TroyTrojan

North Texas certainly has a great record at Apogee, and you don't lose to bad teams at home, I'll give you that. The FBS teams you've beaten at home are a combined 8-40 and you've beaten a 4-7 bottom feeding FCS team this year. Home field advantage is not going to decide this matchup. I'd say we're probably better than any team you've beaten at Apogee. My guess is Brelan Chancellor will have a big game. That guy ran away from the LSU defense. Playing ball control really is your best bet, we've been beaten in the past before using that method (ULM in 2008). I'm not sure how good your pass rush is, but that'd be a big key to the game as well. You can't give Corey Robinson time to throw.

Here's a counter argument: You don't think we'll put up more yards than LSU. I don't think we'll put up less yards than we did against an SEC defense. And lets not kid ourselves, neither of our defenses are nearly as good as MSU's or LSU's. Also, in 2008, North Texas played both LSU and Troy. Here is the yardage: Troy: 547 yards vs North Texas LSU: 425 yards vs North Texas So yes, it is possible to put up more yards than LSU. But as many have alluded to, our teams are largely unknown. I would also suspect that the LSU playbook was not fully opened, they would not prepare for you the same way they would for Alabama, Tennessee, or Florida. LSU could have dropped 700 to 800 yards on almost any mid major in the country. We had 570 yards against who is now #23 Mississippi State turning the ball over four times. They didn't turn it over once. If we didn't turn the ball over, we'd have had well over 600 yards. But again, if and butts candy and nutts. We didn't get it done. And I'm sure MSU didn't take us very seriously, as is the case when big teams play SBC schools. So really its hard to look at how we played against big teams and say "we're gonna be good."

Depends on who you ask. I don't think he's as bad as the fans make him out to be. But he hasn't been good over the last four years either. I liked him better in 05-08 when we had really good defenses. If we win Saturday it will be because of 600+ yards of offense, which isn't out of the question based on how we've played the first three games. If you really do mean "who" is rowell, he's our DC. We were 24-0 in home openers. Louisiana was 0-21 in road openers. They beat us. Records can be broken.

I think it could go either way. It looks like you're 5-2 at home. I'll agree that looks pretty good, and we may not win. But lets look at who you beat: 1. 1-11 Indiana 2. 1-11 FAU 3. 4-8 ULM 4. 2-10 MTSU 5. Texas Southern, the 100th/122 ranked team in FCS. Losses to Houston and WKU. Understandable, they are good teams. You have wins over the two worst (by a large margin) teams in the SBC, an 11 loss Indiana team by 3 points, a 4 win ULM team, and in week 2 this year the cuppiest and cakiest of all cupcakes to be had. So it's not like you guys are baller at Apogee. You're pretty good, but not unbeatable. It will still be a very tough game for Troy. I suspect Brelan Chancellor will have at least two TD's. That guy is FAST.

I will say I'm not one of those. CUSA is a great fit for North Texas and I think you'll succeed there. I just don't think its a good fit for Troy anymore. Two or three years ago, I would have jumped at the opportunity. The sunbelt is gaining steam, and I can't say for sure that CUSA is also advancing. That's not a flame. Geographically, and in terms of money/exposure/bowls you guys made the right decision. I just think at this point it may be best for Troy's situation to stay put for the time being.

Hey guys, no smack here, just some thoughts I'd like to share. I created my account ages ago but I post as TroyFootball05 everywhere else. I have my doubts whether or not Troy can win this game. You guys play well at Apogee. Some things about Troy: we don't play offense the same way we've played over the last 4 years. Ever since 2009 we've passed 85% of the time. We actually have a very productive run game this year lead by #20 Shawn Southward. We had 262 rushing yards and 191 passing yards vs UAB and 223 rushing yards last week against Mississippi State. Louisiana was able to keep our run game in check as we had only 60 yards, but 528 passing yards against the Cajuns. We should have three running backs rotating Saturday with #31 D.J. Taylor, our jumbo back, finally being able to play this season. He's been sorely needed on short yardage plays. Our other back is our speed back, #15 Justin Albert, who played running back in high school, and played wide receiver last year. Shawn Southward is a mixture of a jumbo back and a speed back; he's very well conditioned and can handle an absurd amount of carries. I have a feeling Troy will score a lot. We've had totals of 453, 588, and 573 yards in our games so far. But we've also had 7 turnovers in the last two games where both our opponents have had none each. If Troy keeps the ball, they will score. Whether or not we can stop North Texas is another deal all together. The Troy Defense is better than last year, but how much we're not certain of. They actually tackle this year, instead of the old "bump n' run" technique. Big plays have come from defensive backs being out of alignment, mostly the safeties. The corners are much improved from last year with three all-americans from different ranking systems. Ask if you want to know what they are. Watch out for #16 Chandler Worthy. He reminds me of Jerrel Jernigan and is coming along fine. He played as a true freshman last year and has looked a lot better so far. #8 Chip Reeves is our best deep threat. He played in 08, 09, and 10, and was ineligible due to grades in 2011. He's caught a lot of deep balls over his career and had 125 yards vs UAB. He's had a case of the drops over the last two games, so who knows if he'll be on or not. If he is, we'll score one or two easy touchdowns where he gets behind the defensive backs. Again, this game could go either way. For Troy it all depends on turnovers and how the defense handles the mean green offense. We'll move the ball, we just need to keep it. I'd like to hear some of the evaluations of your team. Oh, and yall have some weird emoticons.

I agree, it must be alabama, who's next? Where will FAU, ULM, and Troy fall in the countdown?

They beat Minnesota last year, by three points , it's their claim to fame, even though Minnesota went 1-11 last season.

FAU could go 12-0 this season. According to Phil Steele, their strength of schedule is 119 out of 120 teams. That's pretty weak. The way Steele ranked teams was based solely on the records of the teams in 2007 on anotehr teams schedule. So, in terms of wins and losses, the teams FAU plays this year didn't do so hot. Do I believe they'll go 12-0? Probably not. I think Texas, Michigan State, and one Sunbelt team will beat them, probably ULM. Giving them a 9-3 record with ULM taking the bowl.

This guy looks very Haugabookish! In the future, you guys will be unstopable.