Sun Belt Sports Fans

Troy 31, Louisiana-Lafayette 24

It’s only the middle of October. The Troy Trojans have played only six of their 12 regular-season games in 2010. The Sun Belt season is not even half-over.

Yet, the Troy Trojans, more than any other team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, can claim more complete ownership of their conference.

In the kind of game that gives coaches gray hairs but also separates pretenders from contenders, Troy fought off a spirited battle from the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns to remain unbeaten in the Sun Belt and leave Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium with a hugely important and decidedly satisfying victory. In a sweaty-palmed game that never felt particularly settled or comfortable for either team, it was Troy that managed to calm down long enough to win this pivotal conference clash. Instead of a Lafayette surge to the top of the standings, Troy owns a 3-0 mark and has two not-very-credentialed teams – Florida International and Louisiana-Monroe – as its closest pursuers in the standings. Moreover, the ownership of a tiebreaker against Lafayette (and also Middle Tennessee) should go a long way toward helping Troy to win its fourth Sun Belt title in the past five years. It’s a remarkable string of conference-based brilliance, but it’s also a run of glory that was nearly halted by the visitors from Cajun Country.

Lafayette’s defense became the first Sun Belt team in 2010 to truly make Corey Robinson – Troy’s first-year quarterback – look like the freshman he is. The Ragin’ Cajuns picked off Robinson three times on a day when Troy committed five turnovers in all. You’d have thought that if Troy coughed up the pill five times, ULL would have been able to produce a road victory and lift coach Rickey Bustle’s bunch to the top of the heap in the Sun Belt.

Somehow, once again, Troy found a way to alter the script.

The Trojans made head coach Larry Blakeney very concerned with their five turnovers, but they made Blakeney proud by fighting through those mistakes to get the win. Down 14-7 in the second quarter, down 21-17 in the third, and tied at 24-all in the fourth, Troy continued to make defining plays to change the trajectory of this tense tilt. Troy playmaker Jerell Jernigan busted loose on a 75-yard punt return to help Troy erase that 14-7 deficit. Later, with the game knotted at 24 inside the five-minute mark of regulation, it was Jernigan – an explosive yet savvy athlete with amazing presence and awareness on the field – who hauled in a 12-yard scoring pass from a resilient Robinson to give his team a seven-point advantage. Troy held its 31-24 lead throughout the final 4:43, as its defense, which produced four turnovers in its own right despite being on the gridiron for almost 35 minutes (Troy held the ball for just over 25 minutes), stood tall. The Trojans made two separate defensive stops in the final minutes, overcoming their avalanche of turnovers and finding yet another way to rule the roost in the Sun Belt.

There’s death, there’s taxes, and now, you might as well add Troy winning the Sun Belt. This race isn’t officially over to be sure, but it would be an enormous surprise if any team other than the Trojans lifts the Sun Belt football trophy in 2010.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer