Keep Your Friends Close, Your Enemies Closer: Troy Trojans

I think it all comes down to the same thing your real estate agent tells you: location, location, location!  Troy, AL, is in southeastern Alabama and can throw a net over a 120-mile radius (Alabama, northwest Florida, and southeastern Georgia) and can fill their roster with tremendous athletes who—for whatever reason—Auburn and Alabama and Florida State and Georgia overlook.

Plus, Troy actively recruits the JC ranks to fill needs and takes some chances that BCS schools won’t on recruits.  Also, Larry Blakeney is the best non-BCS coach in the nation.

DC: Their starters can compete with the bigger programs, and some of them were originally signed by bigger programs or overlooked by them because of lower test scores and Troy got them.  A lot of it is coaching—Larry Blakeney isn’t too shabby at what he does, and he’s always getting in great assistants who seem to leave every other year for higher-profile jobs.

7. Even with all their big games against SEC and Big 12 opponents, do you still think BCS Conference opponents overlook the Trojans?

DC: Not anymore, but they still want to hold back on showing some stuff to future conference opponents.

BM: Heavens, I hope so.  The spread scheme on offense is a great equalizer of talent disparities, and the coaches never tire of playing up the David vs. Goliath theme with the players, so what it usually comes down to is making plays within the framework of the gameplan, hoping to have a chance at the end, and making the BCS opponents doubt themselves at crunch time, because there’s not usually any self-doubt on the Trojan sidelines.

8. The Trojans lost a ton of offensive skilled players.  With a bunch of new starters, what can Ohio State fans expect on Sep. 20?

BM: I’m not even sure what Troy fans can expect!  The “star” on offense is the scheme.  The spread attack was installed two years ago by Tony Franklin, who’s now at Auburn, and relies on quick, quick tempo and rhythm: getting into an offensive set fast so the defense can’t substitute situationally and gets winded, then getting the ball into the hands of the playmakers in space.

In a perfect scenario, you’ll see a sophomore QB (No. 7 Jamie Hampton, who Troy signed late after he committed to Purdue) who can run around a good bit, a sophomore RB (No. 32 DuJuan Harris) who’s fast and can catch it out of the backfield, and Jernigan (No. 3), who’ll stretch things out and can move after the catch.

DC: That will be Troy’s fourth game, so quarterback Jamie Hampton should be settled in.  He’ll already have been to LSU, and a lot of these guys have played in front of big crowds, so that won’t be a problem.  They’ll see a team that will fight to the end.

Troy’s biggest problem is that they find themselves a pot of gold early in the game against big teams but can’t seem to figure out how to cash it in.  That hurt them against Georgia last year and Florida State in 2006, when they got just three points off two early turnovers against UGA and three off three turnovers against FSU when they had a real chance to build a big lead early.

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