Troy Downs Sam Houston in Season Opener

Saturday, September 5

Troy, Ala.

6 p.m.

Troy University

1-0 , 0-0

Sam Houston

0-1 , 0-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Sam Houston	7	7	0	7	21
Troy	7	7	3	7	24

9/5/2026 11:05:00 PM | Football

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. — Goose Crowder threw three touchdown passes and Troy's rush defense came up huge as the Trojans defeated Sam Houston, 24-21, Saturday night at The Vet in the season opener for both clubs.

Troy built a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter when TJ Lott pulled down an 18-yard pass from Crowder in the back corner of the end zone to give Troy (1-0) some much-needed breathing room.

Sam Houston (0-1) pulled within the final 3-point margin on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Landyn Locke to Chris Reed with 63 seconds remaining; Locke threw for 335 yards and three touchdowns.

The Trojans recovered the onside kick and Crowder connected with Fabian Rogosch for a 16-yard pass on 3rd and 6, allowing Troy to take a knee and close out the game.

The catch was the second of the night for Rogosch, who began his career as a defensive end and had only played as a blocking tight end and on special teams for the Trojans before tonight. His first career target went for a 19-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, tying the game at 7-all.

On the following drive for the Trojans, Crowder connected with TK Keyes for a 28-yard touchdown on the opening play of the second quarter. Sam Houston answered with a touchdown of their own to tie the game going into the half.

The first play of the second half shifted the momentum in Troy's favor. TJ Thompson intercepted Locke's pass, setting up an Ethan Head 32-yard field goal to give Troy the lead for good.

The Trojans put together a balanced offensive attack in the season-opening win. Gavin Griffin led the rushing attack in his Troy debut, rushing for 81 yards on 16 carries and 5.2 yards per attempt.

Crowder tallied three passing touchdowns for the fifth time as the Trojans' starting quarterback. The sixth-year passer completed 12-of-24 passes for 165 yards and no interceptions.

Preseason All-America honoree Evan Crenshaw provided a boost in the field position battle, averaging 46.9 yards on eight punts, including four of 50-plus yards. His longest punt traveled 55 yards, while five of his eight punts were downed inside the Bearkats' 20-yard line.

Where the Trojans lacked in their pass protection, they made up for it with their run defense. Troy allowed just 38 rushing yards, which marks the second-fewest yards allowed in a season opener since the 2000 season, when Troy held Alabama A&M to 34 yards on Sept. 2.

Doug Nelson had a game-high eight tackles, while Keno Jones finished with three tackles and Ty Clemons added a pair of stops behind the line. Troy finished with 13 tackles for loss as a team and four sacks; Sun Belt Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Donnie Smith added a sack and 1.5 stops behind the line.

Up Next
Troy will be back in The Vet next Saturday for a matchup against Alabama State at 3 p.m.

Quotable — Head Coach Gerad Parker
"We have a lot to fix, and we will have to look at it with a critical eye. I just told our team, great teams and really good teams improve week in and week out. The turnover margin proved to be the difference. We talked about it at halftime; we did not know that it would happen to be the very next play out of half, but the turnover was massive by TJ Thompson, and our defense was so good in the third and most of the fourth quarter until a critical error there late in the game."

Notable
• Troy improved to 8-0-1 all-time against Sam Houston.
• Troy won for the 14th time in its last 15 games against a team from the state of Texas.
• Troy improved to 74-50-4 all-time against the current membership of Conference USA.
• Troy has won 82 games since the start of the 2016 season; the Trojans entered the week 20th nationally and fifth among G6 schools in wins over that time period.
• Troy rushed for 177 yards on 42 carries; Troy has won nine of its last 10 games when rushing for more than 100 yards.
• Troy improved to 46-4 when rushing for 150 or more yards and 77-17 when scoring more than 21 points since 2015.
• Troy outrushed Sam Houston by a 177-38 margin, it marked just the second time in the past nine games that Troy has outrushed its opponent.
• Six different Trojans caught their first career pass at Troy in the victory; seven total players caught a pass.
• Crowder three touchdown passes marked the 10th time in his career that he has thrown for at least one touchdown in a game and fifth with multiple touchdown passes.
• Fabian Rogosch's first quarter touchdown reception came on the first catch and target of his career; he also caught the game-clinching pass on third down allowing Troy to kneel out the clock.
• Troy finished the game without turning the ball over. It marked the first time the Trojans failed to turn the ball over since ULM last season (Oct. 18, 2025).
• Troy's 165 passing yards were its fewest yards when throwing at least three touchdown passes since the 2025 opener against Nicholls, 144 yards and three touchdowns.
• The Sun Belt leader in sacks in 2025, Donnie Smith recorded a sack in the game. He finished second nationally last season with a sack in nine different games.
• Donnie Smith recorded 1.5 tackles for loss. He finished the 2025 season fourth nationally with a half TFL in 12 games.
• Troy has recorded an interception in four of its last five games.
• Sam Houston rushed for just 38 rushing yards, the second-fewest rushing yards the Trojans have allowed under Gerad Parker (31 vs. Southern Miss, 2024).
• As a team, Troy recorded 13 tackles for a loss, the most in a game since Oct. 15, 2024 against South Alabama; the Trojans finished with 15.0 TFLs against the Jaguars.
• Troy recorded four sacks against Sam Houston; Troy had three or more sacks in a game nine times last year, which was the second most in the country.
• Troy has recorded multiple sacks in 36 games since the start of the 2022 season, the 18th most in the country entering the week. Troy now has four or more sacks 19 times over the same period; the Trojans are 17-2 in those games.
• Troy limited Sam Houston to 373 yards of offense; the Trojans have held 17-of-27 opponents under Gerad Parker to 375 yards or fewer.
• All-American and Ray Guy finalist Evan Crenshaw punted eight times for a 46.9 yard average; he had five inside the 20-yard line and four punts of 50-plus yards.
• Ethan Head booted his first career field goal for the Trojans, a 32-yard attempt in the third quarter; he was also perfect on all three extra-point attempts.