Appalachian State 45, Troy 7.
The Mountaineers (9-2, 6-1) clinched the Sun Belt East championship with the victory. They will meet West champ Louisiana on Dec. 4 for the league title in Lafayette, La. The Ragin' Cajuns handed App State its only Sun Belt loss, a 41-13 defeat on Oct. 12. Last week, Louisiana defeated Troy 35-21.
"I believe the past two weeks we've played the best two teams in our conference," senior center Dylan Bradshaw said. "I think that's safe to say. I'm going to tip my hat to them. Both of those teams we've played the past two weeks play extremely hard; they are disciplined in what they do, they are where they're supposed to be."
After Troy's touchdown, which came on its second offensive possession, the Trojans experienced offensive frustration on a different level.
After the first quarter, Troy had five first downs, 38 yards rushing and 84 yards passing. For the game, the Trojans (5-6, 3-4 Sun Belt) finished with a total of six first downs, 33 rushing yards and 109 yards passing.
The 142 yards of offense are the fewest for a Troy team since 2011 when ULM held the Trojans to 126 yards.
But as bleak as things were, Troy held that 7-3 lead for most of the first half.
The game changed in what Bradshaw called "the great eight." That is the last four minutes of the second quarter and first four minutes of the third. Linebacker Robertson agreed.
"My high school coach says those are the money points," Robertson said. "That's the biggest swing of the whole game."
Troy forced a punt and took over with 2:23 left in the first half. However, the Trojans went backwards in three plays and punted it back to App State, which took over on its 39 with 1:21 remaining.
The Mountaineers then marched 61 yards in six plays and scored with 21 seconds left in the half on a 21-yard pass in the end zone to Corey Sutton.
"That was huge. That was just a tough drive because we were doing so well holding them," Robertson said. "They have great receivers out there, and they showed what they could do. That was crucial.
"We needed to keep them down there, and we needed to go into the half up on top. Sadly, we didn't. We just have to keep playing through stuff. That's what we failed at doing. It was huge."
Troy head coach Chip Lindsey said those last minutes of the half were crucial.
"We did not handle the three minutes before the half very well. We had a bust in protection, a lost yardage play on a run, and instead of getting a little momentum and, hey, we get a play out and try to go fast and try to score with some momentum for us, we actually did the opposite. That's on me," Lindsey said.
Appalachian State scored a touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter to open a 17-7 lead.
Troy followed with a costly turnover on its next play from scrimmage. Linebacker T.D. Roof stepped in front of a pass in the right flat from Gunnar Watson to Kimani Vidal, picked it at the 20, and returned it to the Troy 10. Eli Wilson caught a 10-yard pass from Chase Brice and it was 24-7 with 12 minutes left in the third.
"We run a play we've repped half a million times and missed the block out there and the guy picks it," Lindsey said. "Not necessarily Gunnar's fault. The numbers were right. He made the right decision. Football takes all 11 guys doing it right on every play. That's an example of us all not doing everything right."
From that point, it kind of snowballed on the Trojans.
"What I saw tonight is once things went bad there in that little stretch, we kind of went into a shell on offense," Lindsey said. "That's something we've got to get over."
Troy travels to Georgia State next weekend for its final regular season game and one last shot at bowl eligibility.
Deshon Stoudemire caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Gunnar Watson that gave Troy a 7-3 lead over Appalachian State. Two second-quarter Trojan interceptions -- by senior safety Kyle Nixon and linebacker KJ Robertson -- stopped Mountaineer marches in Troy territory. Carlton Martial made 18 tackles.
That concludes the highlights.
Final score: Appalachian State 45, Troy 7.
The Mountaineers (9-2, 6-1) clinched the Sun Belt East championship with the victory. They will meet West champ Louisiana on Dec. 4 for the league title in Lafayette, La. The Ragin' Cajuns handed App State its only Sun Belt loss, a 41-13 defeat on Oct. 12. Last week, Louisiana defeated Troy 35-21.
"I believe the past two weeks we've played the best two teams in our conference," senior center Dylan Bradshaw said. "I think that's safe to say. I'm going to tip my hat to them. Both of those teams we've played the past two weeks play extremely hard; they are disciplined in what they do, they are where they're supposed to be."
After Troy's touchdown, which came on its second offensive possession, the Trojans experienced offensive frustration on a different level.
After the first quarter, Troy had five first downs, 38 yards rushing and 84 yards passing. For the game, the Trojans (5-6, 3-4 Sun Belt) finished with a total of six first downs, 33 rushing yards and 109 yards passing.
The 142 yards of offense are the fewest for a Troy team since 2011 when ULM held the Trojans to 126 yards.
But as bleak as things were, Troy held that 7-3 lead for most of the first half.
The game changed in what Bradshaw called "the great eight." That is the last four minutes of the second quarter and first four minutes of the third. Linebacker Robertson agreed.
"My high school coach says those are the money points," Robertson said. "That's the biggest swing of the whole game."
Troy forced a punt and took over with 2:23 left in the first half. However, the Trojans went backwards in three plays and punted it back to App State, which took over on its 39 with 1:21 remaining.
The Mountaineers then marched 61 yards in six plays and scored with 21 seconds left in the half on a 21-yard pass in the end zone to Corey Sutton.
"That was huge. That was just a tough drive because we were doing so well holding them," Robertson said. "They have great receivers out there, and they showed what they could do. That was crucial.
"We needed to keep them down there, and we needed to go into the half up on top. Sadly, we didn't. We just have to keep playing through stuff. That's what we failed at doing. It was huge."
Troy head coach Chip Lindsey said those last minutes of the half were crucial.
"We did not handle the three minutes before the half very well. We had a bust in protection, a lost yardage play on a run, and instead of getting a little momentum and, hey, we get a play out and try to go fast and try to score with some momentum for us, we actually did the opposite. That's on me," Lindsey said.
Appalachian State scored a touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter to open a 17-7 lead.
Troy followed with a costly turnover on its next play from scrimmage. Linebacker T.D. Roof stepped in front of a pass in the right flat from Gunnar Watson to Kimani Vidal, picked it at the 20, and returned it to the Troy 10. Eli Wilson caught a 10-yard pass from Chase Brice and it was 24-7 with 12 minutes left in the third.
"We run a play we've repped half a million times and missed the block out there and the guy picks it," Lindsey said. "Not necessarily Gunnar's fault. The numbers were right. He made the right decision. Football takes all 11 guys doing it right on every play. That's an example of us all not doing everything right."
From that point, it kind of snowballed on the Trojans.
"What I saw tonight is once things went bad there in that little stretch, we kind of went into a shell on offense," Lindsey said. "That's something we've got to get over."
Troy travels to Georgia State next weekend for its final regular season game and one last shot at bowl eligibility.
Team Stats
APP
TRO
Total Yards
445
142
Pass Yards
212
109
Rushing Yards
233
33
Penalty Yards
65
41
1st Downs
27
6
3rd Downs
6
1
4th Downs
4
0
TOP
43:17
16:43
1st Quarter
APP 3, TRO 0
APP - Staton,Chandler 24 yd field goal 12 plays, 81 yards, TOP 05:52
APP 3, TRO 7
TRO - Stoudemire,Deshon 37 yd pass from Watson,Gunnar (Buce,Brooks kick) 4 plays, 75 yards, TOP 01:21
2nd Quarter
APP 10, TRO 7
APP - Sutton,Corey 21 yd pass from Brice,Chase (Staton,Chandler kick) 6 plays, 61 yards, TOP 01:00
3rd Quarter
APP 17, TRO 7
APP - Hennigan,Thomas 6 yd pass from Brice,Chase (Staton,Chandler kick) 6 plays, 64 yards, TOP 02:46
APP 24, TRO 7
APP - Wilson,Eli 10 yd pass from Brice,Chase (Staton,Chandler kick) 1 plays, 10 yards, TOP 00:08
APP 31, TRO 7
APP - Noel,Nate 5 yd run (Staton,Chandler kick), 8 plays, 45 yards, TOP 03:57
4th Quarter
APP 38, TRO 7
APP - Harrington,Daetrich 2 yd run (Staton,Chandler kick), 9 plays, 58 yards, TOP 04:53
APP 45, TRO 7
APP - Smith,Jahmir 1 yd run (Staton,Chandler kick), 11 plays, 32 yards, TOP 07:46
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
11
TD
1
YDS
109
INT
1
CMP
0
TD
0
YDS
0
INT
0
Players Mentioned
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RB
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