Week 3 NFL Thoughts - Broncos, Cardinals & Jets

Jets @ Dolphins

So remember how back in week 1 I talked about how much I respected Rex Ryan and said how I really enjoyed the kind of coach he was?

Well now I am starting to understand why Jets fans are annoyed with him. Being a 1st year Jets fan, I have watched all three Jets games this season and now I can see why people are getting annoyed with Rex.

I know the man knows what he is doing, but it is so frustrating sometimes.

I do not understand why you go to all the effort to trade for Tim Tebow only to have him sit on the bench on goal line situations. Yes they did use him once and it resulted in a big loss of yards. But as the announcers on the game said "the Jets are making Tim Tebow too predictable"

It is the same stuff every time he comes in the game. Its no wonder the other team's defense is keying on it the moment he comes in.

Not sure if this will work in the NFL, but someone should send Rex and Tony Sparano a copy of what ULM was doing on Friday to Baylor with a two QB system and see if they can try some plays with both Tebow and Sanchez on the field at the same time. When I say on the field at the same time, I mean in the backfield, not with Tebow at receiver and Sanchez hitting him in the head with a football.

Some thoughts from @RealSkipBayless on twitter that I agree with:

"Jets use Tebow on 3rd-3 as RECEIVER? Covered but Sanchez fires bullet, hits Tebow in helmet before turns head. NOT WHAT HE DOES. Just dumb."

"Sanchez missed more than hit - 47%. Pretty awful. 2 INTs. But kicker let him off hook, helped save Rex from a week of "It's Tebow Time!"

"Best Jets play of 1st half - Tebow 1st down run on fake punt 4-3 from own 25. Led to FG. But Jets down 10-3. Come on, Rex, UNLEASH HIM."

Like always, got to agree with my man Skip, UNLEASH TEBOW! No reason to have traded for him to have him sit on the bench like this. As I said in my week 1 blog "This Jets offense is fun to watch with the QB's swapping in and out"

After a week 1 blow out, the Jets have gone back to being predictably boring offense and it showed once again this week.

*Monday morning blog update*

Just to add to my point, from ESPN's Mike and Mike in the morning, diehard Jets fan Mike Greenberg had this to say on twitter:

@Espngreeny: My disappointment w/ #Tebow is in how uncreative it has been. Aside from the fake snap, anyone could have called every play he's run. #Jets

Jets got lucky to win this one. They can, and I know they did, thank their defense, the Miami kicker and a poorly timed icing the kicker timeout as reasons they snuck away with a win. 

Texans @ Broncos

Lets go ahead and continue with the bad news before we get to the good news.

This game started out great! Then went down hill.

Everyone can get some blame on this game, the defense early on for letting Matt Schaub throw the ball all over the place, the offensive line for not giving Manning enough time to throw the football and the receivers for dropping passes like crazy and not getting open.

A part of me hopes this mess continues in the weeks to come so people can really start to realize what I have said all along about Tebow; he really did not have it easy with this team.

Same problems from last season keep creeping up, like dropped passes and a poor o-line that helped contribute to poor production on offense at times when Tebow was QB.

It did not help one bit either that players like Tracy Porter and Willis McGahee got hurt. Stuff like that will really slow a team down and thoughts are with them as they battle though these injuries.

Peyton tried to do his best "Tebow" AKA 4th Quarter comeback, for the second week in a row and was not successful. I feel like the reason the Broncos got rid of our last QB was because they did not want to wait until the fourth quarter to win games.

Yet here we are, a new year and a new quarterback and it is the some old song and dance, scrambling to win games at the last minute.

I said it in another blog and I will say it here...Peyton, I respect you and think you are one heck of a football player and I know you are trying hard with this team...but you picked the wrong team. You should been in...

Eagles @ Cardinals

...Arizona enjoying this success. What a start to the season for the Arizona Cardinals! With all the QB talks and problems this team had...who saw this coming? I didn't.

The Cardinals are 3-0 for first time since '74, before any current Cardinals were born. Vonnie Holliday, the oldest, was born in '75.

That says something right there.

"The most underrated defense in the NFL" did it again. They punished Michael Vick and the Eagles offense and did not allow the 2-0 Eagles to score a single touchdown. How about the play from the defense at the end of the 2nd quarter? The 93 yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.

How awesome was that? That one play turned this game from a possible 17-10 game going into the 4th quarter into a 24-0 game. That is how big that play was.

While the D continues to be great, lets show some love to the offense. One player I am really starting to enjoy watching is running back Ryan Williams from Virginia Tech. He stepped in for an injured Chris Wells and rushed the football 13 times for 83 yards.

QB Kevin Kolb did his part too, 17/24 for 222 yards, 2 Touchdowns and no interceptions. 

Player of the day goes to all around good guy Larry Fitzgerald. One of the nicest and well spoken people you will ever know. Fitz had 9 catches for 114 yards and a touchdown. He always seams to show up and play big when the Eagles are in town. Flitz became the youngest player in NFL history to 700 receptions. Congrats Larry, you deserve it.

Peyton Manning - Did he make the right choice?

Yes I know. "Only time will tell if Peyton made the right choice"

And sure, I may be jumping the gun just a little bit writing this just two weeks into the 2012 NFL season.

But as a Broncos fan first and foremost and a Cardinals fan second, the thought keeps running through my head.

Peyton Manning is on the wrong team.

I love the Denver Broncos and I always will no matter what they do. (Even after getting rid of my favorite QB since John Elway played the game)

However, every time I see Manning in a Broncos uniform I just keep thinking. "This is not right".

Who knows? Maybe I will be proved wrong in a couple of years, but deep down, until I see Peyton hold up a Super Bowl trophy in blue and orange, I will continue to think Peyton should be in red and white.

We could also sit here and debate the fact that the 49ers look like one of the best teams in football and that is where Peyton should have gone to win a Super Bowl and yes that is true, but I think Coach Jim Harbaugh does best with young QBs and pushing them to the next level (Andrew Luck & Alex Smith). Not sure how he would do with a seasoned vet like Peyton, who rightfully so, is dead set in his own ways.

That brings us to Arizona. How could Peyton not see it? Does he have he own personal reasons for going to Denver? Sure. But the Cardinals have been here before and Peyton should have noticed that.

Pop Quiz. Name one of each of retired and current players. Who is/was an old veteran Superbowl winning quarterback at the end of his career forced to join a new team by no choice of his own? Who does that sound like?

Kurt Warner & Peyton Manning.

4 years ago, with the same kind of quarterback, in the same situation that Peyton is in, the Arizona Cardinals went to a Super Bowl. How do you pass that up?

I feel like the Cardinals are ready for Superbowls. They have one of the most underrated defenses in the entire NFL.

Don't think so? Look at what they did to Tom Brady last week on the road. Four sacks and close to 20 incomplete passes. Brady did not have a passing touchdown until two minutes to go in the fourth quarter. For that matter, the entire Patriots team was held to just four field goals though the first 58 minutes of the football game. When was the last time this happened?

Look at what they did to the Seahawks in week 1. They held Marshawn Lynch to 85 yards rushing on 21 attempts and no touchdowns. One week later he rushed for 122 yards on 26 tires and a touchdown against a Cowboys team fresh off a win over the 2-1 Superbowl champion Giants. Check these numbers out.

PTS

17.0
(5th)

YDS

320.5
(13th)

PASS YDS

218.0
(11th)

RUSH YDS

102.5
(14th)

Ok, ok, I hear you yelling at me, Peyton could care less about defense right? Sure he likes to see low scores on the other side of the scoreboard, but he is an offensive guy.

People talk big about how great the Denver Broncos offensive line is. I just don't see it. Watch this and tell me if this looks like a good O-Line?

How many times did Tebow drop back only to have pressure right in his face? This against the Dolphins

So far in 2012, Peyton has been sacked five times in two games. The combination of Kolb & Skelton has been sacked one time a piece.

Arizona also has great receivers who are just waiting for a good QB to arrive so they can shine.

Larry Fitzgerald and Todd Heap. Peyton has veteran players right there. But Peyton also likes the young players. Early Doucet and Andre Roberts are right there.

Sure he would have had no idea that the Cardinals were going to draft Michael Floyd from Notre Dame, but I am sure the Cardinals front office would have told him they were going that rout in the draft.

Two Veteran Receivers, two new players with NFL experience looking to break out and a young gun.

So to recap, great defense, good offensive line, receivers waiting to break out...put all that together with a head coach that has recent superbowl experience in talking an old QB at the end of his career to the promise land, throw in an awesome indoor stadium, four games a year against the Rams and Seahawks and I just don't know how Peyton passes up Arizona.

The Cardinals are a team on the verge of a Superbowl. I just feel it.

The only missing piece of their superbowl puzzle is a great Quarterback.

PTS

20.0
(27th)

YDS

249.0
(30th)

PASS YDS

175.0
(30th)

RUSH YDS

74.0
(28th

Peyton could have been that puzzle piece. For now I will continue to wonder...Did Peyton make the right choice?

Again, only time will tell if he made right right choice, but for right now, I will continue wonder and think if this would have been in Peyton's future with a trip to the southwest.

Gaming World - 2027 Troy Trojans @ Florida

This is it. The final game of the 2027 regular season. What better way to see what this Troy team is made of than with a trip to the Swamp to play a ranked SEC team. We have done this in the past, big wins over ranked teams like Texas and Oregon to end the season. This is the first of a 2 and 1 series we set up with the Gators. Florida will come to Troy in two seasons in 2029 and Troy will go back to the Swamp in 2030.

After a really good week of practice, I knew this team was ready to pull this off. We are the #2 ranked team in the nation and in a playoff-less college football world, we were just three "playoff" wins away from a National Championship; @ Florida, Conference USA Title game & National Title game.

As you can see, talent wise, Florida has us beat. Not stat wise. You can see how we out rank Florida in every stat but rush offense and pass defense.

And so we arrive at a sold out and LOUD Ben Hill Griffin Stadium AKA "The Swamp"

Florida won the coin toss and kicked the ball off to us. We moved the ball well down the field but had to punt the football to the Gators. 

For this game I knew we could not pass the ball all over the place on this Florida defense. I knew we had to change things up with and show up with a strong running game. The one thing I knew the Gators could not prepare for, because no one had seen it from us all season. There was no game tape on a Trojan running game all season. We have one, we just saved it just for this game.

The Gators quickly took their first possession of the game and marched down to knock in a 23 yard field goal. 3-0 Gators.

After the score it took the Trojans just 18 seconds for us to turn things around and take our first lead of the game. QB Alonzo Roberts connected with WR Chad Gordon on a post rout that he broke for a 64 yard touchdown. We would go on to add a field goal at the end of the 1st quarter. 10-3 Troy.

At this point the sold out swap got loud and Florida took over this game. Three long drives that ate up 75% of the clock in the quarter gave the Gators 17 points to our 7 in the 2nd. 20-17 Florida.

It was time to rally the troops at half time. We had played Florida so strong at this point and I just knew we could pull out the win. I told my defense simply "Do your part and play full speed at 100%. If you hold this team down, I just know that the offense can come though and win this game. It is time for the defense to step up and control this game."

The words must have spoke loud and clear to the Trojan defense, because the Gators did not score a single point in the second half. 

A 63 yard touchdown run by RB Bryan Rhoden followed later in the quarter by a 23 yard TE Kyle Kidd touchdown catch quieted the swamp and helped give us, the Troy Trojans, its 2nd 12-0 season since I have been coach.

What can I say? The game plan worked to perfection. Florida had no way to prepare for a running game from us. No way to study our run game on film as we had used none all season. So we waited until now to throw it at them. 128 yard on 12 carries with 2 touchdowns for Bryan Rhoden. Gators did not see it coming. However, if it was my choice, players of the game would go to each member of the Trojans defense. They won this game for us.

There it is! The 2nd Troy win over an SEC school since I took over as coach. #13 Florida goes down!

Roberts looks primed and ready to become Troy's 2nd Heisman Trophy winner.

Here is at least one member of out defense that gets credit for the big Florida win! Matt Webster named Conference USA Defensive player of the week.

There it is. TCU #1 & Troy #2. Just one win each away from the showdown.

Down below is just some of the final numbers from the Trojans in the regular season when compared to the rest of the nation.

66 Touchdowns and 10 Interceptions. Shattering the Troy all time passing Touchdown record and setting his eyes on many NCAA passing records. What a season.

This is it. Just one game separates the Trojans from going back to the National Championship for the 2nd time in three years. The rematch of the 44-41 double overtime game from week 4. Troy vs. UTEP for the conference championship at Cowboys Stadium! #2 vs. #19! 

#2 Troy Trojans 2027 Season - (12-0), (9-0)

W - vs MTSU - 72 -6

W - vs Rice*   - 51-24

W - at Tulane*- 42-13

W - at UTEP*- 44-41 (OT 2)

W - vs Houston* - 50-18

W - at Memphis* - 59-31

W - vs Southern Miss* - 24-19

W - at ECU* - 49-28

W - vs UCF* - 45-28

W - vs Notre Dame - 66-13

W - vs FAU* - 59-10

W - at #13 Florida - 38-24

Week 14 - BYE

Week 15 - Conference USA Championship Game vs. #19 UTEP
Week 16 - Bowl Season

NFL Week 2 Thoughts - Broncos, Cardinals & Jets

In week 1 it felt like my teams could do no wrong. How quickly things change in the NFL. In week 2 many things changed for the Broncos, Cardinals and Jets. Lets get started with the highlight of the week.

Cardinals @ Patriots

How awesome was this game? As a Cardinals fan you heard it all going into this game. Patriots have never lost a home opener at Gillette Stadium, Bill Belichick 12-0 in home opening games as a head coach.

But the Cardinals somehow did it. That is why I love this team. Even in their history of struggles, they find a way to win the tough games.

Last time these two teams met was back in 2008 at Gillette and the Patriots won that game 47-7. So yea, I had my doubts too that the Cards could win this one.

To quote what I said in this blog last week "I think the Cardinals D is VERY underrated and I look forward to seeing what they can do next week against the Patriots and Tom Brady."

After week 2 is all said and done, I feel even more confident in saying, "I think the Cardinals D is one of the most underrated defenses in the NFL."

In what was a field goal battle early on, Arizona held down and dominated the Pats offense. Yes, I know that Aaron Hernandez went down with an injury and yes, I know the Cardinals needed a little bit of luck on their side to hang on for the win. I still can not believe that Stephen Gostkowski missed that field goal after he had been perfect all day. Crazy.

To hold Tom Brady to just 28 completions on 46 tries and just one touchdown with one interceptions is pretty darn good. Brady had a QBR rating of just 30.6 and the high powered New England offense that seems to score touchdowns when ever they want, did not find the end zone until the 2:06 mark in the 4th quarter.

The Cardinals offense is still a bit of a mess and this goes back to me saying maybe Peyton Manning would have been a better fit in Arizona. It could just be the fan in me talking, but I feel like this team is ready and on the verge of winning a Super Bowl. The only thing holding them back is that big question mark at quarter back, I feel like they have the talent every place else on offense. For right now, who needs it. The Cards are 2-0 and as they say, it is defense that wins championships.

Remember these names; Daryl Washington (LB, 11 Tackles), Calais Campbell (DE, 10 Tackles, 2 Sacks), Paris Lenon (LB, 8 Tackles), Darnell Dockett (My personal favorite, DT, 4 Tackles), Patrick Peterson (CB, 3 Tackles) & Adrian Wilson (S, 3 Tackles).

Keep an eye on this defense. Next week Arizona returns home. Who would have though it would be a 2008 NFC Championship game rematch between The Cardinals and Eagles in week 3 and both teams would be 2-0. Not me.

Jets @ Steelers

Not to much to say about this game other than I think the Jets blew it big time. I am a huge Rex Ryan fan, but this week I feel like he screwed up bad.

The Jets went back to looking like the Jets from the preseason. They had one good drive in the football game and that was it. The only time the Jets had back to back 1st downs was when Tim Tebow was in at quarterback. Sad thing is he only got to play 3 downs.

No reason to keep a game changer like Tebow on the sidelines. What a waste of a great talent. Mark Sanchez is your guy and that is fine. Some of the best Steeler defensive players were out with injury and Sanchez and the rest of the Jets offense struggled against a Steelers D not at 100%.

Sanchez was 10/27 for 138 yards and a touchdown.

Last season against the same team, Tebow was 10/21 for 316 yards and 2 touchdowns. Enough said.

Sanchez is your quarterback and that is fine, but don't forget to use your game changer.

Jets play at Miami next week. The birthplace of Tebowmania in the NFL.

Broncos @ Falcons

Speaking of Tim Tebow...we still have four more weeks before the trade deadline.

Ok, so I will cut the guy a little slack, but man Peyton did not look good when he threw the ball deep and I am sure he will be the first to tell you that. He was fine every place else, but that deep ball was not having it on Monday night.

This is just coming from a lone observer, but it looked to me like Manning was just confusing his entire offense the whole game with all that pre snap audible stuff. Just play football.

I can't count how many times Manning had to grab Willis McGahee and move him around because he was in the wrong spot with Manning doing so much play changing at the line.

McGahee of all people was the most productive part off the offense, rushing for 113 yards and two scores.

Give credit where it is due, like John Gruden said, the Falcon defense played tough and played tricky. Loved how the Broncos defense played in response to that and kept us in the football game, but it was not enough to overcome early mistakes. You just can't win a football games turning the ball over four times in one quarter.

The defense did their best to keep Denver in it, but in the end, they themselves ran out of energy and and ran out of time.

I am ready to see more Von Miller early in the ball games making big plays. And Coach Fox, don't forget about Lance Ball. You have a special talent sitting on the sidelines, let him loose and see what he can do.
 

NFL Week 1 Thoughts

I had a pretty awesome week 1 to the NFL season, it is pretty rare that I have a day when both my NFL teams win let alone all three of my teams win the first year I start cheering for the Jets.


Jets @ Bills

I started cheering for the Jets following the Tim Tebow trade, but I was always a little bit of a Jets fan over the last few years. I really enjoy Rex Ryan as a head coach, if I were a football player, he would be the kind of person I would want to be coached by. He seams like a players coach to me, an overall good guy that likes to have fun, and people seem to hate him for some reason, so naturally, that makes me a fan of his.

Also to me, the Jets are a little bit of that underdog team that I like to root for, even in their own city. The first thing you think of when you when you hear the words "New York Football" are the Giants. It is simple. They have the history, the championships and even had the stadium named after them before MetLife was built, Giants Stadium.

Being a fan of such sports team like; The Cubs, The Bobcats, The Rays and The Arizona Cardinals, I thought I knew all about what bad sports were. I was wrong. I had never seen a team play as bad at the Jets did in all four preseason game that I watched. No way I thought I was going to see what I saw on Sunday.

48 Points. Mark Sanchez was 19/27 for 266 Yards, 3 Touchdowns and 1 really bad interception on the 1st drive of the game. Sanchez was awesome after drive one. Yes I was watching the Jets game just to see Tebow play, but it was Sanchez who put on a show.

I will say I did enjoy watching the two quarterbacks swap in and out. As a fan, I really had a good time with the two quarterback system. Simply put, it made the game fun to watch.

Tebow did not play his best, he had 5 rushes for 11 yards and an onside kick recovery. As Skip Bayless pointed out on Twitter, he appeared to be having some back issues, however I know this whole thing is a work in progress and I know the real Tebow I saw play in Denver the last two seasons will show up soon in New York.

The only thing I did not like from the Jets is once they got the big lead they appeared to me, just my opinion, to give up a little bit and let the Bills fight back into the game scoring three touchdowns in the second half. In the NFL you can't do that too often before it comes back to bite you. On the Bills side, I was really impressed with CJ Spiller. 14 rushes for 169 yards and a score. Keep an eye out for this guy the rest of this season.

Seahawks @ Cardinals

Up next for me was the Cardinals game. For the second year in a row the Cardinals opened up their season at home vs a rookie quarterback and for the second year in a row they were winners, 20-16.

The Cardinals and the Seahawks are the only two teams in the NFL that have millions of dollars invested into their backup quarterbacks haha. In his debut for the Seahawks Russell Wilson looked a little messy, but I think in time he has the chance to be really good and the kind of quarterback that Pete Carroll really likes.

The Cardinals quarterback problems got even worse. I still to this day, even as a Broncos fan, think that Peyon Manning's best fit would have been to go to Arizona and play for the Cardinals. But that is another blog for another time.

John Skelton was all right in the game. He was 14-28 for 149 yards along with a pick and a fumble. The Cards took a big lead into the locker room at the half but then the Seahawks fought back to take the lead. It was then that Skelton went down with a leg injury and backup Kevin Kolb came into the game and went 6-8 for 66 yards and the game winning touchdown.

The ending of the game was crazy with the Cardinals defense holding the Seahawks on the goal line to prevent the Seahawk win. I think the Cardinals D is VERY underrated and I look forward to seeing what they can do next week against the Patriots and Tom Brady.

Bad memories last time the Cardinals played the Patriots. If you don't know what I mean, Google it, its worth a Google. Lets see if Kolb can win his job back next week.

Steelers @ Broncos

The night was caped off over at Hunter Robinson's Hunter's Mountain home for Sunday night football.

The big debut for Peyton Manning in the orange and blue. I never cared much for Tim Tebow when he played at Florida. I did not hate him or anything like most people do for some reason, but I just never really paid attention to him. When Tebow became a Bronco, I became a fan.

The more all the "experts" on ESPN (talking to you Steve A. Smith and Collin Cowherd) trashed Tebow and said he could not play football (never mind the broken records, SEC championships, National Championships and Heisman Trophy) I became more of a fan of his. Not only is Tebow a great quarterback and a great football player, he is a great person.

So for quite a while I will do nothing but compare Manning to Tebow when I watch a Broncos game. Again, this is just me, but Manning struggled just a little bit against the same Steelers team Tebow dominated a season ago. Manning also had to dig into the Tebow bag of tricks and pull out a 70 yard Demaryius Thomas Touchdown in the game to save himself.

What disappointed me the most is when Manning really struggled early in the game, John Fox and company let Manning run the no huddle offense and the Broncos would go on to score three touchdowns.

Why was Tebow not able to do this same thing last season when he struggled? Tebow always played his best when the game was on the line, in the no huddle spread offense, throwing the football all over the place quickly. Peyton got to do this all game long every time he got into a tight spot. Tebow did not receive that same treatment. They held him down until the 4th quarter before they left him break loose.

None the less, Manning did play as well as I expected him too and the Broncos took down the Steelers 31-19. I was most impressed with Tracy Porter's play on defense with his first game as a Bronco. He was awesome and he looks like he could be that missing piece that Broncos were waiting for to help out Champ Bailey at corner.

3-0 for my teams in week one...lets make it 6-0 next week!

Gaming World - Troy Trojans 2027 Season - FAU

Two wins away from just the 2nd 12-0 season I have had at Troy University as head coach in seven tries. In fact, in 18 years of coaching, this would be just my 2nd 12-0 season. Only if the Trojans finish out strong aginst a couple of Florida schools.

The fourth ranked Trojans close out our very successful three game homestand with a game aginst my old team, the team I got my start with, FAU. (Check out History of Coach Burck, for more information)

This is just my second time coaching aginst FAU as they made the made the jump to Conerence USA two seasons ago. Since I left the Owls back in 2018, they have been the dominate team in the Sun Belt winning no fewer then 8 games over the last nine seasons, and 10 games more than half of the time. So they were looking for an upgrade and much like Troy was a few years before, FAU made the Conference USA jump. 

I had coached aginst Troy before when I was at FAU and the games were always blowouts from Troy...Now I was Troy coach and the more things change, the more they stay the same.

You can see going into this game how we were ranked miles ahed of the Owls.

FAU would hold strong in the first few minutes of the game even forcing two interceptions on our star and heisman canadate quarterback Alonzo Roberts. The defense played even better and the owls scored no points off of thoese turnovers.

Troy bounced back with two first quarter touchdowns. FAU would add a field goal in the second quarter to cut the Troy lead down to 11, but after that, it all broke lose.

Even school passing records held by Troy legend Josiah Higdon fell on this day.

In four minutes we scored three passing touchdowns of no less then 37 yards a touchdown pass. Roberts to Kyle Kidd for a 38 yard TD pass and Roberts to Adam Rogers for TD passes of 47 and 37 yards.

We would add on to that lead with a 36 yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to Shaun Castillo and then the starters came out of the game. 

Alonzo is the man, 534 yards passing and 7 Touchdowns.

You can see how much Troy overpowered FAU here.

When he got back into the locker room following the FAU win, we got this huge news.

The last remaining unbeaten team in our way had been defeated by Iowa. Troy now had a chance to sneak into the National Championship picture.

Who can say no to the Trojans as the #2 team in the nation with these crazy numbers? 63 Touchdowns breaks Higdon's school record for passing touchdowns in a single season. He had 60 in his senior year for the Trojans, Roberts has 63 with three games still to go. 

Even better, Alonzo has moved into 1st place for Heisman consideration following his huge game vs FAU and Wisconsin's loss to Iowa. Roberts looks to be Troy's second Heisman Trophy winner.

Not national players of the week, but the Conference will recognize a few Trojans as Player of the Week.

The entire Troy University football team gathered around the TV to watch ESPN's top 25 countdown show on Sunday night and it was soon made official. For the second time in Troy University history, the Trojans were ranked as the #2 team in the entire nation. 

Bowl projections also showed us going back to the big game, this time in the Superdome. Troy vs. TCU. The Horned Frogs still had two games left and so did we. Could both teams finish out unbeaten? 

There is a lot of talk about playoffs in college football. Well for this season, for the Troy University Trojans, we had the playoffs laid out right in front of us. Three little wins away from being crowned the best team in all of college football.

The playoffs begin for the Trojans with a road game at the Swamp in Florida, a Conference Championship game vs. a nine win UTEP team that took us to Double OT a few weeks ago. That game in Jerry World at Cowboys Stadium. If we get though both of those games with wins...It is on to the SuperDome and a BCS National Championship game. 

Three final games, all on the road, in three massive stadiums, The Swamp, Cowboys Stadium & The Superdome....we begin here.

#2 Troy Trojans 2027 Season - (11-0), (9-0)

W - vs MTSU - 72 -6

W - vs Rice*   - 51-24

W - at Tulane*- 42-13

W - at UTEP*- 44-41 (OT 2)

W - vs Houston* - 50-18

W - at Memphis* - 59-31

W - vs Southern Miss* - 24-19

W - at ECU* - 49-28

W - vs UCF* - 45-28

W - vs Notre Dame - 66-13

W - vs FAU* - 59-10

Week 13 - at #13 Florida

Week 14 - BYE

Week 15 - Conference USA Championship Game