Troy Gashes Coastal Carolina on Homecoming

Saturday, November 2

Troy, Ala.

3 p.m.

Troy University

2-7 , 1-4

Coastal Carolina (Homecoming)

4-4 , 1-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Coastal Carolina

Troy

Troy Gashes Coastal Carolina on Homecoming

11/2/2024 7:56:00 PM | Football

TROY, Ala. – Damien Taylor and Gerald Green gashed the Coastal Carolina defense to lead Troy to a dominant Homecoming victory, 38-24, over Coastal Carolina on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Troy (2-7, 1-4 SBC) picked up its first conference win under first-year head coach Gerad Parker and had its best rushing performance of the season, as it recorded 342 yards on the ground, and the Trojans improved to 27-0 since joining the Sun Belt when rushing for 250-plus yards.

Coastal Carolina (4-4, 1-3 SBC) had no answer for Taylor and Green, who combined for 313 yards on the ground. Taylor rushed for 190 yards on 28 carries, while Green added 123 yards on 19 carries, plus an 83-yard touchdown reception.

The Trojans opened the scoring on a 1-yard touchdown by Green to cap off a 99-yard drive, the longest scoring drive in Troy's FBS era. On the play before the touchdown, Green snapped off a run of 51 yards. All 99 of Troy's yards came on the ground.

Coastal Carolina responded with a touchdown of its own on an 11-yard rush by quarterback Ethan Vasko following a blocked set up the Chants on the 11-yard line.

The second quarter was all Troy as it outscored Coastal Carolina 21-0. Devonte Ross caught his ninth touchdown reception of the season on a 3-yard pass from Matthew Caldwell that resulted in a beautiful toe-tap effort from Ross. The junior wide receiver finished his night with four catches for 32 yards.

The Trojans extended its lead with 4:57 remaining in the first half, as Green took a swing route from Caldwell 83 yards down the far sideline to make it 21-7. The play was the longest pass of Caldwell's career and the longest reception of Green's career. Saturday was Caldwell's fifth career game with two touchdown passes and his second in a row.

With time running out in the second quarter, Caldwell showed he could do more than just sling the rock, as he pulled off a 1-yard quarterback option to make it 28-7 with 27 seconds remaining before the break. It was his second running touchdown of the season. He finished the night 9-for-16 for 169 yards and two touchdowns.

Troy's 21-point lead at the half was its largest lead it took into the break this season.

The Chanticleers offense came out stronger in the second half, adding a 28-yard field goal on the first drive of the third quarter to close the gap to 28-10. The Trojans fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Coastal Carolina turned it into seven points on a 21-yard touchdown run by Braydon Bennett to make it 28-17 with 9:22 remaining in the quarter.

Despite getting punched in the mouth to open the third, Troy answered back just three minutes later as Taylor put together an ankle-breaking 41-yard rushing touchdown to make it 35-17. It was his longest rush of the season and helped him reach 190 yards on 28 attempts – both career highs.

With 2:20 remaining before the fourth quarter, Coastal Carolina added its final scoring play of the night on a 38-yard touchdown pass from Vasko to Jameson Tucker on fourth down to make it 35-24.

The Trojan defense settled down in the fourth quarter and completely suffocated the Chanticleers offense, which only recorded 45 yards in the final frame. Troy finished the night with six tackles for loss, including a team-high two from Devin Lafayette. Seven Trojans recorded at least 0.5 tackles for loss. Damaje Yancey had a team-high six tackles, while also recording a sack. Brendan Jackson had five tackles. The defense held Coastal Carolina to 313 yards, while the Troy offense finished the night with 507.

The Trojans' final points of the night came with 2:42 on the clock as Scott Taylor Renfroe booted in a 36-yard field goal with less than three minutes left in the game.

Up Next
Troy is off next weekend before hitting the road for back-to-back games at Georgia Southern and Louisiana.

Quotable – Head Coach Gerad Parker
"The Vet was unbelievable tonight; our student section, our fanbase and the people that showed up for us in the homecoming crowd were huge. To bring the energy they brought for our football team and our program when it's been a rough year just shows what this fanbase is. It's one of the top fanbases in the nation and we couldn't be more grateful to them and the energy they brought. To our players and staff, I couldn't be more proud. You can have a lot of pride when it's about things not related to results, but sooner or later, there has to be a point in a program when you flip and see results. You have to believe and have faith in them. Tonight, that happened for us."

On the team's first Sun Belt win…
"It feels great to get a Sun Belt win. I told some of the guys those feelings were even better than all the other ones in the history of my coaching career because of how good it feels for everybody else. This operation needed a win; everybody deserved one and needed it, and that's as emotional as I've been since taking this job. It feels even better because it's not about me; it's about the rest of this operation."

Notable
• Troy improves to 4-3 all-time against Coastal Carolina, 3-1 against the Chants in Troy, and have won two straight, including a victory in the 2022 Sun Belt Championship Game.

• Troy has scored 28 or more points in all seven meetings and 35 or more points in 6-of-7 meetings.

• Saturday's game (Troy's ninth of the season) marked the first time all year that all 22 starters on offense and defense had started a game previously this year.

• Troy scored first for the fourth time this season; the Trojans improved to 2-2 on the year in those games.

• Troy had four rushes of 20-plus yards in the game, a new Troy season high.

• Troy had 372 yards of offense in the first half (222 yards on the ground); that total would have been more than five of Troy's full games this season.

• Combined with the second half at Arkansas State and the first half against Coastal, Troy's offense scored 56 points over a four-quarter stretch ... the Trojans had scored 136 points in the previous 30 quarters.

• Troy rushed for 342 yards in the game; it's second this season with 200-plus rushing yards. The Trojans improved to 27-0 since joining the Sun Belt when rushing for 250 or more yards. It was Troy's most rushing yards since rushing for 351 last season against Arkansas State.

• Troy's 99-yard scoring drive in the first quarter was its first 99-yard scoring drive in the program's FBS history; it broke the record of a 98-yard drive set in week four against Florida A&M. All 99 yards came on the ground between Damien Taylor and Gerald Green.

• Gerald Green's 51-yard rush on Troy's 99-yard scoring drive was Troy's longest rush of the season and the 17th of 20-plus yards in his career.

• With Damien Taylor and Gerald Green topping the 100-yard mark, Troy players have rushed for 100-plus yards six times this season.

• Damien Taylor rushed for 190 yards and Gerald Green rushed for 123 yards; it marked the first time since 2018 against Georgia State that two Trojans topped the 100-yard mark in the same game -- B.J. Smith 143 yards, Kaleb Barker 111 yards.

• Devonte Ross caught his ninth touchdown reception of the season in the second quarter, the 12th of his career. His 12 career touchdown receptions moves him into a tie for 18th place in Troy history.

• Matthew Caldwell threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Devonte Ross in the second quarter; he now has a touchdown pass in four games this season and nine games in his career. He added a second on an 83-yard pass to Gerald Green in the second quarter for his fifth career game with multiple touchdown passes and second in a row.

• Matthew Caldwell and Gerald Green connected for an 83-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter; it was the longest pass in Caldwell's career and the longest reception in Green's career.

• Troy improved to 50-8 since 2015 when totaling more than 400 yards of offense; the Trojans recorded 511 yards in the game, which was their most since the Arkansas State game last year (587 yards).

• Troy did not allow a sack for the second straight game; it also marked the first time this season that the Trojans started the same offensive line unit in consecutive games.

• Troy completed just nine passes in the victory; Troy's fewest completions in a win since also completing nine passes in a 48-19 win at Arkansas State in 2022.

• Troy and Jacksonville State are the only two teams in the country this season with an 80-yard pass and a 90-yard pass.

• Troy entered the weekend as one of three teams to be perfect in the red zone this season (20-of-20); the Trojans were 4-for-4 on Saturday in the red zone.

• Damaje Yancey recorded his second sack of the season on Coastal's second drive of the game. He also broke up a career-high three passes and led Troy with six tackles.

• Brendan Jackson had one tackle for loss on Saturday after recording 6.5 over the last two games; he entered the week ranked ninth in the country with 11 tackles for loss.

• Troy allowed two touchdowns on drives that accounted for 11 yards and 21 yards due to turnovers on special teams.

• Troy held Coastal Carolina to just 313 yards of total offense, its third-fewest this season. Troy has now held 27 of its last 32 opponents to fewer than 400 yards.

• Troy had two sacks in the game; the Trojans entered the weekend 20th nationally since 2022 with multiple sacks in 23 games.

• Scott Taylor Renfroe booted a 36-yard field goal to close out Troy's scoring; he improved to 11-for-12 on field goals this season.

• Scott Taylor Renfroe moved into a tie with Ryan Kay for eighth place all-time in Troy history with 29 career field goals.

• Scott Taylor Renfroe moved into 18th place in Troy history with 159 career points scored after scoring eight points on Saturday.

• Coastal Carolina blocked a Troy punt in the first quarter; it was the first time Troy had a blocked punt since Louisiana in 2022.