UPDATE: Troy has made its first bowl appearance in four years. It took one year for Jon Sumrall to accomplish what the previous coach couldn’t.

But we’re not here to talk about the present.

Instead, I’m going to look back at the postseason games the Trojans have had. I’m taking this opportunity to look back at Troy’s bowl appearances—for better or for worse.

As a refresher, here are the games:

Game	Opponent	Outcome
2004 Silicon Valley Classic	Northern Illinois	L 21–34
2006 New Orleans Bowl	Rice	W 41–17
2008 New Orleans Bowl	Southern Miss	L 27–30 (OT)
2010 GMAC Bowl	Central Michigan	L 41–44
2010 New Orleans Bowl	Ohio	W 48–21
2016 Dollar General Bowl	Ohio	W 28–23
2017 New Orleans Bowl	North Texas	W 50–30
2018 Dollar General Bowl	Buffalo	W 42–32

Troy is 5-3 in bowl games, and it’s won the last four in a row.

The question is, which games were the best? Which were the worst? What games were heart-stopping thrill rides? Which games were a display of absolute dominance?

Some answers are easy, others aren’t. Let’s find out.

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The Methodology

I figure we can look at these games in several ways. I’ll rank each game based on five factors, and aggregate them that way.

With eight games, that means a potential lowest score of 5, and a potential highest score of 40.

1. Dominance

The stats/video/tape/ball don’t lie. In what ways did Troy completely smother its opponent?

For this factor, I took the difference in total yards between both teams, divided it by Troy’s total yards and added half the margin of victory.

2. Historical Relevance

This factor was much more subjective. Each game has its own significance, but each important season has to have weight too.

I weighted each game based on its own relevance. For example, the Silicon Valley Classic was Troy’s first bowl game. That will never change.

I also weighed each bowl based on the season’s relevance. For example, the Silicon Valley Classic was played in Troy’s first year in the Sun Belt. That’s not as important as winning a fifth straight conference title, but it’s more historically relevant than the fourth of five straight titles.

I mixed the two number sets to give me a quantifiable ranking that gave the game’s place in history more influence.

3. Rewatchability

In a way, this factor was almost the opposite of Dominance. The top three games in that factor happen to be the bottom three in this category.

To avoid that as much as I could elsewhere, I took the margin of victory, added the yardage difference and took the absolute value. The closer the score AND total yards, the better game it would be for a rewatch.

4. “Cherry On Top”

This was a factor I wanted to include as an entirely new element. It was hard to quantify, but I wanted to show how each bowl game served as the last chapter in each season.

For example, a sloppy win as a 7-5 team isn’t as gratifying as, I don’t know, winning your 11th game of the season by three touchdowns.

5. Fan Vote

Finally, this is where you come in. I gave y’all two days to go through the games, because I assume some of y’all remember these games better than I do.

When I came across what I thought were troll votes, I cut them out and compared both scores. Thankfully it didn’t have any effect on the outcome whatsoever.

In the end I compiled the data for each game and calculated the rankings for each game. Here’s what I got.

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The Results

1. 2017 New Orleans Bowl

• W, 50-30 North Texas
• #1 Cherry on Top, Fan Vote
• #2 Historical

I think this was the clear and obvious winner. Troy absolutely dominated in a game that capped a historic conference championship year.

This game will forever be the highest point in the Neal Brown era.

2. 2010 New Orleans Bowl

• W, Ohio 48-21
• #1 Dominance
• #2 Cherry on Top

If the last game was the highest point in the Neal Brown era, this is the highest point in the Larry Blakeney era. Five straight titles, and a huge win in the Big Easy.

Troy racked up over 600 yards—the most in any bowl game—and held Ohio to 308 yards—the fewest of any bowl game except the No. 1 game on this list.

Also, apologies for the video I’ve linked. I didn’t realize there was a narrator when I first copied it. If you have better highlights, hit me up and I’ll replace it.

3. 2016 Dollar General Bowl

• W, Ohio 28-23

This game didn’t stand out, but it was only one point short of the No. 2 spot. Perhaps there’s a recency bias, but the fan vote ranked Neal Brown’s first bowl win in third place.

It also got high marks for rewatchability. Being the Trojans’ closest win in any bowl game helps.

4. 2018 Dollar General Bowl

• W, Buffalo 42-32
• #2 Fan Vote
• Yes, I got the score wrong in the poll.

This game was again one point short of the No. 3 spot. Nos. 2-5 were all within one point of each other.

Neal Brown’s last game didn’t score as high on my other factors as it did the fan vote. Troy didn’t dominate this game, even though Sawyer Smith was absolutely brilliant.

It wasn’t particularly meaningful, either. Troy didn’t win the conference title, the Trojans were favorites in the game, and at the time it wasn’t memorable by itself.

The context of the game elevated it for sure.

5. 2006 New Orleans Bowl

• W, Rice 41-17
• #2 Dominance

This game actually fared higher on the Fan Vote than the 2010 incarnation of the game, and a look at the final score explains it all.

Troy wasn’t particularly productive on offense, but the defense held the Owls to 39 rushing yards. 39. I was astonished by that number when I saw it (then I saw the -3 for the 2017 game) and honestly, I still am.

The problems with this game are the low marks in rewatchability (duh) and historical relevance. The Trojans’ first conference title season just isn’t as impressive when you hit five or six.

Y’all clearly don’t agree with me though. It’s the No. 4 game in the fan vote.

6. 2010 GMAC Bowl

• L, Central Michigan 44-41
• #1 Rewatchable

Now we come to what is clearly the bottom tier. Troy’s three bowl losses each have something going for it. In this case, it’s how good of a game this matchup was.

I’ll never forget watching this game. It was only my second time watching a Troy game on TV.

Dan LeFevour set the record for most touchdowns in a career, the Chippewas blocked the field goal in overtime, and that fourth-quarter shootout made for a game as good as this year’s Southern Miss loss.

Even the fans hate it though, most likely because… you know… Troy lost.

7. 2004 Silicon Valley Classic

• L, Northern Illinois 34-21
• #1 Historical

This wasn’t a particularly good game. I can’t even find decent video of it longer than two minutes.

UPDATE: Ben found the full game on YouTube and I have since replaced the link.

But it was Troy’s first bowl game, and it was Troy’s first season as a Sun Belt team. That all counts for something, right?

Those are literally the only bright spots on this dull milestone. Even the weather was ugly.

8. 2008 New Orleans Bowl

• • L, Southern Miss 30-27 OT
  • #2 Rewatchable

I think I can safely say this is the worst bowl game in Troy history.

It was the cap to another 8-5 season, Troy only got 73 rushing yards, and the Eagles literally put up 13 unanswered points to win the game.

Fellow TW writer Ben Whitehead reminded me that kicker Sam Glusman slammed his helmet into the ground after the overtime kick was blocked. I must have forgotten everything after that moment, but after rewatching it I can’t blame him.

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The Numbers

My high school algebra teacher used to take points off my test for “not showing my work,” so if for some reason Mrs. Watson is reading this, I want to prove I learned my lesson.

Here are the final rankings in each category.

Game	Dominance	Cherry on Top	Historical	Rewatchability	Fan Vote	Total
2017 New Orleans	3	1	2	6	1	13
2010 New Orleans	1	2	3	8	5	19
2016 Dollar General	5	5	4	3	3	20
2018 Dollar General	4	4	7	4	2	21
2006 New Orleans	2	3	6	7	4	22
2010 GMAC	6	6	5	1	7	25
2004 Silicon Valley	8	8	1	5	8	30
2008 New Orleans	7	7	8	2	6	30

The games can obviously be split into three tiers.

2010 and 2017 New Orleans Bowls are in their own league despite low rewatch scores. The other Neal Brown bowls match well with the win over Rice.

Finally, the three losses sit at their own table. I gave an edge to the Silicon Valley Classic because of the historical rating. It’s pretty clear the last two are equal on paper regardless.

The only real difference overall is the fan vote has the 2010 New Orleans Bowl lower than the 2006 game. If you think you know why that is, give me a shout.

If you think this whole thing is stupid, you want to see my data, or you think I should do something a different way, hit me up on Twitter.

I look forward to seeing where the 2022 Cure Bowl ends up on this list.