WKU Football: Troy Q&A With The Trojan Wall's Thomas Gleaton
What do our friends at The Trojan Wall have to say about this matchup?
The Tops are rolling after decimating FIU this past week but this weekend doesn’t look like it will be a walk in the park.
To help us learn more about the Troy Trojans, we enlisted Thomas Gleaton of The Trojan Wall to answer some questions we have going into this weekend’s game. Be sure to check out their website as well as their Twitter account (where you will likely see us interacting with each other all day Saturday).
The Towel Rack: WKU and Troy haven’t faced each other on the gridiron since WKU left to join C-USA in 2014. How would you say things have gone for the Trojans in the Sun Belt since then?
Thomas Gleaton: Really well then incredibly mediocre. Neal Brown took over the following year, led Troy to 30 wins in his last three seasons, and left for West Virginia. Chip Lindsey took over and never won more than 5 games a season.
TTR: Have the Trojans met or exceeded your expectations up to this point or is it still too early to tell?
TG: For the first two games, the answer was “met.” A decent loss to a good SEC team followed by an okay win over Alabama A&M [was] what we expected.
Then Troy almost beat App State, exceeding expectations.
If the offense had put more points up against Marshall, it would be in “exceeds expectations” territory too.
This weekend will really set the tone heading into the full conference slate.
TTR: Who are the biggest playmakers on each side of the ball for the Trojans that the Tops need to be prepared for?
TG: Troy’s defense is the star. Carlton Martial just set the Sun Belt record for tackles in a career. Also watch for Richard Jibunor, Javon Solomon, Will Choloh and Buddha Jones in the front seven. Dell Pettus and Craig Slocum lead a really good secondary.
On offense, Gunnar Watson has earned the starting role. Don’t expect to see Jarrett [Doege], unfortunately. He has an arsenal of wideouts: Tez Johnson, Jabre Barber, Marcus Rogers and RaJae’ Johnson are all deep ball and 100-yard threats.
Of course, the running back room is deep too. Kimani Vidal and DK Billingsley are the main ball carriers, but Jamontez Woods will get touches too.
TTR: How do you see the Trojan’s defense holding up against Austin Reed and the Hilltopper’s offense?
TG: App State and Ole Miss both produced well through the air against Troy, but the defense hasn’t been tested against such a pass-heavy team. Troy got 7 sacks against Marshall, when it only got seven in the last five games combined. Expect a ton of pressure from this dominant front seven. We’ll see how this secondary holds up though. The goal for the pass defense is turnovers.
TTR: What is your prediction for the game?
TG: Troy is hyped about this season, and the defense has held opponents to 30 points or fewer (not counting the App State safety).
I expect a shootout bordering on a slugfest.
Troy 27-24
We’d like to thank The Trojan Wall again for answering our questions! Be sure to check them out for their content on Troy.