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Who?tah State · Troy Boyz

• THE Recording Studio: This is Gunner Watson, two-time Sunbelt Champion, and you're now listening to the Troy Boys podcast. ⁓ Welcome back to the Troy Boys Podcast. I am Trojan Joe. Thank you for joining us. We are here to talk about that game against the Missouri Tigers and get you ready for the next game against the Utah State Aggies. But I'm not here to do it alone. Let us welcome in the Trojan who the land folks love to cook, but under the seas, off the hook. Seabass. Welcome in, Seabass. Hey Joe, it's a pleasure to be here once again to talk about some Troy football. Heartbreaker up there, Missouri. You know, we kept it close there for a while. There were a lot of really good things, a couple things we can learn from and and and continue to still really have a really good season. We can't let this one loss get in the way. I think ⁓ the Trojans did a really good job at showcasing what we're capable of pulling off this season. So ⁓ let's talk about it and get into Utah State. Absolutely. Yeah, it was a tough one, but ⁓ we'll get into it a little bit more. It's always tough when you schedule these P four games, but I think ⁓ what you want most is to learn a lot about your team and it I feel like we did that. ⁓ let's welcome in the third man in the booth, the Trojan, who is also known by his wrestling nickname, the Inkless Wonder. Welcome in, Birdman. Welcome in, Birdman. How are ya? Dude, you said that just now, and it made me think of that one scene from Spider Man where he's like, I'm I I what was it? He's like, I'm the amazing spider. He's like, No, you can't say that. Spider Man is like, Whatever, bro. Yeah, I'm here. I'm Inkless. ⁓ I flew by. tattoo shop today but they were closed so another day another dollar guys my money more problems so let's get into it. All right. ⁓ so we got this Missouri game. Obviously we were all up on Saturday night ⁓ watching this game. The Trojans gave the Tigers quite a game, ⁓ but came up short twenty seven to seventeen. ⁓ you know obviously not where we wanted things to be. ⁓ if you were out looking at Troy fans or on Facebook groups, ⁓ Troy people were Some of them were down in the dump. Some of them were kind of excited and thought that we had played a lot better than we did even in our wins. So ⁓ very interesting. I look forward to hearing you guys ⁓ and your takes on the game. ⁓ so let's break it down. Bass, go ahead and get started by telling us about how the defense fared against the Tigers. Yeah, absolutely. Look, Troy's defense played very well coming up against a solid P four opponent in the SEC. They are a top twenty caliber team. Final score only being ten points off, twenty seven seventeen. And and that's just misleading. There are a couple of moments in this game that I really feel like we could have taken this and run away with it. ⁓ but I think the biggest takeaway for defense is that we just shut down their offense. ⁓ yeah, we we talked about their run game being established being a huge problem, and they had some solid receivers that that could make some serious plays. ⁓ Missouri only finished with two hundred and thirty total yards on forty-seven plays, thirteen first downs. And they only went two for eleven on third down. We held their quarterback Austin Simmons to only ninety-one passing yards, which which is something that Missouri has just really been been ⁓ pushing this season. They have a really strong running game, they have a really strong air attack. ⁓ and and we really felt like coming into this game that that's how they were gonna try to to beat us down. What was just big powerful runs and when we stop ⁓ with a wall, big lob pass. We talked about that last week. And I feel like we really did a good job ⁓ we were outstanding statistically going up against a quality SEC opponent. Yeah, the Trojans pass defense was was excellent. It was probably the strongest part of their defensive performance. ⁓ you know, like I said, Simmons came into the game having thrown for five hundred and forty four total yards and seven touchdowns, and we just kinda dwarfed those numbers for him. ⁓ he only had ninety one yards, like I said earlier, one touchdown. ⁓ and their longest completion was only twenty three yards. So we kinda kept him in shorter situations there through the air. ⁓ Third down, like I said, we won that one. They were only two for eleven. And Troy repeatedly got off the field and forced Missouri to punt. They punted seven times in this game, and five of those punts were pinned inside the twenty. Joe will talk much more about that whenever we get into special teams. But that was a that was a really stellar game there ⁓ from a punting perspective. ⁓ the one thing that I'm I'm not pleased with is on defense would be the the just putting pressure. in the backfield. And that I feel like that's the song and dance I I constantly sing. I I'm never quite satisfied. ⁓ but Troy didn't record a single sack this game. Not one. ⁓ you know, it it's encouraging to watch us be, you know, stout and secure on the line and stout and secure in the secondary, but I'd still like for us to get in the backfield a little more and c and play just a little more disruptor. ⁓ you know, the defense got i we put Missouri in some tight spots at times and we did a really good job of getting off the field when it actually counted to give our offense the opportunity to put points on the board. ⁓ and we really limited what they could do. A bottom line in this game is I I came away from this game much more pleased, much more encouraged about our defense. ⁓ you know, it it it's something that we ⁓ we talked ⁓ at the beginning of the season, even in the pre s the pre season ⁓ episode, we talked about There's just a lot of unknowns. We know there's a lot of quality there. We just didn't know how well it would all gel, how much it would jive, and and and what is the ⁓ what are the other layers that we don't see look like. And I feel like defensively we are really in a good spot. ⁓ and I and I feel like that in in conference play it's gonna be a big deal for us. and whenever you go up against a quality opponent like Missouri, who is known to be right now a a really powerful offensive attack, even with Chip Lindsay. ⁓ our defense being able to come in and and stifle them to only twenty seven points whenever that was the spread going into this game. There's is really telling it how how strong our defense can be whenever you give ⁓ the right ⁓ the right time to do what they need to do. Yeah, and you kind talked about it without talking about it. you know, Donnie Smith did play, but he played ⁓ injured, hurt, ⁓ had a groin strain. ⁓ you know, you could definitely tell, I think. He is ⁓ obviously kind of the beating heart of our defense. ⁓ and I think we would have done a lot better had he been at a hundred percent. ⁓ and he would have given us that kind of X factor to maybe get into the backfield and make some disruptive plays. Birdman, what did you see out of that Troy offense? Absolutely. I feel like the Troy offense was kind of a mixed bag. ⁓ it was very encouraging but also extremely frustrating. ⁓ they definitely explosive enough to threaten the upset, but there's just a lot of inconsistency ⁓ going on. But however, they finished with three hundred and twenty-three total yards and they actually outgained Missouri by ninety-three yards and they controlled the ball for more than thirty-seven minutes, and that was insane. ⁓ they only averaged about four and a half yards per play. They rushed for ninety-three yards on forty c carries, and they also had ⁓ they gave up three sacks and committed two turnovers that directly set up the Missouri touchdowns ⁓ that we saw later in the game. So ⁓ highlights Goose Crowder really big playability. He finished 18 of 32 for 230 yards, had two touchdowns and one interception. I was really upset about that one. ⁓ his numbers weren't spectacular, but I mean he did generate some pretty big offensive plays early on, so I was very happy to see that against this caliber of a team. TK Keys and Howard Kenshin were notable as well. ⁓ Kenshin had five receptions for 80 yards, a long of 55. Keys had two for 83 yards with one being a long of 76, which was, I believe, that was our second drive that we scored on in the first quarter. So ⁓ really explosive there and really good to see that. ⁓ after the opening quarter, ⁓ ⁓ I mean they they had one more and very impressive drive. I think that possession lasted for like ten minutes and they Ethan Head was able to get a field goal. I know Joe will talk more about that. But after that, scoring wise, I feel like we really slowed down a lot. Felt like we had a lot of positives coming out, especially coming in with a strong defense like ⁓ Bash just talked about to hold them to that number and to put the points on that we did early on. I do think Missouri was a little caught off guard. ⁓ and that w that really played a played favor for us, but I we just couldn't we couldn't adjust after the half and I feel like we, you know, we just got tired. ⁓ and really the turnovers, man, the turnovers are really just what got us SEC teams. When we play these teams like this in the in during the regular season, it really sh it we struggle in situations like this where we just once we do that turnover, once we give up the ball once, we're just in our head and then SET teams know how to capitalize on that stuff. You know, not that Sunbelt teams don't, but against Sunbelt competition, our offense looked a lot more capable than what we were against our this SEC foe. So overall, not terrible. Definitely saw some things we can work on, but I was still very impressed with this Troy off offense. Yeah, and and and I'm gonna interrupt Joe because I know he I know he's about to talk about special teams and I was going to wait to the end, but you went ahead and started to talk about it. So it in our text message thread after this game, you know, 'cause we w most of us don't text during the games, but when this game finished, ⁓ the only thing that I said was we were f we failed in two statistics in this game. And those two statistics is what cost us this game. At the end of the day, if we're gonna wrap it up into into two really simple things, it's gonna be turnovers and our inability to rush. Yep. That's that is what lost us this game. Yeah. We've to It wasn't. And we talked about that last week. You we we both brought it up with it, you know, our rush rush attack has become kind of an identity for our offense to to to kind of get things rolling for us, and we just kept getting stifled. And I said that would be one of their things coming in defensively is that they were going to stifle our run. And so we needed Goose to come out and be sound and secure. And there were moments with question marks. You know, we we we we outdid them in first downs. We outdid them on third down efficiency, fourth down efficiency. We had more yards than them, almost a hundred more. We had more passing yards. We had a better completion percentage. We had more yards per pass. We like everything statistically, we we had less penalties. We had time of possession down. We did everything right in this game except for two turnovers. Those two turnovers turn into fourteen points. You take ⁓ away, we're winning. And then our run game, we were sub no ⁓ sub a hundred. And ⁓ going back to John Sumrol era, if we can't get over a hundred yards, we're not winning the game. Yeah. And I and I think that's that's where the consistency kind of like they were explosive and had really good moments in the game, but they just weren't consistent throughout the game to you know, to call to actually put some the pressure on like, ⁓ are we gonna actually lose or win this game for zoo? So Yeah, and and like I I don't want to sound like a Debbie Downer. They they did a great job. But, you know, i in a year from now are we gonna remember that? No. We're not. We're but you know, I this is why I'm not a believer in moral victories. I'm bel I'm a believer in actual victories. And this this was a good game for us. Statistically on paper, this is a this was a great game. Yeah, the coaching staff, hats off. You did a really good job in this game. But it came down to two plays and our inability to run the ball. And that that's what did us in. Yeah, and and we need we didn't talk about it a lot, but ⁓ we need other people besides TK Keys ⁓ to step up at wide receiver. ⁓ you know, I I feel like I jinxed him. I I made fun of your pick last season, Bass, and then I picked Nareel White, ⁓ and he has just disappeared. He definitely disappeared during this Missouri game. ⁓ and I mean, you know, to quote Coach Yost from Remember the Titans. You wanna act like a star, you better give me a star effort. I mean, he came in here, all of the kind of ⁓ highlights and flashiness in the world, which I don't mind. I like actually. ⁓ but if you're gonna do that, you need to go out there ⁓ you know, and and have a Chris Lewis type impact on the game. And we hadn't seen that yet. So ⁓ I hope he's listening. I hope he takes this as a challenge. It's time to go out there ⁓ and shut me up. I would be happy ⁓ to eat some crow on that one. ⁓ special teams, you know, you talked about a a couple of areas, ⁓ a couple of plays that you thought cost us the game. I think a lot of areas that cost us the game were on special teams. This is a much more critical report than it usually is. ⁓ you know, the punk return touchdown really changed the game. ⁓ Evan was not playing kind of at his usual level, ⁓ and the coverage team wasn't helping him. It wasn't like they were helping to cover up. What was obviously a bad night. ⁓ I mean, you look at his overall punting line, six punts, two hundred and fifty-three yards, forty-two yard average, fifty-seven yard long, two inside the twenty. These aren't terrible raw numbers. If they happened in any other game where you didn't know the score, you would say, Yeah, the punter did what he was supposed to do. but Missouri's punter was doing so much better. Our coverage team was doing nothing to stop them from returning the ball. ⁓ and therefore kind of that that yardage you don't think about. ⁓ that started to show up big in Missouri's favor. one area of the game where we were doing very well ⁓ was the kicking game. ⁓ Ethan Head made the opportunities ⁓ that Troy could really expect him to make. ⁓ when we needed to count on Head, we could count on Head. ⁓ he connected on a 27 yard field goal late in the first first quarter to go up 10 to nothing. ⁓ he did miss a 54 yard attempt in the fourth quarter. Obviously, that's huge, would have put us within a touchdown. ⁓ but that's a long range kick. So ⁓ that's expecting a lot out of head. ⁓ so ⁓ you know, I wouldn't consider that a huge negative, ⁓ even though it would have put us in a better position. ⁓ kickoff coverage was okay. ⁓ really the punk coverage was bad and punk returning was even worse, as was kickoff returnings. Zero punt returns for zero yards, zero kickoff returns. ⁓ whereas Missouri was returning both. ⁓ and that's kind of that secret yardage we're talking about and really winning the field position battle. ⁓ you know, you put the game in context, seven points on the punt return touchdown, three points after our punting miscue, all of a sudden there you go. You're in a tie game. ⁓ that's why special teams is so important. ⁓ You know, bottom line, place kick kicking, like I said, I thought was solid. Kick coverage was was good. ⁓ punting and punk coverage really cost us. ⁓ so I would say, you know, this is a chance for the special teams, which has been kind of just automatic ⁓ this year, to take a look at themselves and see how can we improve. ⁓ and some of these younger guys would ⁓ you know, ⁓ Jared calls the job takers of the week that are out there on special teams. ⁓ hey, go out there and make a play because we need you to do it. ⁓ it's an important part of the game. It's not just the forgotten kind of third leg. ⁓ all right. Now for some of the toughest work on the day. ⁓ we're gonna ask the bird to ⁓ kind of dig around ⁓ in the ⁓ little sea rock city birdhouse that he's living in ⁓ to tell us who's shown the most for the Trojans in this week's version of the best in the nest. Absolutely. I think this week I want to show some love to the defense, to one of the only good things to come out of Mobile besides Foo Sackles, ⁓ Justin Poe, fourteen tackles with six solo and one for loss. It was a fantastic effort on his part. Most tackles by any defender on the team on Saturday. So really just impressive. So Justin Poe, if you are listening to this, clear off your mantle because you just got your first best in the nest. Hey, congratulations to the Davidson High School alum who I mean just won Best in the Nest and then was on ⁓ Trojan Talk with Barry McKnight tonight. So I mean this is is a big day for Justin Poe. ⁓ they are celebrating on Dauphin Street, I can guarantee it. ⁓ before we turn the page on last week, let's take a look around the Sunbelt Conference and see if the weird lady on stage in that commercial is still talking about how we're rising. In this week's edition of The Rising Report. All right, guys, very quickly, ⁓ we are gonna head very soon to a time we have a lot less games to discuss because we'll be playing each other. ⁓ but another big board here today. ⁓ Delaware defeats Coastal Carolina 22 to 14. Baylor beats La Tech 36 to 19. ⁓ southeastern Louisiana beats ULM 38 to 35. ECU beats Old Dominion 20 to 17. App State beat Charlotte 26-21. Marshall beat Missouri State 30 to 24. ⁓ UCF beat Georgia State 44-30. Yukon beat Southern Miss 48-20. Those guys in Mobile beat Ohio 41 to 36. Jacksonville State beat Georgia Southern 31 to 27. It's too bad that the Earth couldn't have opened up and swallowed both teams for that game. TCU beat Arkansas State 31 to seven. ⁓ Lala beat a U the university that ate Birmingham twenty-one to fourteen. and James Madison beat San Diego State twenty-six to thirteen. ⁓ all right, guys. Which of the results, other than the Troy game, perhaps, ⁓ surprised you the most from the Sunbelt schedule? Bass, what did you think? Yeah, I'm gonna start with the boys' honorable mention here. App State once again close game against an in state foe against an American conference team, taking on Charlotte and taking ⁓ out. Man, App State playing these close games and and and really making a name for themselves back in state against common opponents. That that's I mean, watch out. They could be coming back. All right, so ⁓ the one that was actually probably the number one most intriguing to literally everybody, ⁓ Man how the not mighty. ⁓ man how the lowly have fallen even lower. U L Monroe. It's time to have a serious conversation about your validity as an FBS program. ⁓ ULM was a ten and a half point favorite at home and lose to the FCS in state opponent southeastern Louisiana, giving them their first ever FBS victory. ⁓ And what's what makes it even more crazy is ULM actually put up way more yards than Southeastern Louisiana. ULM put up a five hundred and eleven yards and southeast Louisiana only put up two hundred and seventy nine. ⁓ Warhawks beat them in time of possession and and and and numerous other metrics and they still find a way to lose. ⁓ you know, ULM Trying to find their way back into it, ⁓ but a a massive special teams blunder gives Southeastern Louisiana the go ahead to win the game and pull off the upset. ⁓ So so maybe it's time. Maybe it's time for somebody in that athletics department trailer to look themselves in the mirror and say maybe it's time. ⁓ I think it's time for the whole school. Shut the whole thing down. I mean it this is embarrassing. I I I finally saw a UALM fan out on the Sunbelt Uncensored Facebook page and they were talking about, you know, well, back when we were in the Southland, I was like, buddy, that conference just went for bankruptcy. Like you are you are reaching for something that's not even possible anymore. Look, the the Ohio Valley Conference is begging for somebody to come back. Like please, please You are dragging the rest of us down. At least Georgia State is doing something. Wow. That's that's the hottest take you're gonna get tonight. I ⁓ don't don't care. It's a what happens. They they took out Kennesaw last week and here you are losing to Southeast Louisiana. It's bad. It's really bad. ⁓ and we interviewed their ⁓ kind of color commentary guy a couple of years ago. He was very nice. I feel terrible talking about them this way. I know there are people that love ULM the way that we love Troy. ⁓ but it's like, God, you if you just if you're not gonna spend more than $15 million a year, you're not gonna compete anymore, even at the Sunbelt level. It's just not gonna make it. So you've got to decide what are we gonna do? ⁓ so yeah, I feel bad, but that is embarrassing for the conference. And we've done that. We've lost us some FCS schools ⁓ before people send us hate mail. ⁓ but certainly not in a not in that type of situation. So ⁓ Birdman, which game surprised you the most? Yeah, speaking of embarrassment to the conference, ⁓ Yukon and Southern Miss, like nobody's surprised that Southern Miss lost. I think we need to talk about how badly they lost because UConn was only about a three, three and a half point favorite. ⁓ But even looking at the score, forty eight to twenty, it makes the game sound a lot closer than it was, but it wasn't because UConn led forty one to six during the third quarter. ⁓ so really just not a great game for Southern Minnesota all. It's pretty significant because this wasn't a road trip to an SEC powerhouse team. This was literally a group of five opponent at the at home. They were at home. ⁓ you know, I we've been to a couple of their home games. That's not like many of their fans go anyway, so I can understand. I mean but But this is but this is Yukon. I know. This is this is the same Yukon team that lost to Rice in overtime last year. I mean, this is Yukon. Yeah. It's not good. It's very, very bad. I mean, and after losing forty three to eight at Auburn ⁓ the other week, they have now surrendered ninety one points in two games. ⁓ and Let's sum it up why it's surprising. A three point underdog losing is ordinary. A three point underdog getting buried forty-one to six before garbage time at home is not. ⁓ so yeah. Sunbelt race, Southern Miss is not looking great. ⁓ they're another school that should probably just just shut it down. So Southern Miss football is this season is quickly becoming ⁓ like listening to an episode of the Everyday Eagles podcast. ⁓ about halfway through, you start thinking to yourself. When are the Troy boys gonna show up? ⁓ like I need I need something to to get me going here, and this is not it. Text Man We shout out to shout out to Tim at the Everyday Eagles. All right, guys, my biggest surprise ⁓ definitely happens to be ⁓ Jacksonville State and Georgia Southern. ⁓ Jacksonville State winning the game 31 to 27. ⁓ in a in a Saturday of wacky games. I don't know if you saw the Vanderbilt NC State finish. ⁓ surely that replay has been played a million times in every Buffalo Wild Wings. ⁓ but I mean this was a game sort of like that. Jacksonville State was favored by about three and a half points, so winning by four points. Bash, your guys out in Vegas were right on it. Exactly. And I don't think they saw it happening this way. ⁓ Georgia Southern, they were up 17 to nothing, looking good. ⁓ went into halftime ahead twenty-four to ten, still looking pretty good. Went into the fourth quarter leading twenty-seven to seventeen. Gotta feel good about that. Jacksonville State scores 14 unanswered points in the fourth. ⁓ makes a comeback from 17 points down. The largest home comeback in Jacksonville State history ⁓ tied with a game in 2019. So ⁓ obviously, I think Georgia Southern was sort of building some momentum. There's definitely some excitement from their fans in different online forums. ⁓ but this definitely is a a stumble. ⁓ and as you start comparing yourself regionally, if you're a Georgia Southern fan, I think you start to go, you know, Jacksonville State's a place that we're recruiting against. Very similar schools culturally and in identity. ⁓ and so this is the kind of game you didn't want to lose. ⁓ and so obviously we didn't want to send see either of these teams win. ⁓ but interesting the way that Jacksonville State ended up doing it. ⁓ all right, that's enough of last week. It is time to get ready for this week. ⁓ we are traveling out west to visit the Utah State Aggies for a 6 30 p.m. kickoff. Despite being 0-3, including a loss to an FCS squad. The Trojans are road dogs against these Aggies. ⁓ the guys out in Vegas think the Aggies ⁓ have a win in store for them. ⁓ Bass, go ahead, give us some thoughts on these Utah State Aggies. Yeah, Joe, Utah State really has had a rough start here. They're sitting 0-3 right now coming into this one. ⁓ but the heck the record right now is hiding a really decent performance between two really not great performances, and we'll talk more about that here in just a second. ⁓ their home opener. ⁓ they played ⁓ another FCS opponent, Idaho State, and lost ⁓ twenty nine to seventeen. So that's a big red flag like we talked about with Monroe. If you can't handle your FCS opponent handedly, ⁓ not really gonna not really gonna end well for ya. And in similar circumstances, Utah State out out out gained ⁓ hundred ⁓ by over a hundred yards, but man, the turnovers just killed him in that game. Utah State went to to Washington up the road. ⁓ And and they lost by two points, sixteen to fourteen, coming down to a Hail Mary. And they they just could not get the Big Ten Michigan treatment and get a second chance there with zeros on the clock to win the game. ⁓ so unfortunately ⁓ Utah State falls in that one. a a really strong showing there against a quality Washington team. And then the following week they they they go play Utah and in state foe and lose thirty-three to nothing. They put nothing up on the board. Managed to put up sub two hundred yards, ⁓ and and really not a great game. So the problem right now that we're gonna talk about briefly is that this is a team that you w w we really don't have a pencil on. I they're d they're difficult to read. They're super inconsistent. and and something that we're gonna be able to benefit from in this though is that that because of this lack of consistency, they have problems with turnovers. That that's a big problem that they have. ⁓ Utah State has already thrown eight interceptions this season. Ooh, nearly ⁓ yeah, that's that's that's that's that's I mean, I we're gonna ball hawk this. We ni we need to come into this ready just to just jump at everything 'cause they'll throw it right to us. ⁓ the quarterback situation is just not set in stone either. ⁓ there's a lot of movement there. ⁓ but you know the they have flashes of the pan. Every now and again they have some really good moments ⁓ one of the biggest highlights has gotta be the seventy eight yard touchdown they had against Washington to keep them in this. ⁓ but but they've just really struggled to sustain drives and protect the football. ⁓ so defensively, we're gonna eat. This is gonna be a good game for us defensively. ⁓ hopefully our offense can do enough to put some points on the board and not not put us in a weird struggle situation on this one. So ⁓ to sum it all up, I'm gonna categorize this team as ⁓ questionable at times, but can be dangerous. ⁓ so we j we just gotta be vigilant. We gotta be prepared for most of anything. we just we gotta we gotta be ready to attack offensively and overwhelm them on their defensive side of the ball because the other way around we're gonna be just fine. I'm not worried about us in the defensive slot. ⁓ I just want our offense to be able to to run the ball and and and put some points on the board. And I think we'll be fine. You know that this team I I I thought they were a better team coming into this season. ⁓ but after watching them they're so They're so flippant inconsistent. We really don't know what we're gonna get, but I'm hoping that what's indicative of two of their three games is what's gonna pan out this Saturday. Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ and you know, Bass, ⁓ we appreciate your effort looking into the Aggies because we made every effort possible to find and know your foe from Utah State. ⁓ we reached out to people that host ⁓ podcasts bragging about Utah State Aggies and and ⁓ you know. File four ⁓ four, no fan found. We just couldn't couldn't get anybody to come on. So if you're listening to this and you're in Utah, ⁓ you know, I don't know what's going on. ⁓ you know, next time we do this, which I hope is never, ⁓ please volunteer, come on, represent ⁓ the Utah State Aggies. All right, now that we have gotten a good breakdown of Utah State, ⁓ it is time to throw the bass into the Alabama River and have him swim through ⁓ the water table until he winds up in Pascagoula to answer that payphone and figure out what's going on out there in the desert in this week's edition of What's the Word from Pascagoula? All right, Birdman, what are you hearing? What are the ⁓ the betting odds for this game? Yeah, Bird, go ahead. ⁓ sorry, Bird. I meant bass. You want to try that again? No. Does he does Bird want to try getting a tattoo? Yeah, yeah. No, bass, just go for it. Okay, okay, okay. All right. So the word down in Pascagoula, Utah State. I look, when I read this and the the other two will attest to this, I had a mild come apart. when I read this. ⁓ but Utah State is favored by two and a half points. Why I couldn't tell you. ⁓ but Utah State is favored two and a half points. The overunder on this game set at forty eight and a half. Moneyline has Troy plus one twenty eight. ⁓ the FPI from ESPN, now that we're in week four, we can start actually relying on that being kind of okay. ⁓ forty seven point six percent chance for the Trojans to win this game, which is in line with A two and a half point spread. So the Vegas predicted score in this is Utah State twenty-six, the Trojans twenty-three. Yeah. I I I hate this. I'm just gonna sorry, Joe, I'm gonna interrupt you. I don't like it. Cause like when you look up like why are why are these people why are they why is Utah State two and a half point favorites? Home field advantage, ⁓ odds makers are essentially saying these two teams are evenly matched and right, yeah resilient resilient defense versus powerhouse team. I'm like, come on, man. Like what did what did we just do? against Mizzou. And now you're saying Utah State who is 0 3 is gonna po is gonna find a way to win? I think that I think that part of the problem is that and and I I guess I'm kind of supporting what I was saying earlier. Utah State is so wildly inconsistent that they're not willing to risk it for the biscuit on this game. Because because it like ⁓ any logical person would look at this and say, Man, Troy is the play here. But if Utah State pulls it out because they're they're a questionable team at best, you know, I they make money. Would you would you consider Troy to be questionable in this as well? Because since we've both shown inconsistencies. I mean, like our our question marks are fewer and far between than theirs. Yeah. Like we know our defense is going to come into this good. We know our special teams It's gonna be okay. That that that's that's actually a bothersome moment there 'cause I I feel like every time we come into this, I'm so used to Joe being so positive. Hey, special teams is wonderful, we're doing great again. And this season it's not been that. So I wish I wish we would address that. But I I think that because Utah State is so much more volatile, that I think Vegas is saying, We're gonna just gonna treat this like a pick'em and because they're at home they get the automatic three. Yeah. I think it's a pick ⁓ and see which way the money runs. ⁓ you know, and I mean I always try to put myself in the heads of their fans, like ⁓ their students, the people that are gonna be out there making this a ⁓ quote unquote hostile environment. I don't know that Utah State gets called that an awful lot. ⁓ but I mean I'm just I'm thinking ⁓ and three, you know, if I wake up and I'm a I'm a a student at Utah State and I wake up at ten A. ⁓ my alarm's going off. The football team is 0-3. It's not going to take a lot to get me to go, yeah, I'm going to give up my student ticket and go to the ⁓ you know, the party at the ⁓ the fraternity down the street's house or the bar party or whatever it is. So ⁓ you know, I think you can, especially if Troy goes in like we did against Missouri and kind of scores early. ⁓ not only will you have people who don't come, but you'll have people that go, all right, I've seen enough. Owen four is coming. ⁓ and at that point a quiet stadium is ⁓ is a terrible place to be, ⁓ especially if it's your own. So ⁓ we'll we'll see what happens. I I am not impressed with Vegas on this one. So ⁓ I'm hoping that we prove them wrong in a big way. ⁓ Bass, you're gonna wish that I called Bird's name on this one. This is ⁓ your last little bit of work tonight. ⁓ and boy is it a doozy. ⁓ it's when we invite Trojan Nation up to the banks of your pond to throw in their best lures at a chance to catch a sea bass in this week's edition of the Tackle Box. All right, Bass. I think ⁓ I think you have some idea about the stink bait that's being thrown your way here. ⁓ so I'm not going to ⁓ stretch it out. ⁓ Bass, here is a great stat. Jared Parker Has had our Trojans within one score in the fourth quarter of every game he's played against a Power Four squad. Yet there's still a great deal of animosity towards him. Certainly one little walk around TroyFans.com would tell you that. So how much of the blame for not winning these Power Four games do you assign to him versus execution from the guys on the field? Bird, play the music. Coach Parker. On behalf of the Troy boys, the three of us, we would like to formally apologize for all of the times we said you couldn't do it from all of the times that we said he's not our coach from all the times we said What's this guy doing and who does he think he is? From all the times we called you the next chip, Lindsay. You have clearly demonstrated that you are capable of putting our team in a position to win. But what you've also demonstrated is the inability to finish the game. I would like to take this opportunity to say that it's not all you, it's not always you. But if the hammer's gonna come down on somebody, it's the person at the top. Coach Parker, these games are winnable and you've demonstrated that it is. Just finish the job. Hmm. Could couldn't have said it better myself. ⁓ an excellent job there. Sea bass ⁓ spitting that stink bait back up onto the banks. ⁓ so yeah, I I tend to agree with you. I mean, th there are some areas where people can take legitimate issue. You look at that ⁓ the clock management going into halftime. Again, clock management s remaining an issue. so not saying it's him, maybe it's somebody else, but he's gotta do it. Yeah, now that this is done, okay, now that I've had that moment, Iowa, ⁓ that's his fault. I I I blame him on that one. ⁓ Clemson, similar problem. Dabo was really down. Like we had that game in the bag and we lost that one. ⁓ this one, I'm not gonna blame him. Th th this Missouri game is not his fault. ⁓ that that came down to execution. Special teams dropped the ball a couple times, t ⁓ and two turnovers turned into points. I feel like that this game And I even said it on Text Matchers thread. I feel like coaching was impeccable in this Missouri game. We did a really good job setting our team up for success and we clearly had everything roll our way except for two fundamental areas. And and we talked about it too, whenever we like to p he said we like to play these close games. I don't like that. I do not want to play close games. I I wanna play I wanna play stomp their throat and then whenever they're asking to breathe, just push further. You know, I we gotta Ugh, it needs to be no questions asked. We're we are the team you should be afraid to play and not the team that could beat us, maybe. And that that's my position on that. So I think I think you killed it, man. I think you got it. I think that's the way a lot of Troy nation is feeling. ⁓ and we'll just have to see. How does he come out and answer the bell? ⁓ especially with this Utah State game on the line. ⁓ which could be very important. You win Utah State, all of a sudden you're three and one. ⁓ you're three games away from bowl. ⁓ I think everybody's feeling a whole lot better. So let's see what happens. all right, now it's time ⁓ for our last segment of the night. ⁓ and that is when I cover myself in icy cold Gatorades ⁓ and wander into the hottest corner of the internet to bring everyone in Trojan Nation a small piece. of Troyfans dot com in this week's edition of the Troyfans dot com. Hot take of the week. So many hot takes this episode. It's been wild. We don't need Buffalo Wildings, Douglas Volk. It is it has been it has been weak. I could make a hot take of the week just off this episode, but ⁓ I do want to give a honorable mention. ⁓ obviously the winner of this award has been set up in precedent through angry messages. ⁓ has to be on TroyFans.com. ⁓ but an honorable mention goes out to Coach Bryant Vincent, the head coach of ULM. ⁓ a fan ⁓ tweeted at him ⁓ that ULM should fire him and fire the rest of the coaches. ⁓ to which the coach responded, Why don't you come fire me, fat boy? ⁓ which is just fantastic. I mean When things aren't going well, just keep digging. You know what I mean? Maybe you'll hit water. ⁓ man. ⁓ so ⁓ things are ⁓ things are looking great down there in Monroe. but this week's winner, and I do apologize, I I wouldn't say there's vulgarity in this week's winner, but ⁓ certainly some language you might not want your your kids around ⁓ just ⁓ because they'd love to repeat it. But ⁓ here we go. This week's winter. ⁓ was not feeling great about the Trojans. ⁓ and they decided to comment ⁓ quote if I were rating us between the worst and best football teams in America, I would say we are a bucket of buttholes. Gosh. We play a real opponent next week. That's it. That's that's where they this is where they leave us. What in the world? So I mean, for all of you who say that we go too far when we're like, I don't know, maybe this young man not executing exactly no, I mean this guy's coming out the whole team. Bucket of buttholes. So ⁓ is that the episode title? Bucket of buttholes. It's ⁓ it's something. I cannot wait for December when we do the montage of all the hot takes of the week because this one this is probably one of the best ones we've ever This is definitely up for hot take of the year for sure. I ⁓ I think you're wrong, poster, but you're also ⁓ so right. I just love I love the hot takery. ⁓ so congratulations, you are indeed this week's TroyFans.com Hot Take the Week. yeah, absolutely deserves all the praise. ⁓ all right, guys. We have done it. We've taken up an hour of Trojan Nation's time breaking down the Missouri game, getting ready for Utah State. Now it's time for some closing remarks. Bass, go ahead, hit Trojan Nation with some closing remarks. Yeah, like, rate, subscribe, review to the Troy Boys Podcast. ⁓ share us with all your friends and family. That's how we get the word out for the Troy Boys Podcast. ⁓ And if you don't have your season tickets yet, ⁓ you can still get ⁓ Troytrojans.com slash tickets, get you some tickets. ⁓ yeah, let's t let's take care of the Aggies this week. Let's let's start the season three and one. Let let's let's let's really and finish the season strong. Like don't l let's not let Missouri get in the way ⁓ of the rest of the season. We're in a good position and and we're not even in conference play yet. I I feel really strongly about this team and things are going very well. ⁓ yeah, let's so let's support this team and this coaching staff and let's finish strong. Absolutely love to hear it. Birdman, go ahead, hit us with those closing remarks. Yeah, absolutely. I think we're in a good spot. I I was really impressed with you know what we did against Missouri, even though there are some things we need to work on and you know, we can like we're a bunch of idiots with microphones. Like we like we don't always know what we're talking about, but ⁓ I I do enjoy the hot takes and getting to do this with you guys every week. And so ⁓ if People again, I'll just reiterate and and emphasize like ⁓ shout out to all the fans that listen. ⁓ we have right now looking like a hundred plus streams on every episode so far this season and I'm you know super, super pumped about that. So even the ones that tell us that we're a bunch of idiots and that ⁓ we hate the Trojans, I see you're still tuning in, even though I'm pretty sure Joe just goes back and listens like thirty times. So ⁓ either or, ⁓ you know, I it's just just it's just great to do this and we love the Trojans and I'm rooting for a three and one, ⁓ three and one record next week and I'm hoping that we at least go bowling this year. And I think we can do it. I think we got the right people. We just need to continue to have that good fan support ⁓ and just back the Trojans and create hostile environments for even when we are ⁓ on these away games. So go Trojans and yeah, let's beat the Aggies next week. Absolutely. It is time ⁓ to beat Utah State. Not often that we go out there ⁓ West Coast ish, Rocky Mountain region adjacent. ⁓ and so time to go out and prove ourselves. Everyone, thank you so much for coming on and joining the Troy Boys tonight ⁓ as we get ready for Utah State. ⁓ I am Trojan Joe. That's the bass, that's the bird. And as always, go Trojans, and God bless you, Blace Brown.