Latest / Troy Boyz / Taking the Crew to the Zou

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Taking the Crew to the Zou · Troy Boyz

• THE Recording Studio: This is Gunnar Watson, two-time Sunbelt Champion, and you're now listening to the Troy Boys Podcast. ⁓ Welcome back to the Troy Boys Podcast. It is Trojan Joe. Thank you for joining us. And we're here to break down what happened against the Alabama State Hornets and get ready for our trip to Mizzou. But I'm not here to do it alone. Let me welcome in first the Trojan who tells me of his hometown that each little snail there knows how to whale there. Seabass, welcome in, C-Bass. Hey Joe, glad to be back. I had to take a week off, got the suds. ⁓ but I I found my way to some cleaner, fresher waters. And here we are, ready to talk about a big Alabama State win, two and in the beginning of the season. Really glad that we're in this position, looking forward to going to Missouri. Yeah, buddy. Yes, stay at stay out of that lagoon over there on Troy's campus. I know it looks pretty, but there's still a lot of secrets in that lagoon. Okay. A lot of suds going around. ⁓ next up, let me welcome in the avian creature who enjoys flying in merry weather. Birdman, welcome in, Birdman. What's going on, guys? Super pumped to be here. I I man, you know, I'm always on these avian adventures, so I'm really glad to see the turbulence has has cooled down a little bit and we are in good sunshine and sixty degrees right now. So happy to be here. Absolutely. You gotta love it. ⁓ let me tell you about a day when it was not 60 degrees. ⁓ the Alabama State game, ⁓ the Tro Trojans win an in-state battle, a little closer than the experts predicted, 34 to 17. the stadium was absolutely packed. ⁓ I was down in the vet, and it was really nice. It had a great energy. ⁓ a lot of Alabama State fans, their band was there. ⁓ so it was just really ⁓ pretty hyped up, but it was hot. I mean, a 3 p.m. kickoff in early September is tough in Alabama. So people were definitely ⁓ I mean, if everybody had ever sat down in their seats at the same time, ⁓ you would have seen probably one of the most packed Troy football games of all time. But people just spent a lot of time kind of being under the concourse and and keeping themselves hydrated, ⁓ either with water or ⁓ or some boat sodas. So ⁓ let's break down what happened on the field, not at halftime, ⁓ but why the game was going on. Bass, talk to us a little bit about that Troy defense against the Hornets. Yeah, the the defense was pretty solid against Alabama State. And ⁓ you know, I I think the score kind of undersells how well they actually played. ⁓ Alabama State only managed to put up 221 total yards on 58 plays. That's an average of 3.8 yards a play. ⁓ which is pretty good. That's the that's the fewest that Troy has allowed ⁓ under Jared Parker's tenure. So I I feel like the defense is really moving in the right direction. ⁓ picked up three total sacks, Keena Jones picked up one and a half, Donnie Smith with one and Rakeem Davis with the other half. Fifty five total tackles, eight tackles for loss. ⁓ you know, I really want that tackle for loss number to be a little bit higher, ⁓ kind of exert some more pressure in the backfield. ⁓ I'd appreciate that. But 17 points we gave up, like I said earlier, was kind of misleading, and I'm sure Bird will talk more about it whenever he gets into the offense. But ten of those points came on consecutive third quarter drives where our offense just failed to convert on fourth downs. ⁓ you know, and I I'm I'm I'm here for the aggressive play. You know, I'm not I'm not against it. We're we're kind of in a situation in that game where we could try some things and not not really be penalized heavily for it. ⁓ the the first one was a touchdown at Alabama State, ⁓ started at a Detroit thirty-four. ⁓ and then the they had a field goal where Troy ⁓ failed to convert ⁓ a fake punt. So they picked up on the on the Troy thirty. So really short situation there. ⁓ and they they managed to capitalize on that and pick up ten points there really quickly. ⁓ so ten other like I said, ten of their seventeen came out of just some some some offense problems, some special teams problems there ⁓ on fourth down conversions. but Troy defended the particularly the run extremely well. ⁓ the the problem has gotta be that We let up one too many tackles here and there. ⁓ you know, I ⁓ that Alabama State had that one big explosive fifty yard touchdown run. Right. Like like that kind of stuff we've got to kind of eliminate, especially when we go up against a team like Missouri coming up this week. ⁓ there's too many missed opportunities there for some for some tackles to be finished and ⁓ and and potentially have more tackles for loss than for some Zacks. I I do want to say that I think that the defense did a really good job of getting off of the field whenever they were given opportunities to do so. Alabama State was only four for fourteen on third down and ⁓ for two on fourth down. ⁓ so ri really good work there, very proud of this defense and they're they're showing. And like I said, that score is not really indicative of how well they actually did. Their defensive ⁓ unit as a whole was very cohesive, with minus some just small blunders. Yeah, and I'll tell you in the stadium, I'm not sure ⁓ what y'all saw kind of watching ⁓ the broadcast, but ⁓ the Troy Faithful were very unhappy, and this includes me, which it's gonna be a shock for anyone who knows me. I was unhappy with the refs, okay? And I know that never happens. ⁓ but it was there was a lot of holding ⁓ on our defensive linemen, especially Donnie Smith, ⁓ that I think really prevented ⁓ our defense from playing to the level ⁓ that they could have. I mean, I'm not trying to be mean. I think we've been very positive about Alabama State in the lead up to this. Alabama State doesn't have a player that can block Donnie Smith legally for four quarters. Okay. Like that that they don't have that guy. ⁓ and so the fact that you saw Donnie constantly Almost getting to Andrew Body, almost getting to the run carrier, and just like, you know, literally trying to rip himself out of his jersey to get there. And the ref calls nothing. That to me was very frustrating. ⁓ it was very frustrating for Troy fans in the stadium. And Alabama State fans were then getting frustrated because they felt like ⁓ Troy fans were kind of taking away credit. for their good effort. And that wasn't what I don't think they asked for those calls to not be made. ⁓ I think that's just what the refs had decided to do. But ⁓ I really think the defense could have looked a lot better ⁓ had the refs called the game a little bit more fairly. Yeah, and and to talk about officiating, like I i it look looking at the numbers, it is pretty skewed. ⁓ you know, I I don't like the number of penalties we had this game. I I would like for us to play cleaner all the time. ⁓ you know, I'd like I it's I know it's impossible to get zero penalties. Like it it's just yeah, that's a fluke if that happens. But you know, I think twelve is successive. I I think that that's something that needs to be addressed, especially when you go up against a team like Missouri, where you are gonna have officials that are just not gonna let little things like that slide, especially against, you know, a non conference team like a you know, like you know what I mean? Like they're not gonna let things like that slide to potentially give us an opportunity there. ⁓ and I and ⁓ we can go down this rabbit hole if we want to. I don't think we should today. But I think officiating as a whole, nationally, there's a lot of talk about it right now. There's a lot of hubbub about it. ⁓ and I feel like in time it's going to change. I I think that eventually this this conference level of officiating is gonna go away. I think we're gonna go to a national model eventually. ⁓ and then ⁓ 'cause like ⁓ game to game, crew to crew. Like the the important thing that they're looking for is different every single time. ⁓ and so the stuff that gets caught is the stuff that they think is important in the moment, or like the league office is telling them is important in the moment. And that changes game to game. And so when you got all these non conference games, you know, what they're looking for is different than what you're used to at home sometimes. And I feel like that that's a problem. I think that's I think that's gonna bite us going into this Missouri game. Is that the this SEC crew is gonna officiate much differently than we're used to. And that's typically been a problem when we play an SEC opponent is penalties. We we we normally get racked up on penalties. ⁓ so hopefully we can clean up a little bit and be a little more disciplined ⁓ and and try to minimize that going into next week as well. Yeah, we've definitely got to do especially on special teams, which I'll talk about in a little while. I mean, ⁓ special teams is when you're the underdog, that's a place where you have an opportunity and We messed up a lot of special teams plays ⁓ through just dumb penalties ⁓ when we were out there. So we've we've got to clean some of that up. And ⁓ Coach Parker definitely talked about that. ⁓ and so I think that's something that ⁓ the Trojans are probably hearing a lot right now as they go around the field house and go through practice ⁓ is keeping those dumb penalties to a minimum. ⁓ Birdman. Talk to us a little bit about this Troy Trojan offense that you saw against the Hornets. Yeah, Joe, ⁓ man, offense had some really impressive numbers and really some explosive moments against Alabama State. But I also think there was a little bit of a tail of two halves. I feel like the first half we came in pretty strong. Second half, we kind of got a little bit of exposure on some things that we're definitely going to need to clean up against Missouri, mostly the penalties. I think we had 120 yards worth of penalties on the offense. ⁓ And we also three of fourteen on third down and three of five on fourth down. So while we were moving the ball, like we still our efficiency was not super great. But overall, we finished with four hundred and twenty-seven total yards, including two hundred and twenty-six rushing, two hundred and one passing while averaging roughly six point two yards per play. And we controlled possession for thirty-two a little almost thirty-three minutes. ⁓ and we didn't turn the football over and we scored on all three of our red zone opportunities. So Not great, but great also too. Like a lot more than I saw last week against Sam Houston. So I I was impressed with that. ⁓ definitely seeing some progress there. ⁓ I will say the running game too was probably our biggest star. ⁓ we rushed 39 times for 226 yards, an average of five point eight yards per attempt. Can we say that the rushing game might be back for us? ⁓ I don't know what we're doing here, but well, it was the Fourth highest rushing total of the Jared Parker era, and it marked the second straight game in which Troy outrushed his opponent. ⁓ so we are 26 and those since ⁓ 2015 when rushing for more than 200 yards. So ⁓ yeah, so it's great. Numbers are looking good. There were defin there's definitely some things we got to clean up. and Merryweather, I think he's working out to be a fantastic RB one. I hope that they continue to put him in those in that spot. I think our run game also is probably a testament to the offensive line and blocking right now. We're getting a strong grade there as well. I feel like we are definitely improving in that area. ⁓ and just the just the overall explosion and the red zone game was definitely what made a difference for us in this. Even though we've got some things we need to clean up when it comes down to converting those downs, I would give this offense a solid B. ⁓ I was pretty I was pretty happy with what we got and I was Happy to see us, you know, get a couple of scores ahead of this team and keep it that way through the rest of the game. In terms of special teams, ⁓ you know, usually this is kind of a ⁓ very easy report to give. I tell you Evan Crenshaw's awesome, and then I just kind of log off. ⁓ special teams are much more mixed. ⁓ kickoff coverage and punting were both really good. ⁓ the failed fake punt, the multiple penalties on punt situations, ⁓ and the missed fourth quarter field goal ⁓ definitely were not. Highlights, ⁓ probably like a C performance. ⁓ Ethan Head, who is really turning into a solid kicker for us, he was two of three, hit one from 24, hit one from 47, ⁓ and of course had our only points of the second half. ⁓ the kickoff unit was really, really good. Head ⁓ kicked off seven times or 428 yards, averaged 61.1 yards per kickoff. ⁓ and they returned four. Of those kickoffs for only 59 yards. So that's about 15 yards per return. ⁓ so that's really, really good kickoff coverage. ⁓ Evan Crenshaw, of course, punted well. Three punts, 138 yards, 58 yard long. ⁓ so good numbers from him. the failed fake punt was definitely the biggest special teams mistake, not only of this game, but of the whole season so far. ⁓ I really don't understand what we were doing. ⁓ we were up 31 14 in the third quarter, fourth and four at our own 30. you know, Crenshaw ⁓ tries to throw to Joe Lott. ⁓ we found out one thing Evan Crenshaw does not do well, and that is throw the ball, ⁓ because it was not very good. that gave Alabama State the ball and put them in position to score. ⁓ you know, so you can you can go back and forth about The call from Jared Parker versus the execution. I don't think the call was very good. ⁓ and I definitely don't think ⁓ that the execution was very good. ⁓ the punt return game, not great. Naril White ⁓ returned two punts for a total of five yards, so not very good at all. ⁓ Jace Petty did have one good kick return. ⁓ so along of 31 yards that did kind of set us up. ⁓ the penalties really were the most troubling part. ⁓ we had multiple penalties associated with punt situations. ⁓ and it really sometimes actually gave Alabama State a first down from when we had held them to first down and made them punt. ⁓ you know, I do s I am still encouraged by special teams. Ethan Head is looking really, really good. ⁓ Evan Crenshaw, everyone's gonna be shocked to hear this, is a really, really good punter. ⁓ and the kickoff coverage was really good. Alabama State has athletes back there ready to return. ⁓ and we held them to under 15 yards on their return ⁓ on average. ⁓ so very important ⁓ you know, kind of building blocks. ⁓ I'd give us, yeah, like a C ⁓ when it comes to special teams. ⁓ but again, didn't lose us the game, didn't win us the game. ⁓ and so as long as special teams kind of stays out of the way, that's what you're hoping for, other than the pay. fake punt, that's really what we were able to do. ⁓ all right, for another big look into this game, we're gonna ask the bird man to scratch around ⁓ in his nest and tell us who really shone against Alabama State in this week's edition of Best in the Nest. Thank you, Joe. I am so excited for this week's Best in the Nest, ⁓ because I just I don't know where we would be without him now. I know it's early in the season, but What kind of weather would be in the forecast without Jaheem Merriweather? 13 carries, 127 yards with a long of 69 and three touchdowns. That was insane performance. I was really happy to see the ground and pound back. So Jaheem Merriweather, if you're listening to this, clear off your mantle because you just got your very first best in the nest. Of course he's listening. And that that was an excellent effort, and I think he is. ⁓ really beginning to make a name for himself ⁓ as per perhaps the guy at the front of that roster of running backs. But we've got a lot of talent there, so I'm looking forward to seeing seeing it develop. ⁓ before we turn the page on last week, ⁓ let's take a look around the Sunbelt Conference and see if that weird lady on the stage in the commercial ⁓ is still pleased with herself as we look to see if the Sunbelt Conference. Has continued rising in this week's edition of The Rising Report. All right, guys. So ⁓ big week. Obviously, still playing out of conference games. ⁓ so a lot of games to go through. I'll go very quickly. ⁓ App State beats East Carolina 27 to 24. Virginia Tech beats Old Dominion 44 to 21. James Madison beats Wagner 87 to 3. ⁓ UAB gross ⁓ beats ULM also gross 26 to 20. ⁓ Marshall beats Middle Tennessee 28 to 26. ⁓ Tulane beats those guys from Mobile 28 to 24. Arkansas State beat West Georgia 52 to 7. ⁓ Georgia State beat Kennesaw State 31 to 17. Look at you, Panthers. ⁓ Coastal Carolina beat Fordham 45 to 7. Clemson beat Georgia Southern 22 to 7. ⁓ number 8th ranked LSU beat Louisiana Tech 45 to 14. ⁓ Auburn in a delay prone game beat Southern Myths 43 to 8. ⁓ and number 14th ranked USC beat La La 49 to 30 in a little late night action out there on the West Coast. ⁓ all right, guys, which of these results surprised you the most when you look at the sum about? ⁓ go ahead, Bass. Before we begin, I would just want to start with the honorable mention because I know neither of us are gonna say it. Louisiana Tech, welcome to the Sunbelt Conference. Bro, ⁓ my god, I you know, ⁓ you know, look, we we had lots of choice words for you. ⁓ and I still do. But impressive first half stand. against the fighting lane kiffets. That was that was insane, man. I had that on my secondary TV, you know, for fun because I was I was just waiting, killing time before the next game came on. I was like, sure, why not? Let's f watch this. And I couldn't turn it off. I just I was like, that's the better game. I I literally texted y'all and I was like, is this happening? Is this the same team that put eighty points up last week? Like what is happening right now? I mean man, that was that was the that was the better game, ⁓ for sure. But I I'm gonna I'm gonna give it to App State taking care of East Carolina in a really tight game. East Carolina fighting to come back and just couldn't get over the hump at home. App State taking home a very important win against an American conference opponent, East Carolina. Hit and miss. You know, they used to be really good, then they got really not good, and now they're slowly kind of coming back, kinda like App State. But that that to me shows against a nice in-state opponent that you can take care of business in the Sunbelt is truly the better conference. ⁓ so ⁓ state taking care of East Carolina is the game that I was impressed by. Excellent. All right. ⁓ Birdman, what about you? What what what game surprised you? Yeah, absolutely. I feel like we can't call this a Troy Boys podcast episode if we don't bring up JMU at least once. ⁓ gross. ⁓ So I I wanted to highlight their game because like I don't think it was a shock. I I don't think anybody was like, ⁓ Wagner's gonna beat JMU, but I didn't know JMU was gonna, you know, demolish them in that way. I mean, I I and also like there's been a trend over these last two weeks. It's like These teams are either beating them by five or more touchdowns or they're it's or they're not. It's like super close and like there's no in-between happening there. And they were favored by forty-five and a half points, but like eighty seven to three is insane. Like I don't even I don't even know if Wagner got in the red zone. It it it just blew my mind. So I I don't know if they were like exercising some demons or something because they're really still upset about, you know. getting into a playoff that they shouldn't have been in in the first place. But ⁓ yeah, I just wanted to highlight that because I hate those guys and I I hope that that's not a sign for how well they're gonna do the rest of the season. So Yeah, I think we do need to remember that no one even knows where Wagner is. Okay. I mean that's you know, at some point you've just got to go, all right, congratulations, you beat, you know, Alabama AT school for the Devin Blind. At what point at what point do you say, okay, we got it? Like eighty is eighty seven is eighty seven too much? Yeah, like correct. Los Angeles Tech last week, you know? Like they shouldn't have they shouldn't have wanted to list tech. I mean like you know, it it's it's very on brand for James Madison to just, you know absolutely dog walk somebody like Wagner and couldn't have just been satisfied with a fifty point win. 87 is what we needed to put up. Like did they put in any of their second and third string? Like, I don't know because I don't watch James Madison for fun, so I didn't watch it. Yeah. I'll tell you what they did put in was a new banner in the stadium to celebrate the big win. ⁓ because that's just it's kinda that's who they are. So ⁓ they like to keep their tootsies their tozies warm and they like at what point did they run out of streamer or did they just keep recycling? Did they just pick up people's use streamer and roll it back up? I mean, they really should feel bad for Wagner because basically they did to Wagner what Oregon did to them. So I mean, you know, just you know, be nice. You don't want to be in that position. ⁓ you know, try to show a little grace, a little grace and mercy would go a long way. ⁓ All right, since Bass went ahead and took the abstate ECU game. ⁓ look, I'm gonna back I'm gonna I'm gonna say sorry. I did not see any notes here. I I was staring at the graphic. I read no notes and I just went off the cuff on all you're all good, man. You're all perfect. ⁓ I'm gonna take ⁓ Georgia State and Kennesaw State, thirty one seventeen for the ⁓ kitty cats over there in Atlanta. ⁓ this was a legitimate upset, and it wasn't particularly close. ⁓ Georgia State entered the game as a nine and a half point underdog. ⁓ the Panthers went on the road one by fourteen. ⁓ so that represent represents about a 23 and a half point swing from the betting spread. And this is an important game. Kennesaw State is Metro Atlanta. ⁓ beautiful cities like Douglasville, ⁓ right in between these two teams. So ⁓ you know, I I think it's very good. ⁓ Georgia State had 483 total yards. Kennesaw State 332. Georgia State had the ball for 38 minutes. ⁓ they ran for over 200 yards, 230. ⁓ so really an impressive game. ⁓ you know, Georgia State entered the season where they always do, relatively low in assessments of the conference. ⁓ but you know, beating this Kennesaw State team, which is a team that A lot of people have said here's the school that's going to take advantage of the footprint in a way that Georgia State has not been able to. ⁓ I think that means a lot. So ⁓ a big shout out to the Panthers. ⁓ and I just hope they ⁓ you know, maybe in celebration, throw their train horn away or something like that, because I could do without that. All right, now that we have looked around the conference, it is time to turn the page, get ready for next week. ⁓ up next we travel to Como, Columbia, Missouri, to visit the number twenty Tigers of Mizzou for a six PM kickoff on the SEC network under the bright lights. ⁓ Mizzou and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey are two and ⁓ on the young season. ⁓ Bass, can you ⁓ can you give us some thoughts about Mizzou? Yeah, sure. ⁓ Missouri is a l is a legitimate team. ⁓ a serious top twenty five contender. ⁓ they just like we are coming into this game with a two and ⁓ record. and and and they have been able to manage ⁓ both of their opponents they've had Arkansas Pine Bluff, you their cupcake opener of the season, the soft launch. ⁓ and then they played ⁓ Rival Kansas in the border war, ⁓ and they took care of that thirty eight to twenty one. ⁓ And they and they really they really showed some composure ⁓ because Kansas was on one for that game. I don't know. I don't know if you saw the ⁓ yeah, we're doing it. I don't I don't know if people saw the video they put out. ⁓ you know, I'm all about a rivalry. I love a rivalry. ⁓ but what I think I love about it in the South is that you don't need a lot of reason. ⁓ you know, you just hate the other school because they're the other school. ⁓ Kansas decided to come out and do just a whole history lesson about why they hated Missouri. ⁓ and I mean that with the maps. Yeah. I mean that to me seems like a lot of shenanigans to get some 19-year-olds to hate another group of 19 year olds. I don't think you needed to do that. Well, I think I I think you're getting it wrong. It's not for any of the 19-year-olds to hate the other 19-year-olds. It's for the 50-year-olds to hate the 19-year-olds. I don't know. To me, I'm going to abstain from all of this. There's nothing positive I can say about this, so I'm just gonna be quiet. ⁓ it if you want to go find the video yourself and just read all the undertones that are being presented here on the Troy Boys podcast, please do that. look, okay, back to Missouri. ⁓ Their their their biggest highlight right now is definitely their quarterback Austin Simmons. He's the old miss transfer. Now Lane Kiffin's gone. He's got to go somewhere else. ⁓ and through two games, Simmons is currently sitting at thirty-six out of forty-eight. That's 75% completion. That's impressive. That's a great odd number. five hundred and forty-four yards, seven touchdowns, no interceptions thrown so far. ⁓ he was spectacular against Pine Bluff, but who wouldn't be? and Missouri has ⁓ legitimate receiving weapons as well. Donovan, I'm not gonna pronounce his last name, already has Sir Donovan. already has two hundred and thirty-seven receiving yards and three touchdowns. Caden Lee has two hundred yards as well and a couple of scores as well. the running game is led by Jamel ⁓ Roberts. ⁓ he's already come alive this season, 125 yards on 28 carries. Obviously passing is what they're leaning on right now, but they do have a run game that is ⁓ a weapon for them as well. ⁓ at 64, those hundred and twenty-five yards did come on a one touchdown run, which we talked about against Alabama State is something that was something we needed to address on defense. We cannot let explosive runs dictate what's gonna happen on the scoreboard. We've got to be able to control Jamal Roberts. ⁓ defensively, Missouri's defense is Probably going to be a little concerning for us. ⁓ they have allowed 453 total yards in two games. That's total. That's not per game, that's the whole season so far. So that's averaging two hundred and twenty-seven yards a game. That's impressive. ⁓ against Kansas, Missouri led up two hundred and fifty-five yards, which is pretty close to their average right now, three point eight yards a play, which is basically what we just did to to Alabama State. ⁓ Missouri has also held Kansas last week to eighty net total yards of rushing on thirty-six attempts. So Bird was talking about our run game being a good weapon for us on offense. They're going to really stifle that for us. So we've got to be able to have options for us. Goose has got to be ready to go and put the ball in the air safely. statistically, Troy should pay attention in this game. We we did do well against Alabama State. Numbers are in our favor. but I feel like that they have have more breadth and depth. They are they are more tested having gone against a a a more ⁓ established Kansas team this past week. So they have a little more ⁓ work cut out for them that they've already put in than compared to us. ⁓ where Missouri looks vulnerable though is Missouri put up a lot of penalties la ⁓ last week against Kansas. They had ten penalties for seventy six yards. So they're prone to making small mistakes. ⁓ yeah, they lost a fumble. ⁓ they they have problems in field goal protection. Kansas blocked two of Missouri's field goal attempts last week. So if that's something for us on special teams like Joe was talking about, if we could really capitalize in this game and put them in situations where three points is not an easy three points for them anymore, ⁓ that that'll give us opportunities for Troy to be able to create negative plays and force Missouri to make some mistakes. We can take care of this game. It will be an uphill battle. I am not Not shying away from that one. This is going to be a tough game for us. This is going to be the hardest game we play this year. This is this is our most well put together opponent. ⁓ but there are cracks and we've got to take advantage of those. We've got to clean up. We've got to have a more stout offensive attack, particularly in the air. Special teams have really got to buckle down. But if we do those things, I feel like we do have a chance. But ⁓ if we don't do these things, Saturday's gonna be a long day for us. Absolutely. ⁓ for another deep look into this game, let's talk to ⁓ a friend new friend of the podcast who doesn't think we stand a chance. ⁓ and that is Ryan. He's a super fan ⁓ for Missouri. ⁓ and he is representing the Tigers for this week's edition of No Your Foe. Well, Ryan, thanks so much for coming on and being our know your foe guest today and representing the Missouri Tigers. Obviously, Troy and Missouri ⁓ have a little bit of history. Y'all came down to Troy, Alabama, and it's a great memory for Troy fans. Probably not one Missouri fans like to think about all that much. ⁓ but y'all since brought us back to Como and and beaten us senseless several times. ⁓ so ⁓ so I I think I think we're about even at this point. ⁓ but Ryan, how did you become a fan of Missouri football? Missouri football, man. Me and some buddies went out on a limb in 2007 and bought some season tickets. And that happened to be the great year of Chase Daniel. Okay. So what a time that was to be a first-time season ticket holder. Yeah, you picked a ⁓ you picked a good a good ⁓ a good year to start for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, ⁓ obviously it's been a little while. ⁓ you know, back to that that famous game I was talking about, y'all were a big twelve school. ⁓ now all these years later, an SEC school, ⁓ and ⁓ things have changed, different level of competition. ⁓ what do you think of what you're seeing from your squad ⁓ so far this young season? signs say that that that's a very potent offense. Austin Simmons looks like the real deal at quarterback there. Of course everybody probably knows about the running back room with Ahmad Hardy who hasn't played yet. I don't think he's going to play this week, but Jamal Roberts, he's a he's a heck of a running back as well. But I think what might be the most surprising thing is the wide receiver room. With a Louva Day and Caden Lee They might work themselves into the talk of ⁓ top receiving duo in the country. Yeah, yeah. I mean y'all you're doing very well and ⁓ obviously ⁓ that also disappoints Troy fans because on offense you've got Chip Lindsey ⁓ calling plays who was our head coach for a few years and and did not do so well down in the wire grass, but is doing much better up there. ⁓ what are you seeing on defense? You talked a lot about offense. Are you happy with the defense you're seeing so far? Well, I'm leaving ⁓ some room on the defense right now. That might be good news for you guys. We've got ten new guys out there. But they're they're holding their own so far. You know, there's been some garbage time scores. It's ⁓ a little concerned about some tackling issues though, for sure. Yeah, and that's I think everybody's seeing that early in the season. All these transfers. I mean, these guys have to learn each other's names, you know. ⁓ and it it's hard to play as a team when you're all kinda coming from a million different places. So these coaches certainly have ⁓ a lot of work ahead of ⁓ each season now. ⁓ so on to Saturday, Troy, Missouri, ⁓ they're going to which is always Weird for me to say 'cause I lived in Missouri for a while and I lived very close to a town named Troy, Missouri. So ⁓ not talking about that city, ⁓ but the Troy, Missouri game gonna be in Columbia. ⁓ what is your prediction? How do you think that game's gonna turn out? Well, I hate to tell you this, but I I don't think you can handle our offense, you know. The and the SEC do. The lines are just that much bigger. Mm-hmm. ⁓ and I'm gonna have to say Missouri by thirty five. Okay, all right. I like the confidence. ⁓ Troy fans certainly hoping we can keep it a little closer. I know some Troy fans are headed up to Columbia ⁓ and they're gonna be root rooting on our guys. And either way, ⁓ certainly gonna get some ⁓ financial resources that'll help a small school like ours ⁓ and also get some great ⁓ coverage on TV as we've been moved to the SEC network so people will get to see us play. So that's always good. ⁓ my final question for those Troy fans heading up to Columbia. ⁓ if you had to give them one recommendation of a place to go eat while they're in Columbia, ⁓ where should they go? What's a what's a favorite place that you love to go up there? If you want to experience the game day tradition, just go to Harpos. Okay. Some excellent pizza and you can get some drinks as well. Okay. Well I I love that. Troy fans certainly will be all about that. ⁓ so hopefully they will take advantage. ⁓ Ryan, my friend, it's been so good to talk to you. I wish you the best of luck for the rest of the season starting on Sunday. Okay. I hope everything goes great Sunday and beyond. ⁓ but and look forward to seeing the game on Saturday. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, sir. Good luck. Hey, big thanks to Ryan. ⁓ thanks for coming on, representing the Tigers. I'm sure you are out somewhere right now ⁓ eating a fried pork tenderloin sandwich. ⁓ or some toasted ravioli. Boys, I don't know if you've ever had toasted ravioli. It's a huge thing in the ⁓ describe. It's I mean it's ravioli. Yeah, it's fried ravioli. Yeah. You dip it in marinara sauce. You take the Chef Boy R D out of the can, you rinse it off, you fret it you you bread it, you fry it. And then you dip it in the stuff you strained out of the the can. It's delicious. That's it's that's pretty good. It's what would have happened if God had put Italians in Alabama instead of Italy. Like that's that's what happened. I mean, we would have rolled it in white sauce too, but smoke it and drop it. ⁓ but no, that ⁓ that that ravioli is delicious. ⁓ and so Ryan, thanks again for coming on, ⁓ representing the Tigers. And we wish you all the best starting on Sunday. ⁓ all right. Now that you've heard a lot about this game, several people obviously probably thinking to themselves. I need to get a little action going, see if I can make some money. ⁓ but Mimaw, still our governor, still holding strong. ⁓ she says, not in her backyard. ⁓ and so we put the bass into the lagoon. And somehow he makes it through the Troy sewage system down all the way to Pascagoula to figure out what's going on out there with the wise guys in the desert in this week's edition of What's the Word from Pascagoula? So C Vass, what are seeing, man? Yeah, the Missouri is just a heavy favorite in this game. some lines right now read twenty six and a half, some lines read twenty seven and a half. So however you want to put your money in if you're going to do that ⁓ bit appropriately. ⁓ money line for this game has Troy at plus sixteen hundred over under at fifty and a half. So the Vegas predicted score is Missouri thirty eight, the Trojans twelve. That's a tough one. ⁓ we all predicted ⁓ Troy to lose this game in the season preview podcast. This is actually the only game I predicted Troy to lose. ⁓ and so you know, we all kind of were down a little bit. you know, I there's part of me that has a feeling that this spread is gonna be a little bit too much, and maybe Troy is gonna be able to stick a little bit closer. ⁓ but unfortunately, I do still feel. foresee us walking out of Columbia with a loss. ⁓ so I just hope that we are able to take ⁓ kind of some learning away from it and that sort of thing as we play ⁓ obviously a much better team and a and a and a a much bigger team. ⁓ so but we'll see. All right. So we are ready ⁓ for this game. Now it's time for Bass's last little bit of hard work on the show. ⁓ and that is when we let Trojan Nation come up to the banks of the pond where the bass lives and throw in their lures and rubber worms and all of that sort of thing to try to catch a bass in this week's edition of the tackle box. All right, bass man. ⁓ two win two games in a row, two wins, same reaction from the fans. ⁓ glad we won, but we have to look better. ⁓ I asked you this before in a previous episode, so that'll s this'll seem like a repeat to some. ⁓ but now that we're here, ⁓ we see where we are. some would say a less than impressive two and ⁓ you know, what do you need to see in Missouri ⁓ to make you feel confident ⁓ as we kind of start to close off our at a conference and get into the Sunbelt schedule? ⁓ I I want to see a continued established run game. You know, I I want us to not shy away from what we're what we've been doing. I want us to to keep it simple, stupid, ⁓ and and and keep the ball on the ground and then provide Goose Crowder opportunities to lob the ball. ⁓ keep keep that that defense in check and keep them honest. ⁓ I I feel like if we did those things offensively, I would be satisfied. You know, I'm not looking for a 400, 500 yard game. I'm looking for consistency and positive yards. I feel like if we're doing those things against an opponent with the breadth that Missouri has, I feel like we're in good shape for the season. Defensively, we've got to tackle. We have got to stop explosive plays. If we can manage to keep them in short yardage situations on third down, I'm satisfied. You know, I I I I feel like if we do those things and and keep them controlled and contained, minimize the explosives and actually tackle, not just do this stupid hug thing. That's become real popular in the last 10 years. Actually tackle. ⁓ I I I'd be I'd be happy. ⁓ and then on special teams, we cannot have a week that we had last week. I I would like literally any week from last year put that out there and not what we just did, and I'll be satisfied with special teams. If we keep this within 20, I'll be ecstatic. All right. So ⁓ once again, I think the bass has eluded the lure ⁓ and gotten Troy fans excited. ⁓ for what's gonna happen this Saturday in Como. All right, last segment of the show. ⁓ this is when I cover myself in ice packs and wander into the hottest corner of the internet to bring all of Trojan Nation this week's Troyfans.com. Hot take of the week. Shut it. Wow. Wow. Wow. I am back. And it's literally a hundred degrees outside today. It is hot. Not Portland. It is very hot. ⁓ and I will tell you, it is even hotter on Troy fans. ⁓ this week's winter. ⁓ I love this. This is one of the best parts of ⁓ message board culture. ⁓ this week a brave Missouri fan has come over to Troy Fans. ⁓ which I always encourage. I love to see that. They pulled a job. Yeah, love to see the fans. Like that yeah, I find there I am, you know, on on every like Utah State message board just trying to make some friends. Like you played we played Utah State like six years ago and you're still talking to him like still there. I'm like, Hey, come on guys. ⁓ but no, it's it's great and ⁓ and and this guy comes over and has a really great post. In response to a Troy fan talking about obviously when we beat Missouri, a huge moment for Troy. ⁓ so this week's winner is this quote: I came here in peace, and the first thing I see is such a truly awful memory. My recollection of the week leading up to that game was us laughing at all the talk of the Troy defense. I was at a watch party on campus at Mizzou. And I remember right after we got up fourteen to nothing, someone saying that Oklahoma and Texas are in trouble if we can do that to the nineteen eighty-five Chicago Bears defense. But then the rest of the game happened. It's a good I love the sense of humor, man. I love I love kind of, you know, taking one on the chin. ⁓ excellent post. I remember that game. Obviously, that's from when I was on campus. ⁓ and so really, really happy ⁓ to see that ⁓ you know, Mizzou fans are are not still in their feelings about it. ⁓ maybe a little bit salty, but but willing to have some fun on a message board. So ⁓ to you, ⁓ Missouri fan, ⁓ excellent post, my friend. And you are the winner of this week's Troyfans.com. Hot take the week. Woo! Can somebody find him and let him know? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Go tag him in the post. Exactly. Yeah. Somebody go to a Buffalo Wild Wings in Mexico, Missouri, ⁓ and put this up on the ⁓ bulletin board there. ⁓ all right, guys, we have done it. ⁓ we have spent over an hour of Trojan Nations time ⁓ recapping the Alabama State game, getting ready for the Mizzou game. ⁓ now it is time for some closing remarks. Bass, go ahead. Give Trojan Nation some closing remarks. Yeah, like, rate, subscribe, review to the Troy Boys podcast. Find us wherever you stream. Share the Troy Boys podcast with your friends and family. If you don't, they don't find out about us. ⁓ and that's how we spread the word about this Troy Trojans community. ⁓ look, we've we had two really great home games to start the season. Now we're going on kind of a stretch. We got two away games, Missouri and Utah State. And then we have like a Tuesday home game against Southern Miss. And then we and like we don't have a proper Saturday at home until October the twenty fourth against Monroe. ⁓ so we have a stretch here. ⁓ continue to be proud. You know, support the Trojans on Saturdays, ⁓ and not just your ⁓ suitcase affiliate college up the road. Go Trojans. Nice. Absolutely love it. Love side swiping the SEC schools in the state. You knew you were gonna get me going with that bass. You knew it is too late for that. Now I'm not gonna be able to go to sleep. I'm gonna be late for work in the morning. Good grief. Birdman, go ahead, give us some closing remarks. I can't say it any better than the bass. That is a good homestead and I'm excited that we got to start off the season like that. But I'm looking forward to some road action and Hopefully ⁓ hopefully we come away with some positive results. So go Trojans, cheer on the cheer on the boys and ⁓ yeah, let's let's see what we can do to Mizzou. Yep, absolutely. We've done it before. ⁓ so it will not be a surprise to us. We've just got to get up there ⁓ and give it the old ⁓ hashtag why not Troy ⁓ in honor of ⁓ Doc Dr. Jack Hawkins. I think this is the perfect time ⁓ to do it and really make a statement. ⁓ guys, thanks so much ⁓ for being a part of tonight. All of you listening, thank you for listening. ⁓ so that's the bass, that's the bird. I am Trojan Joe, and as always, go Trojans, and God bless you, Blaze Brown.