Troy Falls to Memphis, 28-7

Saturday, September 13

Troy, Ala.

11 a.m.

Troy University

1-2 , 0-0

Memphis

3-0 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Memphis

Troy

9/13/2025 4:00:00 PM | Football

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Troy couldn't overcome the loss of starting quarterback Goose Crowder, who left the game with an injury following the Trojans' opening possession, as Memphis defeated the Trojans, 28-7, Saturday at The Vet.

Crowder threw what would have been a 73-yard touchdown to Mojo Dortch on Troy's third offensive play of the game. However, the Trojans (1-2) were flagged for not enough men on the line of scrimmage; Crowder was sacked on the subsequent play and was lost for the game. It marked the second straight season that Crowder was injured in the first quarter against Memphis (3-0) and unable to return.

Memphis' defense swarmed the Trojans after Crowder's absence, holding Troy to just 112 yards of offense, the fewest in the program's Division I history. The Trojan defense held serve as much as it could, forcing the Tigers into punts on four straight possessions to open the second half, despite Troy not crossing midfield until its final possession of the game.

The Troy defense was responsible for the squad's lone points of the game as Donnie Smith sacked Brendon Lewis and dislodged the football. Taleeq Robbins scooped and scored the loose football for Troy's second defensive touchdown in as many games, to tie the game at 7-all early in the second quarter.

Memphis answered on the ensuing possession with a Lewis 18-yard touchdown pass to Brady Kluse after a 40-yard pass on second-and-long aided the drive. The Tigers delivered a gut punch right before the half when Sutton Smith busted through the middle of the Troy defense for a 50-yard touchdown run.

Lewis finished 17-of-27 for 213 yards and the one touchdown, while Smith rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries. Tucker Kilcrease completed 10-of-29 passes for 65 yards in Crowder's absence, while Jordan Lovett rushed eight times for 50 yards.

Evan Crenshaw gave Troy a chance with his leg, flipping the field time after time, averaging 48.2 yards on his 11 punts, with five of 50-plus yards and five landing inside the 20-yard line.

Up Next
Troy wraps up its non-conference schedule next Saturday with a trip to Buffalo.

Quotable – Troy Head Coach Gerad Parker
Essentially, I didn't come out and have our football team ready to play in the first half. I'm clearly not proud of our performance. Our team, and especially our offense, didn't respond well at all after Goose Crowder left the game. Goose got a shoulder injury, and he'll be out indefinitely.

It took the breath out of us. I'm very proud of our defensive effort and the resiliency they showed in the second half to play a brand of football that represents Troy. We were abysmal on offense. We couldn't do anything after Goose left the football game, and the penalty right before the third down proved to be critical and took seven points off the scoreboard. You can't do that against great opponents. There is much to learn from, and I've got to go back to the drawing board because nobody's going to feel sorry for what's ahead.

Notable
• Roman Mothershed caught a career-best eight passes for a career-high 58 yards. He accounted for 75 percent of Troy's receptions.

• Troy's 112 yards of total offense were its fewest in the program's Division I history.

• Troy scored in the second quarter after Donnie Smith forced a fumble that was recovered by Taleeq Robbins and returned 15 yards. It marked Smith's first career forced fumble and Robbins' first fumble recovery.

• Troy scored a defensive touchdown for a second consecutive week, as TJ Thompson had a pick-six in last week's game at Clemson. It's the first time since 2023 that Troy has had a defensive touchdown in back-to-back games, following Chris Rodgers' scoop-and-score against Southern Miss in the regular season finale and Don Callis' scoop-and-score in the Sun Belt Championship game victory over App State.

• Jordan Stringer tied his career high in tackles (12).

• DJ Jackson Jr.'s combined sack with Julian Peterson in the first quarter was the first sack of his Division-I career. He had 0.5 sacks during his career at Division-II Carson-Newman.

• Troy sacked Memphis quarterback Brendon Lewis three times; it marked the 28th game since the start of the 2022 season in which Troy has recorded multiple sacks in a game.

• Evan Crenshaw punted 11 times for 530 yards, which is the 23rd most punting yards by a player in a game since 1995 and the most in Troy program history.

• Evan Crenshaw averaged 48.2 yards on his 11 punts, with five punts inside the 20-yard line and five punts of 50-plus yards.

• Evan Crenshaw's 48.2-yard per punt average is the 23rd-highest by a player with at least 10 punts since at least 1995.