Troy Upsets the LSU Tigers in Death Valley

The Troy Trojans came into Death Valley and took down the number 25 ranked LSU Tigers on Saturday. The Tigers had not lost to a non-conference team at home since 2000, when Nick Saban’s LSU squad fell to the UAB Blazers.

Troy made its presence felt early, forcing LSU running back Nick Brossette into fumbling the Tigers’ first offensive snap of the game. The Trojans recovered at the 30 yard line and scored five plays later on a quarterback keeper by Brandon Silvers.

LSU took over and was forced into a turnover on downs after driving to the Troy 33 yard line. Both defenses settled in and the teams began trading punts. Troy finally moved the football into Tiger territory but had a field goal miss well left. LSU responded with its own long drive but Troy continued to refuse to break defensively, forcing a field goal attempt that was missed.

The Trojans took over at their own 25 with 2:32 to go in the first half. Running back Jordan Chunn worked the LSU defense for nine yards on two carries before Silvers found wide receivers Damion Willis and Deondre Douglas through the air to put Troy in striking distance. With seven seconds left Silvers found wide out John Johnson 20 yards down the field to the LSU 20. Troy hurried to line but the refs signaled for the half and the LSU players hit the locker room.

Shortly after, the refs called the Tigers back onto the field and put two seconds back on the clock. The Trojans then bounced in a 37 yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead into the half. Troy held the Tigers to just 144 yards of offense in the first half.

Troy started the second half with the football and on the second play, Chunn knifed through the LSU defense with a 74 yard one to set up the Trojans at the Tiger one yard line. Four plays later, Chunn finished what he started and extended Troy’s lead out to 17-0.

Later in the third LSU was able to drive the ball into the redzone but coughed the football up. The huge stop was quickly negated, however, because Troy fumbled the ball away just three plays later. LSU took advantage with a seven yard touchdown from Myles Brennan to Foster Moreau. Brennan played quarterback for the entirety of the third quarterback after starter Danny Etling took a big hit on the last LSU drive of the first half.

On LSU’s next drive, the Tigers were able to pick up a first down but Brennan had the second pass of the fourth quarter picked off by freshman corner Marcus Jones. Troy once again took advantage, marching 64 yards in 6:30 minutes and scoring on a seven yard Josh Anderson Touchdown run.

With Troy now up 24-7 with a little eight minutes to go, LSU fans began leaving the stadium in droves. The Tiger football team, nonetheless, fought on. With Etling back in, LSU responded to Troy’s touchdown drive with one of its own in under a minute to make the score 24-14. Following Chunn’s second fumble of the game, the Tigers drove and found the end zone once again as Troy fans began having flashbacks to Troy’s blown 31-3 lead the last time these two teams played.

Troy recovered LSU’s onside kick with just under two minutes to play and absolutely needed at least one first down. Instead, the Trojans gained zero yard on three plays and punted the ball back with under 30 seconds remaining. Etling promptly completed a 27 yard pass to D.J. Chark on the sideline. On the next play, Etling found Troy corner back Blace Brown. The interception ended the game and began the celebration.

Troy’s victory is the first over an SEC school and second over a ranked opponent in school history. It was the third meeting between the two, with Troy holding a second half lead in each game. Unless the first two meetings, the Troy Trojans held on and walked out of Death Valley with a victory.

Chunn was a monster, to say the least. The senior back had 191 rushing yards on 30 carries. LSU’s Derrius Guice was held out due to injury, along with several others on defense for LSU.

Troy will get a much-needed break next week as it prepares for an in-state showdown with South Alabama in the Battle for the Belt.