Troy defense smarting after Oklahoma State game

By Drew Champlin

Published: October 2, 2008

TROY — The worst part for Troy defenders of last week’s 55-24 drubbing at Oklahoma State was a 99-yard drive to start the second half.

The Cowboys, who rolled up 612 yards of offense, were playing keepaway. Already up 35-10, they were content to pound the ball on the ground.

Will Goggans had sent a punt to the 1-yard line, giving Troy a little momentum, but OSU pounded it on the ground all the way to a touchdown.

“Overall, we didn’t play that good anyways,” defensive end Brandon Boudreaux said. “That was the low point right there. It hurts a defense.”

Troy players were still smarting from the defeat earlier this week. The week before, the Trojans held Ohio State to just 309 yards and 28 points, with three of the four touchdowns coming on short fields.

“Any time you don’t play good, you want to forget about it,” safety Sherrod Martin said. “Each week, you want to put it behind you, but it’s on a lot of our minds and a lot of our chests because we don’t want to repeat something like that again.”

Troy’s cornerbacks took the brunt of the blame from head coach Larry Blakeney. OSU receiver Dez Bryant torched the Troy defense for 118 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half.

Cornerbacks Jorrick Calvin, Trevor Ford and Chris Bowens were all victimized.

“I’m not sure what all Coach (Jeremy) Rowell will tell me after he looks at the tape but I looked at it once and our corner play was horrendous and it’s starting to become a place where everyone is going to attack us,” Blakeney said. “We’ve got to at least be able to defend or be able to tackle and right now we can’t do either at that position.”

Right now, Troy has no one else to slide in at corner except KeJuan Phillips, but he’s just a true freshman. However, Phillips has the only Trojan interception by a cornerback.

“I’m sure (future opponents) are licking their chops after watching the quarterback- receiver party that Oklahoma State had and Ohio State had on our corners,” Blakeney said.

“There are probably some schematic problems that we may need to deal with that we haven’t dealt with before because of two great corners. Just because you put a guy on the field and call him a corner doesn’t mean he’s a corner.”

Troy (2-2, 1-0 Sun Belt) has this weekend off, but plays at Florida Atlantic (1-4, 0-1) next Tuesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. FAU beat Troy last year 38-32 behind the play of Sun Belt Player of the Year Rusty Smith, who threw for 3,688 yards last year and 32 touchdowns.

This year, Smith has been less than stellar, hitting just 48 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and seven interceptions.

“Last year I’d say he was the best passing quarterback we played against,” Troy linebacker Bear woods said. “He’s their leader. If we can find a way to get to him and aggravate him some, that will definitely help us.”

FAU, the preseason favorite to win the Sun Belt, is already down a game, losing 14-13 at Middle Tennessee Tuesday on a last-second touchdown pass and extra point.

Anderson out: The NCAA has ruled freshman Chris Anderson, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native, ineligible as a partial qualifier. He can’t practice or work out with the team this fall or next spring, but can return next year.

Anderson had risen as high as No. 2 on the depth chart in fall camp before being pulled out of practice while the NCAA reviewed his eligibility.