Tuesday Takeaways: Taming Texas State
Well that happened. For the longest time, Troy’s performance against Texas State looked a lot like the script from the Chip Lindsey era:
- Take an early lead
- Let it slip away
- Mount a comeback
- Two-minute drive to win it
- Come up just short
Thankfully, the offense clicked when it mattered, and the Trojans stole victory from the Bobcats’ jaws. Or paws. Whatever.
I think there’s a big reason the offense looked sluggish, and we’ll get to that.
First, I have to admit, there were a few bright spots.
The Good
| Offensive MVP | RaJae’ Johnson |
| Defensive MVP | Shakel Brown |
| Stat of the Game | Several. See Below. |
I can’t give the MVPs to people who have already earned them, or at least not for this game. Jarret Doege’s late-game heroics aren’t lost on me though.
No, he put the ball in the place where only one man can get it… but RaJae’ made it count too. The two connected for that game-winning touchdown, and you can’t have a connection without two points.
The takeaway here is the chemistry the quarterbacks have, specifically with the wideouts. Our good friend Josh Boutwell captured this in his postgame recap:
How can you not love that?
Of course, the quarterbacks have learned a lot from each other too. The very next two paragraphs explain how the QB change happened: Sumrall put Doege in after Watson took another big hit.
That’s when Troy scored the aforementioned touchdown.
As much as we’ve picked apart Gunnar Watson’s gameplay, he earned a ton of respect in our eyes for what he did next—approach Coach Sumrall himself.
Sumrall says Watson was the one who pushed to keep Doege in the game.
This is how Doege explained it:
“He came up to me and said, ‘You’re hot right now, dude. If they ask me, I’m going to tell them it’s you right now.’ That’s an unselfish thing to do and I’ve never really seen that before being around the game. I have a really good friendship with Gunnar, I hang out with him pretty much every day and I go to his house all the time. His family is great and he’s just a great dude.”
I can’t say enough about how awesome that is.
On defense, the usual suspects made their names known, except for a solid performance from a name I haven’t really heard too often this year.
Shakel Brown tied for third-most tackles behind Carlton Martial and Craig Slocum, and he was one of two to make a tackle for loss all day.
Just like on offense, the play of the game cannot be understated, either. TJ Jackson picked up just three tackles, but he had one for loss, a QB hurry, and that massive deflection in the end zone.
Let’s watch it again shall we?
Good, good stuff.
You know what else is good? Troy is 5-2.
Do you know the last time Troy started the season 5-2? What about all the times?
Let’s look at them.
So historically, Troy has at least gone 8-4 when it’s started this well, pushing at least nine wins. That’s of course based on when the Trojans won game No. 5.
In fact, since joining FBS, every year Troy has started a season 5-2 it’s won the conference title.
That’s not rat poison, it’s just clearly labeled arsenic.
The truth is that Troy has to start 6-2 this season to control its own destiny. It’s already a good season, so let’s make it great.
Oh hey, Josh has something else for us:
Nice! The injury update is in the good column! That’s because all but one of the main question marks from the past few weeks are at least questionable.
Jayden McDonald and Luis Medina are still out though, and we’re all wishing them the best of luck on their recovery. They were huge parts of this defense last year.
Speaking of defense…
The Bad
Two tackles for loss? That’s all? No sacks? Those are the lowest totals all year.
Troy has to get more pressure on Number 5 Thursday night than it did on Layne Hatcher.
Yes, 207 yards passing is impressive considering, but That team in Mobile isn’t as forgiving offensively.
Speaking of offense, here are some other superlatives:
- 3/12 on third down (lowest all year)
- 16 completions (2nd fewest all year)
- 7 punts (most all year)
- 23,480 in attendance (lowest all year)
Oops, forget that last one. How did it get there?
The point is that this team felt anemic and sluggish… because it didn’t produce.
The first three drives of the second half all ended in punts. We’ve already talked about how important converting third downs is, so I won’t get too deep into it.
Again, props for having the wherewithal to make a change and get the offense going, but South Alabama’s offense is too effective for a game where Troy can only rely on its defense.
Save that for Army in November, man.
The Ugly
You already knew what was going in this section. Let’s all take a look at it together, okay?
Okay. Now, I know Coach Sumrall was fired up about it, and I know he’s handling it.
I trust the coaches and players to make sure this never happens again, so I’m not going to say anything that hasn’t already been thought or said.
It stung, but the team recovered and Troy won. So what? Now what?
Let’s move on.
Martial’s Magic Number: 41
Five games left. That’s an easy 8 tackles per game, provided he has a couple nines or a ten in there too.
Right now he’s averaging 10.5 tackles per game, putting him back inside the top 10 nationally, and still aiming to break the record against Arkansas State. If he steps it up, it’s possible that he does it against ULM in the Vet.
As always, we’ll keep you updated on Twitter after every game.