Tuesday Takeaways: the Southern Game
A new series in which we take a deep look at the stats of the previous game; study the notes others made; and bring you the pros, cons and main takeaways; except like Chick-fil-A, we took the Lord’s Day off. Monday too, for good measure.
Pros
- Troy scored 55 points. That’s the most Chip Lindsey’s Trojans have ever put up, and the most since Troy blasted Texas State in 2018. It’s the 7th time Troy has scored more than 40 points under Lindsey. It is the first time since the first Middle Tennessee game last year.
- The Trojan defense picked off four passes. That’s tied for the most picks by a Chip Lindsey-led team. In 2019, Troy intercepted four passes against Texas State; the next year, Troy picked off three passes in the first Middle Tennessee game.
- Taylor Powell is crazy accurate. He only had 10 incompletions the whole game, and at least six of them were drops. The only bad throw came when he was surrounded by Jaguars and tried to dump it off. He earned Pro Football Focus’s highest-rated Group of Five quarterback for the weekend.
- The offensive line didn’t allow a sack. There were some times when Southern brought immense pressure, but between Taylor and Gunnar’s awareness and the linemen’s tenacity, Troy’s quarterback did not go down.
- Southern earned less than 200 yards of offense. What else is there to say? 81 yards rushing, and 108 yards passing.
- Troy’s playbook has changed. We’ve seen the spread offense in the Wiregrass for six years; the only time Troy lined up differently was to honor a national championship team. Saturday, the Trojans lined up in the Wildcat, the I formation, and several multi-back looks. It’s a welcome change in approach for an offense that statistically stagnated.
Cons
- Troy gave up a field goal. Bearing well in mind it was Southern’s only drive of more than 30 yards, and 4 of the other 10 drives ended in interceptions, the monumental accomplishments on offense make me wonder if a shutout was possible. Could the defense have played even better? That’s like asking if your no-hitter could’ve been a perfect game. It’s a nitpick, but only because it’s difficult to find any flaws in how well Troy performed.
- Southern brought immense pressure on some plays. That’s not to say Troy can’t handle such pressure. Southern’s defensive front is one of the best in the FCS. It only recorded one true quarterback hurry, but it also put several guys in the box nearly every other play. This is isn’t even a flaw, it’s just clear that is going to be a point of attack for every defense down the road.
- Southern may not be the best measurement for how good this team is. It’s safe to compare this win to the 2017 Austin Peay win, 2018 FAMU, 2018 Texas State, 2019 Campbell, and 2020 Middle Tennessee part one. The problem is that four of those five were the season openers, and they all came against truly inferior opponents. Sure Southern may be the SWAC champion in three months, but this game will live in a bubble, just like its counterparts did, until this time next week.
Conclusion
It was truly hard to glean negatives out of Saturday’s game, but that in itself became a negative, depending on your perspective. Taylor is an excellent quarterback, and he’s continuing the Troy tradition of smart, capable gunslingers under center. The stable of running backs nearly produced two 100-yard rushers, and the No. 1 wideout was seventh in receiving yards. On defense, the secondary played as well as it ever has under Lindsey, the front six held the line, and the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week added to this defense’s reputation. Troy is tied for seventh in scoring defense, and sixth in the country in scoring offense. The only team to perform better on both fronts was Boston College, who shut out an FCS team.
This game historically can’t tell us how good this Troy team is, but it does show us the potential this team has. Judging by its performance, this team has more upside than any other Lindsey squad. Liberty is coming to town this weekend, and after all that chaos, the Flames could be the fourth ranked opponent in as many years to visit the Vet.
The biggest takeaway is that Troy set the bar for itself. This kind of performance is what we need every week to become a winning team again.