Three takeaways from Troy’s upset loss to Middle Tennessee State
Troy turned the ball over twice and held the football for less than 23 minutes in a 20-17 loss to the Blue Raiders of Murfreesboro. The Palladium returns to Tennessee after a short 63 day stay in southeast Alabama following the Trojans’ 42-14 win over MTSU in the first game of the season.
The Trojans were without head coach Chip Lindsey, associate head coach John Carr and 10 players on Saturday, including four players on this week’s two-deep depth chart.
Offense is beginning to sputter
Troy has failed to reach 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time this year and second time over the past two seasons. Personnel issues have played a major factor but a lack of execution played a major role in the Trojans failing to get anything rolling against MTSU.
With Lindsey out, interim head coach and special teams coordinator Brian Blackmon said the play calling duties belonged to running backs coach Cole Weeks and offensive coordinator Ryan Pugh. The two excelled on third downs, calling eight conversions on 14 attempts.
It was first half penalties and multiple interceptions that cut possessions short, though.
“Not really small mistakes but mistakes here and there,” quarterback Gunnar Watson said after the game. “Like when we’re driving and I throw an interception. That happens and it sets us back. It puts the defense in a bad spot and it takes away our momentum a little bit.”
Watson’s second interception was thrown into the endzone in the third quarter and ended what was the longest possession since Troy’s first of the game.
The offense has relied on hitting big plays to spark a scoring drive but could not find it from its running game in the first 30 minutes. Out of 14 first half rush attempts, only one went for at least 10 yards.
“We just to make plays regardless of whether its a run or a pass,” running back BJ Smith said. “Once one person makes a play I feel like we get in a rhythm and everybody starts making plays then.”
Smith finished the game with with 62 rushing yards on 10 carries with a touchdown. All but five of his yards came in the second half.
Defense has been doing its job
For the first time since 2017, Troy has held its opponent to 20 or fewer points in three straight games. Even with Georgia Southern’s 300-yard rushing game last week, the run defense has been much improved over 2019.
Opponents are picking up only 3.9 yards per carry compared to last season’s 4.25. Georgia Southern is the only team to average at least five yards a carry against the Trojans this year while four different teams did it last season.
Middle Tennessee gained 3.6 yards per run on a hefty 51 carries. Carlton Martial recorded his 11th career double-digit tackle game with 11 stops while Craig Slocum logged a career high eight tackles.
Unfortunately for Troy, just when the defensive unit has stepped up, the usually reliable and highly potent offense has stumbled.
Troy found its go-to punter on the kickoff team
Kyle Coale opened the season as the starting punter following Tyler Sumpter’s transfer but the role has since shifted to Jack Martin, the kickoff specialist.
Martin sent four balls into the air and averaged 44.2 yards on those punts, including a long of 54. He’s now averaging 45.4 yards per punt on the year.
“Jack hasn’t been a punter by trade,” Blackmon said. “He’s been a kickoff guy… Early in the season his operation times were a little slow so we weren’t quite comfortable getting him out there but he has worked really hard on that. Obviously his leg is incredibly strong. That speaks for itself but he has done so much work to get his operation times down.”
The Dothan product has dropped 11 punts inside the 20-yard line and has yet to see a touchback. His 44.8 NET punt average leads the Sun Belt by a wide margin.