The Owls are coming into this game with a 1-0 record as well and have always put up tough fights with us in the past.
Owls won the coin toss and kicked off to us. Trojan starting quarterback Alonzo Roberts was looking to have another huge week just as he did against the Blue Raiders a week ago. Things got off to a slow start as Roberts would fumble the football on a scramble on the Trojans opening drive.
Rice would waste no time and take the Troy turnover and put 7 points on the scoreboard.
We had given up our 1st touchdown of the year and were trailing for the 1st time all year.
On our 2nd drive we went 75 yards down the field to the 1 yard line. The Owls would stop us on three straight plays at the one. I, having a lot of confidence in this team, decided to go for it on 4th down, and we failed to score. What a goal line stand from Rice!
No worries though, as it was now Owl football on their 1 yard line. We brought the blitz on 1st down and picked up an easy safety. 7-2 Rice.
We then took the following punt and marched down the field for a score and followed up with a 2-Point conversion to take a quick 10-7 lead over Rice. The Owls would not lead again in this football game.
Final Score - Troy 51, Rice 24.
I have got to hand it to the Owls, the score may not show it, but they put up one heck of a fight in this game. It was nice to see what the Trojans could do with a tougher team then what we had in week 1 vs MTSU.
For the 2nd week in a row, Roberts was named player of the game. He just missed out on throwing for 500 yards and 8 touchdowns in back to back weeks. Super proud of the way he has been playing. I remember being in a vicious recruiting war with Penn State three years ago to sign this kid and we got him.
He sat behind Trojan QB Legend Josiah Higdon (and Troy's only Heisman Trophy winner) for his 1st two years. He was our starting QB for his junior year when Josiah graduated, but he began his Trojan career with 1 touchdown and 12 interceptions in three games.
He quickly lost his starting QB job to backup Van Green. Green would go on to lead us to an 8-4 season with a win over Texas and a TicketCity Bowl win over Iowa State to close out the year.
Alonzo is a Senior now and I decided to give him one more shot as starting QB for us and he is doing a great job in his 1st two games. 14 touchdown passes, 0 interceptions and close to 1,000 yards passing in his 1st two games this year. Much better start than last season.
The win over Rice moved us up to #21 in the rankings.
Not quite enough to be named back to back NCAA player of the week, but Alonzo was named Conference USA offensive player of the week. As you can see he did not complete as many passes based on attempts as last week, but he still had a great game vs a tough Owls team. 14 TDs and 0 INT is awesome!
Alonzo's huge start to the season has him as the #1 passer in the NCAA early on in the 2027 season at 975 yards passing.
9th in the NCAA in total offense. In the middle of some pretty good company on that list.
#21 Troy Trojans 2027 Season - 2-0, 1-0
W - vs MTSU - 72 - 6
W - vs Rice* - 51-24
Week 3 - at Tulane*
Week 4 - BYE
Week 5 - at UTEP*
Week 6 - Houston*
Week 7 - at Memphis*
Week 8 - Southern Miss*
Week 9 - at ECU*
Week 10 - UCF*
Week 11 - #21 Notre Dame
Week 12 - FAU*
Week 13 - at #18 Florida
Week 14 - BYE
Week 15 - Conference USA Championship Game
* = Conference Games
We hit the road for the 1st time this season when we head out west to play Tulane in the Superdome. I don't mean to sound over confident, but in past 6 years I have played Tulane as Troy head coach, the games have not been close at all. So I expect to see Alonzo show up with another big game.
Nice easy start to this season, but I have got to keep looking at the schedule ahead, the tough stretch of games start in week 7. As Troy head coach, I have losses vs every team on the schedule from week 7 until week 12. Those are the big games I look forward to. ECU, UCF & Southern Miss have finished with 9 or more wins in the past three years. Until then, I will enjoy this start to the 2027 season.
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