But overall, Troy went from 4-8 to 10-3, and two of the three losses were by a touchdown or less. The team's form became scattershot late in the season. Now he’s got a team full of juniors and seniors. Summary: Brown led a bunch of sophomores and juniors to 10 wins in 2016 and nearly beat the national champion. Projected 2017 record and S&P+ ranking: 8-4 (79th)īiggest strength: Troy has the best set of defensive tackles in the Sun Belt and knows how to use them.īiggest question mark: Can the Trojans unearth a run game?īiggest 2017 game: The Week 1 trip to Boise State will be huge for Troy’s national standing, and the trip to Arkansas State is the only Sun Belt game the Trojans aren’t favored to win per S&P+. Head coach: Neal Brown (14-11, third year)Ģ016 record and S&P+ ranking: 10-3 (63rd) Neal Brown Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images Troy Trojans The Trojans were a very good team in 2016. This was nearly a momentous win for Troy, but the level of play wasn't particularly abnormal. But Troy scored two touchdowns in the last three minutes, and Clemson needed to recover an onside kick with 43 seconds left to ice a 30-24 win. The Tigers' Tyson Dye was stripped near Troy's goal line, and the Trojans would have returned it for a touchdown had the refs not incorrectly insisted Dye's forward momentum was stopped.Ĭlemson took a 20-10 lead on the next play, then scored again. Jabir Frye's 66-yard touchdown run made the score 10-10 midway through the second quarter, and the refs blew a fumble call early in the fourth quarter that swung the game. In Week 2, the eventual champs nearly lost to an upstart from southern Alabama. The title bid almost never got off the ground from the start, however. The Tigers flirted with danger through the season, needing a missed field goal from NC State to beat the Wolfpack at overtime, eking by awesome Louisville and Florida State teams, and eventually losing to Pitt. It might have been the game of the year.Ģ016 ended up defined by the Bama-Clemson rematch, but it almost never came to fruition. This past January, Dabo Swinney’s program experiment at Clemson hit its pinnacle when Deshaun Watson and the Tigers came from behind to take down mighty Alabama. If you're looking for the Sun Belt team most likely to overachieve compared to last year's results, the energized Trojans might be a solid choice. An optimist can point out that the Trojans have a two-year starting quarterback and most of a defense that was too thin last fall but boasts quite a bit of experience this time around.Ī pessimist, meanwhile, will point out that the only explosive skill position weapons are gone, as are the best pass rusher and two best defensive backs. Troy is shaping up as an optimist-vs.-pessimist team.
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