Troy Has Unfinished Business With The Cajuns
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: September 6, 2012
Trojan players boarded the team buses to Birmingham last Friday for
their season opener at UAB with a common message across their shirts
- UNFINISHED BUSINESS. The Trojans left historic Legion Field with a
convincing 39-29 victory in their back pocket and a small piece of
unfinished business tucked away.
The
Trojans next piece of business comes on Saturday in the form of
Louisiana-Lafayette in both the home opener and Sun Belt opener for the
Men of
Troy. Kickoff is slated for 6:04 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast
by ESPN3.
There
are plenty of storylines to keep people interested going into
Saturday's marquee Sun Belt game - the Trojans are 21-0 in home openers
under head
coach Larry Blakeney, Troy is 92-14-1 at home under Blakeney and the
team has revenge on its mind following a 14-point loss to the Cajuns
last season.
"They
got us down there last year and we helped them a little bit, but they
got us," Blakeney said at his weekly press luncheon. "I hope our people
are engaged about this thing. Let me tell you, this game this week is
bigger than anything we've had in a few years as far of having good
support at the game."
Fans can purchase tickets for the game by contacting the Troy ticket office at 1-877-878-WINS or online at TroyTrojans.com.
Troy
stormed out to a 17-0 lead last week at UAB and led again by 17 late in
the fourth quarter before a UAB touchdown in the waning minutes of the
game produced the final 10-point margin.
Senior
running back Shawn Southward had a field day against the Blazers as he
rushed for 204 yards and three touchdowns. His tally was the fifth most
in the NCAA last week, sixth most in school history and best by a Trojan
since 2008.
Corey
Robinson completed 11-of-20 passes for 164 yards with a pair of
touchdowns and no interceptions to lead the Trojan passing attack. His
favorite
target was Chip Reeves who caught six passes for 125 yards and a score,
while B.J. Chitty iced the game with a late 25-yard touchdown reception.
Defensively
it was a surprise hero that led the way. Senior walk-on De'Von Terry
recovered a fumble on the Troy 2-yard line, intercepted a pass that
immediately led to a Troy touchdown and recorded five tackles as he
played in his first football game since 2007.
Brannon
Bryan and Brynden Trawick each had 11 tackles to lead Troy on the
afternoon, while newcomers to the Trojan defense Tyler Roberts and Marty
Stadom each had a key sack. The Trojans forced four UAB turnovers on the
afternoon and came up with a key fourth-down stop on the game's opening
possession.
Southward
and Terry were rewarded for their work when the Sun Belt Conference
named them their offensive and defensive players of the week,
respectively,
on Monday.
Troy
has had the upper hand in the series over Louisiana-Lafayette under
Blakeney's watch as the Men of Troy have won seven of the nine games
during
the hall of famer's tenure. Thanks to six straight victories to open the
series in the 1940s and 50s the Cajuns own the overall series advantage
by a slim 8-7 margin.
The
Cajuns were not tested in their season opener as they jumped out to a
40-0 halftime lead over FCS opponent Lamar. Quarterback Blaine Gautier
completed
7-of-18 pass attempts for 142 yards and a pair of scores, while Effrem
Reed led the ground attack with 55 yards and a score on seven carries in
the 40-0 victory.
Louisiana-Lafayette
kicker Brett Baer shouldered much of the scoring responsibility as he
booted four field goals to run his streak of consecutive
makes to 15. The ULL defense forced four turnovers which created a short
field for the Cajuns to work with as six of ULL's scoring drives were
31 yards or less.
