2001: A Trojan Odyssey
Pointless.
Unnecessary.
“What was Troy State thinking?”
These were the sentiments the college football-focused Alabama held toward Troy in the years leading up to 2001. Troy had moved up divisions twice before, but this would be the biggest advancement yet, which was why the move was met with much concern and consternation.
The Trojans jumped to Division I-AA in 1991, and brought all their sports up over the next two years. By that point, Trojan football was dominant, winning 53 games in five years and the Southland Conference’s first football title. As the success continued, Troy State’s aim moved higher.
Troy looked forward, realizing that a jump to Division I-A was not out of the realm of possibility. Following a path blazed by such contemporaries as UAB, Middle Tennessee, and Marshall, Troy looked to continue their Division I-AA success at the next level.
The NCAA gave Troy unconditional approval to make the move in May, but the final determination would be made a month later. The pivotal decision was made by the Board of Trustees on the night of June 3, 1998. Troy would be moving to Division I-A.
In Alabama, Division I-A was long the domain of Alabama and Auburn. In 1996, that changed when UAB joined college football’s top echelon. The Blazers got Auburn on the schedule as their first I-A game that season, a 29-0 loss. Their first season ended with a 5-6 record.
Alabama has historically had issues with other football teams in the state, from the famous state law that forced them to play Auburn in the 1940s to the Board of Trustees’ decision to can UAB football in 2014. With no connection to Troy State, the state university simply ignored the Trojans, regarding them as inferior.
The plan was in place for Troy to play the next two years in I-AA, but to ease the shift, the Trojans would have a transitional season in 2001. This would give Troy a split schedule, netting them seven I-A games to five I-AA.
Over the next two years, the schedule for 2001 would take shape, molding and morphing as teams appeared and disappeared from the schedule. Notably, as of July 1, 1998, Ole Miss was on tap to open the 2001 season for the Trojans, but ultimately the game fell through. Even Auburn’s Athletic Director David Housel–the same man who arranged the Auburn-UAB game–was quoted in the same July article saying, “We’re in the preliminary stages of discussions right now. If we play Troy, we would like it to be their first I-A game.”
Eventually, the 2001 schedule was finalized and Troy knew who it would face in its maiden voyage on the Division I-A seas. Powerhouses Miami and Nebraska welcomed the Trojans, as did other now-P5 teams Maryland and Mississippi State, and familiar faces Louisiana Monroe, Appalachian State, Jacksonville State and Middle Tennessee.
It would be a microcosm, a representation of the Trojans’ successes and failures the next few years, which include bringing the university notoriety and giving its fans several championships and memorable wins.
Let’s take a look at where that all started. Twenty years later, we’re going to relive each game on its anniversary.
Troy’s 2001 Inaugural Division I-A Schedule
Sept. 1 – at Nebraska
Sept. 8 – at Middle Tennessee
Sept. 22 – Nicholls State
Oct. 6 – at Miami
Oct. 13 – at Mississippi State
Oct. 20 – Cal State-Northridge
Oct. 27 – Southern Utah
Nov. 3 – at Maryland
Nov. 10 – at ULM
Nov. 17 – Jacksonville State
Dec. 1 – North Texas