Trojans fall to Old Dominion

Troy football faced a major setback in a shutout loss to Old Dominion, 33-0 at S.B. Ballard Stadium on Thursday night. 

The game began with a thundering hit by Troy’s AZ Williams on the opening kickoff to start Old Dominion off on its own 13-yard line. Although ODU drove inside Troy’s 30-yard line, the Trojans managed to stop a fourth down conversion to take possession. 

The momentum for Troy came to a screeching halt from then on. On the first snap for the Trojans, Tae Meadows was stripped, and the Monarchs recovered the fumble. The offensive struggles persisted, with a missed field goal to cap off the first half. Old Dominion entered the locker room already up 20-0. 

ODU continued to dominate in the second half to close out its 33-0 win. Troy was severely outgained, 503 total yards to just 138, and averaged just 2.3 yards per play compared to Old Dominion’s 6.8 yards. 

“Tonight was a complete misrepresentation of how we prepared for this game,” said Troy coach Gerad Parker. “It’s a misrepresentation of who we are.  

“I own this entire thing – all the failure moments in all three phases. Getting shutout is unacceptable. We will do everything in our power to get it fixed.” 

The major storyline entering the game was the quarterback situation for the Trojans, as Goose Crowder was set to make his return, likely seeing shared time with Tucker Kilcrease. That plan did not work out as many hoped, as Kilcrease suffered an injury in the first quarter. 

Crowder finished the night 11-for-21 with 98 yards and an interception. In his short time at the helm, Kilcrease was 2-for-2 with 14 yards. The status of the Brantley, Alabama, native is still unclear, but it is reportedly a shoulder injury. 

 Crowder and Kilcrease were sacked a combined nine times. This marks back-to-back games that the Trojans have allowed their quarterback to go down nine times. Both times Troy’s opponents have set new school records for total sacks in a game. 

While Old Dominion’s Colton Joseph was respectable in the passing game with 147 yards and a touchdown, he and running backs Devin Roche and Trequan Jones torched the Troy defense on the ground.  

Joseph ran for 90 yards and had two rushing scores. Roche finished the night with 145 yards along with Jones speeding to 96 yards and a touchdown. Both running backs had a rush of 65 yards or more. 

With just 11 completions for ODU, Tre’ Brown III reeled in five of them for 112 yards. Troy’s top receiver was Roman Mothershed, who totaled 37 yards on three receptions. 

Despite the loss, Troy remains in the hunt for a Sun Belt title bid. With Southern Miss dropping its game to Texas State this weekend, the Trojans will need to win out and hope for Arkansas State to lose one of its last games against Louisiana or App State, or a Southern Miss win over South Alabama. Troy closes its season with Southern Miss, in what could be a “play-in” game of sorts for the Sun Belt Championship. 

Troy returns home one last time this year for a senior day matchup with Georgia State.

Kickoff is set at 3 p.m. this Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.