25 For 25: The Greatest Comebacks in Troy’s FBS History
Now in its 25th season at the FBS level, Troy has seen its fair share of heartache and glory, sometimes simultaneously. From the 2017 battle for the Sun Belt title in Jonesboro to the defensive resurgence in the 2022 Cure Bowl, Troy football, especially lately, has shown clutch moments across the board.
But how often do we see what we saw Saturday against Buffalo? A dramatic comeback for the ages, an against-all-odds performance that brings the Trojans out from the depths of the loss column to the shining pedestal of victory, in so little time that it gives every viewer whiplash?
Not often, actually.
Diving through the data, I’ve found that Troy’s most dramatic wins tend to be what I call “hold ’em offs.” Offensive performances that put the Trojans ahead… then a brick wall-like defense that holds back the opposing team just outside striking distance.
I can think of many such examples:
- The 2017 LSU win
- The 2018 Nebraska win
- The 2016 USM win
- The 2017 Akron win
- The 2022 Texas State win
- Both 2022 and 2023 Western Kentucky wins
- The 2013 Battle for the Belt
- The 2021 Battle for the Belt
- The 2022 Battle for the Belt
Thing is, those wins, defensive slugfests (2022 Cure Bowl) and offensive shootouts (2019 USM) don’t really emphasize the perseverance of a comeback victory. A comeback has momentum, a late surge and… win probability charts that smile back at you.
It’s not a vibe check, though the emotional high is pretty obvious; the numbers paint a clear picture of what is and isn’t a comeback. There are elements are present that make comebacks better than others.
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” as the saying goes. A bigger deficit creates a more satisfying victory knowing your team has overcome. It has to be more than one score to count, or greater than eight points.
Drama is absolutely a factor, and that’s measured several ways: are you on the road? Is the opponent a rival? What impact did this game have on the overall season? The Buffalo win is still TBD, but being in New York State for just the second time ever carries weight.
Finally, the “how.” How quickly did you overcome the deficit? How much time was left when you did? How close was that final score?
All of these factors went into my rankings, because even the lower comebacks on this list made for incredible football moments. That said, I did not include losses in any capacity—looking at you 2024 Arkansas State.
With that, Troy has been in 9 true “comeback” wins since it joined FBS. Let’s go through them.
9. 2003 ULM
We start with the last game Troy ever played as an independent and the 30th anniversary of the game in which Troy became the Trojans again. This encounter was every bit as close as that September meeting, except this time the Trojans won.
The team formerly known as the Northeast Louisiana Indians, and at this point known as the Louisiana-Monroe Indians, took a 24-14 lead with 7:40 left in the ball game. A 46-yard pass capped a 73-yard drive, and for the next quarter and one minute, momentum stalled and the teams traded nine punts.
Then, a 25-yard ULM punt from its own endzone gave Troy State great field position. The Trojans scored, and the comeback was on.
ULM fumbled the ball on its next possession, but after a 20-yard return Troy missed a field goal attempt in the redzone. A turnover on downs gave the Trojans the ball at Monroe’s 11 with 1:25 left in the game.
Troy took a 28-24 lead and never looked back. If anything, Troy’s control over the Sun Belt began right then and there.
8. 2012 FIU
The difference between Nos. 8 and 9 on my list are small, but the main factor here is the deficit. Troy was down 16 points with 7:57 left in the third quarter. That’s the third largest deficit on this list behind yesterday’s game at Buffalo.
It took another seven minutes for the rally to start, and by then Deon Anthony’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Eric Thomas felt like a garbage time touchdown.
Then the fourth quarter began.
Troy held FIU to a six-play, nine-yard drive and forced them to turn the ball over at their own 33 yard line. Troy scored a touchdown in another six plays, tying the game, and the momentum was dizzying when the Trojans recovered a Panther fumble two plays later.
That’s when FIU’s defense locked in and held all three of Troy’s plays behind the line of scrimmage. Both sides punted a few times, and Troy got the ball back with 1:08 left.
Two deep passes and two FIU penalties set up Will Scott for a 42-yard attempt with just 16 ticks left on the board.
Enter this incredible shot by the late Kevin Glackmeyer.
The field goal gave Troy a 38-37 lead, and one more Troy fumble recovery later, the comeback was complete.
Quick scores make for more dramatic wins, and coupled with a really high deficit, you get the intense high of the whiplash. Sometimes though, a comeback can be a “hold em off.”
7. 2022 Army
On paper, this pushes the limits of a “comeback,” but the importance of this game cannot be understated. It has the biggest crowd the Vet has ever seen, the all-time tackles record broken, and a really big flag.
The difference here is, Army football is a monolith. The triple option offense, strong defense and overall discipline make the Knights a formidable foe for any opponent.
A 9-0 halftime deficit could very easily be insurmountable.
In fact, when it takes your offense 35 minutes of game time to score, it’s tough to think you have a chance, especially when in hindsight, you have as many turnovers as scores.
Then again, the 2022 Troy defense was just as stout as Army may have ever seen. The Knights had four drives in the second half, and all of them but one ended in punts.
Troy took 17 minutes of game time to put up all 10 points, and there were still 8 minutes left in the game. That’s when the Trojans swapped places offensively with its counterparts.
After Army’s punt, Troy took 3:07 off the board on its next drive, the most of any drive that didn’t end with a Trojan score. That left 2:10 for Army to drive the field, which is arguably not enough time—both Army scoring drives took a combined 11:48 game time.
Army picked up the tempo and got in position for a 42-yard game winner with 15 seconds left, but fate had other ideas.
Troy’s 10-9 win is everything a great comeback is not: slow, methodical, defensive.
Still, a tsunami of molasses is every bit as powerful a wave.
You want to get back to quick, chaotic games? So do I.
6. 2013 UAB
Rivalries play an important part in the excitement around comebacks. It just means more if you’re playing a team you really hate.
That’s what Troy got in four of its last five games against UAB, before the Blazer program was shut down. Even 2002, the third matchup between these two, ended with a one-point score.
With MTSU moving to CUSA, UAB was taking over as Troy’s biggest rival, and for a moment it was.
The Blazers took a 31-17 lead over Troy with just 46 seconds left in the third. The score looks worse than it is, just a 14-point deficit, but that’s also the fourth highest deficit on this list… and one of the latest leads taken.
Plus, it was the way the last two scores happened that made momentum feel drained. Troy drove 71 yards to make it 17-14, when Jamarcus Nelson returned the kickoff 97 yards and made it 24-14.
Troy responded with a field goal. Jamarcus Nelson took a pass 62 yards for another score.
The Trojans got back to work, putting together a 12-play drive that closed some of the deficit, 31-24. Troy followed that up with another punt, but disaster struck.
Jake Ganus, current Moody High School head coach, forced a fumble, and future Trojan Lamarcus Farmer recovered it in Troy territory.
Penalties pushed UAB back into its own half, and momentum swung back into Troy’s favor with an 11-yard punt. The Trojans capitalized and tied the game at 31, with just 3 minutes left.
UAB had the next two possessions to themselves, running out the clock and getting the ball first when Troy won the overtime coin flip. The Trojan defense held the Blazers to 16 plays and 19 yards in that time.
The Trojans got the ball back in overtime with basically no pressure.
For the second time in this article, Will Scott took us home.
I can’t say that overtime makes this comeback any better, because in a sense you didn’t complete the mission. The game ended as a tie, and no one won in the alotted four quarters.
That’s why this one is farther down the list comparatively. The deficit and the rivalry status raised the bar.
Then again, so did Saturday’s game.
5. 2025 Buffalo
That’s right. Saturday’s game is, in my opinion, one of the top 5 comebacks in Troy FBS history. That’s a lot of cherry picking, but I assure you I put aside recency bias.
This was tied for the highest deficit on the list, Troy took the lead with 45 seconds left, and it was on the road. That counts for a lot.
It also statistically shows how quickly a game can change. After 176 yards in the first three quarters combined, Troy had 189 yards in the fourth quarter alone.
This game is fresh enough in our minds to recap, but suffice to say defense again played an important role, holding Buffalo to 57 yards on its last five drives… and 46 of those in the last 45 seconds.
Also, it took 9:38 game time for Troy to take the lead. That’s the fourth-shortest rally time, and the shortest comeback since Blakeney’s era.
This game is just the fourth real comeback since Coach retired, yet it sticks out as a clear indicator of what a real comeback is: a huge deficit completely wiped out in a short amount of time.
That’s as clear a definition as it gets. So does the box score to this game:
4. 2016 South Alabama
Troy earned its first Belt by putting up 15 points in the fourth quarter, the only points in the second half.
Again, it’s tough to say that a comeback started in the second quarter, but I’m not counting a 14-0 deficit in the first quarter, and I don’t count letting the other team score at all.
The importance of this game, the rivalry, and the lateness of the lead make this one of the Instant Classics in Troy history.
Most importantly, one play defines this game: Brandon Silvers’ two-point conversion on the flip pass. (4:21 if the link doesn’t work)
It’s not as dramatic as Buffalo, but this shows how other factors play a role in the satisfaction of a good comeback. The remaining games on this list hit those notes, but they do everything else just as well.
3. 2011 UAB
The 9-point deficit is the smallest on the list, but when a team returns a pick to go up 23-14 with 5 minutes left in the game, it’s tough to have faith in your offense, especially when the next three drives look like this:
- FUMBLE
- PUNT
- FUMBLE
The real tipping point came when UAB missed a field goal with seven minutes left in the game. Troy missed a field goal earlier in the game, and the Blazers followed it up with 3 points of their own; Troy took that short memory, drove 44 yards in 10 plays and made up for the earlier miss.
Just like that, Troy was back in the game down 23-17.
Just like that, Troy had the ball back. Jimmie Anderson picked off the pass at the UAB 12 yard line.
Two minutes and 12 seconds of game time took UAB from a chance to go up 26-14 to playing defense at its own 12 yard line.
Another 53 seconds later, and UAB was now down 24-23.
That’s a 13-point swing in three minutes, five seconds.
Easy Mac isn’t ready in that amount of time.
In fact, Troy scored 10 points in a time span of just 1:11.
That’s less time than the full process of preparing Minute Rice, from pantry to oven to plate or bowl.
Maybe I’m just hungry.
It’s the shortest turnaround on this list… almost by a full minute. You could play this twice and have only played the second fastest comeback once.
Troy’s defense held UAB to turn the ball over at Troy’s 49 yard line, and a Will Goggans punt put UAB at its own 1 yard line with 17 seconds left in the ball game. It’s the sort of “adding insult to injury” that makes a rivalry beautiful.
Sometimes it doesn’t have to be a rivalry though. Sometimes, ball just doesn’t lie.
2. 2022 Louisiana
Kimani Vidal is the greatest running back in Troy history. No offense to anyone, but we’ve been over the stats before.
This game’s ending established him well before he rushed for 200 yards in back-to-back games.
In fact, this game has it all: a singular moment, a matchup with conference impact, and an absolute switch flip from dominated to dominating.
The Cajuns were the reigning Sun Belt champions, and they represented the West in the time between Neal Brown and Jon Sumrall. This was a passing the baton of sorts.
Boy, did Troy earn it.
The Trojans didn’t score AT ALL till the last play of the third quarter. Michael Vice crossed the goal line with absolutely no time left on the clock.
That’s 23 unanswered points, the most on this list. The Buffalo game is second with 21.
Troy was still down 17-7 as the final 15 minutes began, and added another touchdown with 12 minutes left.
The comeback-within-a-comeback began with 5:13 left on the clock. Troy drove 54 yards, kicked a field goal to tie the game and followed it up with a three and out.
Then Troy drove 46 yards… and with 10 seconds left on the clock, the greatest running back in Troy history did this:
That’s nine points in just 2:36.
That’s the eventual Sun Belt Champion beating the previous champion.
That’s a road team overcoming a 17-point deficit.
That’s the biggest deficit on this list.
The 2022 Louisiana win will always be one of the greatest Troy games I ever got the chance to see live. Even now, the “do not quit” mentality is etched in the minds of Troy’s players.
This game set the stage for Saturday’s comeback. It’s the formula for every Troy team moving forward. Put in the work, reap the results.
It doesn’t get better than this.
Almost.
1. The Miracle in Murfreesboro
If you’ve scrolled down to make sure this was Number 1, congratulations. You were right. I’ll give you a gold star on social media if you want.
Every data point I gathered pointed to this game.
It’s road game.
It’s against a rival.
It’s a 1-point win.
Troy overcame a 13-point deficit.
Both teams took a share of the conference title.
It’s Troy’s first Sun Belt title.
The comeback took 2 minutes, roughly.
Troy took the lead with just 14 seconds left.
If you aren’t familiar with this game, here’s your walkthrough:
MTSU took a 20-7 lead with about 11 minutes left in the 4th. That’s the latest score out of almost all of these comebacks.
Troy drove down to the MTSU 3 but turned over the ball on downs. The Blue Raiders gave it back to Troy around midfield with 3:33 left on the game clock.
Troy drove 47 yards in 4 plays. Smokey Hampton caught two straight passes from Omar Haugabook, both 19 yards, and Troy scored.
It’s 20-14 MTSU with 2:19 left. Then Troy’s kickoff team lined up with a wall of defenders charging up to the line in a unique onside kick formation I’ve never seen before or since.
Troy recovered the onside kick, drove down the field and current WR coach Gary Banks hauled in the game-winning touchdown with 14 seconds left.
Troy won its first of eight Sun Belt titles with that victory. The Palladium was cemented as Troy’s FBS rivalry, just five years at the new level, and the Trojans’ “never say die” mentality was firmly established.
It’s not the biggest deficit, but in every other way it’s legendary. Best of all, you can watch the whole thing here.
Here’s hoping, like the 2016, 2022 and 2006 entries on this list, Saturday’s win over Buffalo inspires the current Trojan team to finish strong.