Troy Knocks Off North Texas 14-7
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: September 23, 2012
The Troy defense forced six three-and-outs and Corey Robinson threw a pair of touchdown passes as Troy went
on the road and defeated North Texas 14-7 Saturday night in Apogee Stadium.
Robinson
gave the Trojans the lead for good when he found a streaking Chip
Reeves down the sideline for a 76-yard touchdown
pass with 10 minutes to play in the third quarter. The strike, which was
the second longest in both players' careers, came on third-and-6 on
Troy's second possession of the season half.
The Trojans (2-2, 1-1 Sun Belt) opened the second half with an on-side kick that Reeves recovered, but were forced to punt.
On the ensuing possession, the Troy defense held North Texas on three straight plays near midfield to force a punt.
Brynden
Trawick led the Troy defense with 15 tackles on the night, while Camren
Hudson and De'Von Terry both had a career-high
nine stops. The Trojans held the Mean Green to just 2-of-14 on third
down and 1-of-3 on fourth down. The seven points allowed by the Troy
defense was the fewest since the Trojans defeated Florida Atlantic 44-7
in 2010.
Robinson finished 29-of-42 for 274 yards to go along with his two touchdown strikes; it was his 20th
career multi-touchdown game. The junior quarterback moved into second
place on the Sun Belt Conference career touchdown passes list with 55.
Reeves had seven catches for 120 yards, while Eric Thomas had seven catches for 36 yards; his last catch of the night was
the 100th of his career. Shawn Southward rushed for 56 yards on 14 carries and had four catches for 40 yards.
North
Texas (1-3, 0-1) held Troy off the scoreboard for the first 29 minutes
of the game before Robinson capped a 10-play,
70-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jaquon Robinson. The
drive was kept alive thanks to a 17-yard reception by D.J. Taylor on a
third-and-10 play.
After
opening the game with a three-and-out on their first two possessions,
the Mean Green finally broke through against
the stingy Trojan defense thanks to a 50-yard touchdown pass from Derek
Thompson to Brelan Chancellor; the Trojan defense forced five
three-and-outs in the opening half.
Thompson finished the night 12-of-28 for 236 yards. Ivan Delgado had six catches for 126 yards and Chancellor had four catches
for 107 yards. Antoinne Jimmerson ran the ball 16 times for 75 yards to lead the North Texas ground game.
Both
teams had other opportunities to score in the first half, but North
Texas missed a pair of field goals and Troy threw
an interception with the ball on the North Texas 35-yard line. The Mean
Green missed three field goals on the night, while the Trojans missed on
50-yard attempt.
The
Trojans remain on the road next week when they travel to Mobile, Ala.,
for their first-ever meeting with Sun Belt newcomer
South Alabama. The Trojans visit to Ladd-Peebles Stadium will be the
first by an FBS school in South Alabama's brief history and the game
will mark the first-ever Sun Belt Conference game for the Jaguars.
