Troy is coming in about a 6-point favorite over BG

[Ineedbotox]

Just looking at last year's recruiting class, I see a number of kids who turned down SEC & Big 12 offers to go to Troy. It can, and does, happen.

I am not saying it never happens. I am saying all things being equal: a kid liking the coach, liking the school, having a good chance to start and play, etc. --> they are going to go with the bigger program. There is no doubt kids go to lesser conferences to actually have a chance to play. I am saying if you have a great recruit who is going to be a player, no way that kid picks freaking Troy.

[TexCat]

Just looking at last year's recruiting class, I see a number of kids who turned down SEC & Big 12 offers to go to Troy. It can, and does, happen.

I am not saying it never happens. I am saying all things being equal: a kid liking the coach, liking the school, having a good chance to start and play, etc. --> they are going to go with the bigger program. There is no doubt kids go to lesser conferences to actually have a chance to play. I am saying if you have a great recruit who is going to be a player, no way that kid picks freaking Troy.

This strikes me as an odd comment, Botox. You guys are dissing Troy as some half-wit, inept program. I think you are incorrect. Several of Troy's opponents over the last few years have taken them lightly......much like South Florida. They've come to regret it post-game.

Here's the list of Lombardi Trophy candidates for this year. Notice that Troy has five guys on the list. The entire MAC has two (unless I'm missing somebody).

2009 Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List


Name # School Pos Yr Hgt Wgt Hometown
Rahim Alem 84 LSU DE Sr 6-3 254 New Orleans, LA
Sean Allen 54 East Carolina OL Sr 6-3 310 Wilson, NC
Tyson Alualu 44 California DL Sr 6-3 295 Honolulu, HI
Geno Atkins 56 Georgia DT Sr 6-1 287 Pembroke Pines, FL
Marvin Austin 9 North Carolina DT So 6-3 305 Washington, DC
Carl Barnett 57 Houston OL Sr 6-2 285 Dickinson, TX
Kevin Basped 99 Nevada DL Jr 6-6 240 Sacramento, CA
Zane Beadles 68 Utah OL Sr 6-4 305 Sandy, UT
Jeremy Beal 44 Oklahoma DL Jr 6-3 261 Carrollton, Texas
Jason Beauchamp 33 UNLV LB Sr 6-3 235 San Diego, CA
Nick Bellore 43 Central Michigan LB Jr 6-1 241 Whitefish Bay, WI
Patrick Benoist 30 Vanderbilt LB Sr 6-1 224 Southlake, TX
Scooter Berry 93 West Virginia DL Jr 6-1 294 North Babylon, NY
Ciron Black 70 LSU OL Sr 6-5 325 Tyler, TX
Clint Boling 60 Georgia LT Jr 6-5 297 Alpharetta, GA
Greg Boone 8 Virginia Tech TE Sr 6-3 283 Chesapeake, VA
Korey Bosworth 55 UCLA DE Sr 6-1 242 Plano, TX
Kyle Bosworth 54 UCLA LB Sr 6-1 234 Plano, TX
Navorro Bowman 11 Penn State LB Jr 6-1 230 District Heights, MD
Mike Brewster 50 Ohio State C So 6-5 296 Orlando, FL
Mike Bryan 43 Tulsa LB Sr 6-3 226 Coweta, OK
Bryan Bulaga 79 Iowa OT Jr 6-6 315 Crystal Lake, IL
Ben Burkett 65 Northwestern C So 6-4 285 Toledo, OH
Brad Bustle 75 Louisiana G Sr 6-3 302 Blacksburg, VA
Jeff Byers 53 USC OG Sr 6-3 290 Fort Collins, CO
Nate Byham 80 Pittsburgh TE Jr 6-4 265 Franklin, PA
Gabe Carimi 68 Wisconsin OL Jr 6-7 325 Cottage Grove, WI
Alex Carrington 98 Arkansas State DE Sr 6-5 275 Tupelo, MS
Brandon Carter 76 Texas Tech OL Sr 6-7 354 Longview, TX
Reggie Carter 51 UCLA LB Sr 6-1 240 Los Angeles, CA
Anthony Castonzo 74 Boston College OT Jr 6-7 287 Hawthorn Woods, IL
Nick Charles 57 Air Force OL Sr 6-4 285 San Antonio, TX
Keenan Clayton 22 Oklahoma LB Sr 6-1 221 Sulphur Springs, TX
Terrence Cody 62 Alabama DL Sr 6-5 354 Ft. Myers, FL
Justin Cole 93 San Jose State LB Sr 6-3 240 Chino Hills, CA
Antonio Coleman 52 Auburn DE Sr 6-3 257 Mobile, AL
Erik Cook 69 New Mexico OL Sr. 6-6 318 Albuquerque, NM
Jermaine Cunningham 49 Florida DE Sr 6-3 252 Stone Mountain, GA
Rennie Curran 35 Georgia LB So 5-11 228 Snellville, GA
Anthony Davis 75 Rutgers OL Jr 6-6 325 Piscataway, NJ
Dexter Davis 58 Arizona State DE Sr 6-2 255 Phoenix, AZ
Carlos Dunlap 8 Florida DL Jr 6-6 290 North Charleston, SC
Alonzo Durham 73 Nevada OL Sr 6-4 285 Sacramento, CA
Auston English 33 Oklahoma DE Sr 6-3 251 Canadian, TX
John Estes 55 Hawaii C Sr 6-3 300 Stockton, CA
Chris Fisher 79 Louisiana C Sr 6-3 291 Lafayette, LA
John Fletcher 91 Wyoming DL Sr 6-6 272 Erie, CO
Jason Fox 64 Miami OT Sr 6-7 314 Fort Worth, TX
Danny Franks 75 Troy C Sr 6-3 309 Bartow, FL
Brandon Graham 55 Michigan DE Sr 6-2 263 Detroit, MI
Garrett Graham 89 Wisconsin TE Sr 6-3 250 Brick, NJ
Anthony Gray 95 USM DL Jr 6-1 315 Philadelphia, MS
Virgil Green 85 Nevada TE Jr 6-5 240 Tulare, CA
Jeremaine Gresham 18 Oklahoma TE Sr 6-6 258 Ardmore, OK
Rob Gronkowski 48 Arizona TE Jr 6-6 275 Amherst, NY
Lawrence Guy 50 Arizona State DT So 6-5 293 Las Vegas, NV
Chris Hall 71 Texas C Sr 6-4 295 Irving, TX
Greg Hardy 86 Mississippi DE Sr 6-5 275 Memphis, TN
Mario Harvey 30 Marshall LB Jr 6-1 244 Forsyth, GA
Ryan Hebert 71 USM OL Sr 6-5 295 Schriever, LA
Aaron Hernandez 81 Florida TE Jr 6-2 250 Bristol, CN
Dont'a Hightower 30 Alabama LB So 6-4 250 Lewisburg, TN
Tyler Holmes 78 Tulsa OL So 6-4 306 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Rodney Hudson 62 Florida State OG Jr 6-2 285 Mobile, AL
Jerry Hughes 98 TCU DE Sr 6-3 257 Sugar Land, TX
Paul Igboeli 31 Utah State LB Sr 6-1 222 Grand Prarie, TX
Carl Ihenacho 95 San Jose State DL Sr 6-3 256 Carson, CA
Mike Iupati 77 Idaho OL Sr 6-6 330 Anaheim, CA
Andrew Jackson 69 Fresno State OL Jr 6-5 260 Grass Valley, CA
Cardia Jackson 51 ULM LB Sr 6-2 240 Monroe, LA
Ben Jacobs 54 Fresno State LB Jr 6-3 225 Las Vegas, NV
John Jerry 77 Mississippi OL Sr 6-6 335 Batesville, MS
Micah Johnson 4 Kentucky LB Sr 6-2 258 Ft. Campbell, KY
Mike Johnson 78 Alabama OL Sr 6-6 305 Pensacola, FL
Nick Johnson 44 East Carolina LB Sr 6-1 217 Charlotte, NC
Arthur Jones 97 Syracuse DT Jr 6-4 291 Endicott, NY
Greg Jones 53 Michigan State LB So 6-1 222 Cincinnati, OH
Jan Jorgensen 84 BYU DL Sr 6-3 259 Helper, UT
Sergio Kindle 2 Texas DE/LB Sr 6-4 255 Dallas, TX
Jammie Kirlew 57 Indiana DE Sr 6-3 263 Orlando, FL
Brandon Lang 91 Troy DE Sr 6-4 266 Tucker, GA
Boris Lee 2 Troy LB Sr 6-1 245 Fargo, GA
Sean Lee 45 Penn State LB Sr 6-2 236 Pittsburgh, PA
Travis Lewis 28 Oklahoma LB So 6-2 232 San Antonio, TX
Rolando McClain 25 Alabama LB Jr 6-4 258 Decatur, AL
Albert McClellan 96 Marshall DE Sr 6-2 252 Lakeland, FL
Gerald McCoy 93 Oklahoma DT Jr 6-4 297 Oklahoma City, OK
Rob McGill 20 Louisiana Tech OL Jr 6-7 235 Metairie, LA
Bruce Miller 49 UCF DL Jr 6-2 253 Canton, GA
Koa Misi 41 Utah DL Sr 6-3 263 Santa Rosa, CA
Earl Mitchell 49 Arizona DT Sr 6-2 295 Houston, TX
John Moffitt 74 Wisconsin C Jr 6-4 313 Guilford, CT
David Molk 50 Michigan C So 6-2 273 Lemont, IL
Derrick Morgan 91 Georgia Tech DE Jr 6-4 272 Coatesville, PA
Chris Neild 90 West Virginia DL Jr 6-2 298 Stroudsburg, PA
Marshall Newhouse 70 TCU OL Sr 6-3 317 Richardson, TX
Joel Nitchman 65 Michigan State C Sr 6-4 296 Kalamazoo, MI
Mike Nixon 25 Arizona State LB Sr 6-3 224 Phoenix, AZ
Eric Norwood 40 South Carolina LB Sr 6-1 252 Acworth, GA
Kristofer O'Dowd 61 USC C Jr 6-5 300 Tucson, AZ
Jared Odrick 91 Penn State DT Sr 6-5 296 Lebanon, PA
Vince Oghobaase 3 Duke DT Sr 6-5 305 Houston, Texas
Russell Okung 76 Oklahoma State OL Sr 6-6 305 Fort Bend, TX
Eric Olsen 55 Notre Dame C Sr 6-4 305 Staten Island, N.Y
Joe Pawelek 41 Baylor LB Sr 6-2 240 San Antonio, TX
Dennis Pitta 32 BYU TE Sr. 6-5 247 Moorpark, CA
Brian Price 92 UCLA DT Jr 6-2 295 South Central LA, CA
Ross Pospisil 51 Navy LB Sr 6-1 227 Temple, TX
Maurkice Pouncey 56 Florida C Jr 6-5 312 Lakeland, FL
Mike Pouncey 55 Florida OL Jr 6-5 312 Lakeland, FL
Austin Pritchard 35 Western Michigan LB Jr 6-4 235 Lebanon, OH
Brooks Reed 42 Arizona DE Jr 6-3 255 Tuscon, AZ
Sergio Render 70 Virginia Tech OG So 6-4 310 Newman, GA
Dominik Riley 64 Memphis OL Jr 6-4 315 Montgomery, AB
Boo Robinson 98 Wake Forest DT Sr 6-2 295 Monroe, LA
Stephen Schilling 52 Michigan OG Jr 6-5 304 Bellevue, WA
Jake Seitz 53 UAB OL Sr 6-2 290 Vestavia Hills, AL
George Selvie 95 South Florida DE Sr 6-4 250 Pensacola, FL
Andre Sexton 20 Oklahoma State LB Sr 6-1 224 Houston, TX
Cameron Sheffield 90 Troy DE Sr 6-2 249 Portal, GA
Malcolm Sheppard 96 Arkansas DT Sr 6-2 255 Bainbridge, GA
Brian Smith 58 Notre Dame LB Jr 6-3 240 Overland Park, KS
D'Anthony Smith 5 Louisiana Tech DT Sr 6-2 300 Pickering, LA
Shelley Smith 74 Colorado State OL Sr 6-4 300 Phoenix, AZ
Brandon Spikes 51 Florida LB Jr 6-3 245 Shelby, NC
Quan Sturdivant 52 North Carolina LB Jr 6-2 230 Oakboro, NC
Ndamukong Suh 93 Nebraska DT Sr 6-4 300 Portland, OR
Stevenson Sylvester 10 Utah LB Sr 6-2 230 Las Vegas, NV
Daniel Te'o-Nesheim 66 Washington DE Sr 6-4 263 Walkoloa, HI
Matt Tennant 65 Boston College C Sr 6-4 295 Cincinnati, OH
J.T. Thomas 30 West Virginia LB Jr 6-2 225 Fort Lauderdale, FL
Torrell Troup 98 UCF DT Sr 6-3 314 Conyers, GA
Jabaree Tuani 98 Navy DE So 6-1 254 Madison, TN
Victor Ugenyi 92 Army DE Jr 6-3 253 Atlanta, GA
Adam Ulatoski 74 Texas OT Sr 6-6 310 Southlake, TX
J.D. Walton 55 Baylor C Sr 6-3 305 Allen, TX
Daryl Washington 41 TCU LB Sr 6-3 234 Irving, TX
Dekoda Watson 36 Florida State LB Sr 6-2 228 Aiken, SC
Sean Weatherspoon 12 Missouri LB Sr 6-2 245 Jasper, TX
D.J. Williams 45 Arkansas TE Jr 6-2 251 Little Rock, AR
Reed Williams 47 West Virginia LB Sr 6-2 232 Moorefield, WV
Trent Williams 71 Oklahoma OL Sr 6-5 318 Longview, TX
C.J. Wilson 95 East Carolina DL Sr 6-4 278 Belhaven, NC
Martez Wilson 2 Illinois LB Jr 6-4 240 Chicago, IL
Ryan Winterswyck 98 Boise State DE So 6-4 258 La Habra, CA
Stefan Wisniewski 61 Penn State C/G Jr 6-3 302 Bridgeville, PA
Bear Woods 48 Troy LB Sr 6-1 245 MacClenny, FL
Corey Wootton 99 Northwestern DE Sr 6-7 270 Rutherford, PA
Jason Worilds 6 Virginia Tech DE Jr 6-2 240 Cartert, NJ
Alex Wujciak 33 Maryland LB Jr 6-3 255 West Caldwell, NJ
Sam Young 74 Notre Dame OT Sr 6-8 320 Coral Springs, FL
Willie Young 97 North Carolina State DE Gr 6-4 250 Riviera Beach, FL
Frank Zombo 98 Central Michigan DE Sr 6-4 269 Sterling Heights, MI

[Falconfreak90]

Typical responses from those of you with a serious non-bcs inferiority complex....

Whatever. I have no complex. I know the MAC isn't on the level of the BCS conf and I'm OK with that. It seems you are the one with the complex about non BCS teams being better than the lower rung BCS teams...and that's the case.

It's cool. We run into your types all the time.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

Texcat - there's only one person dissing Troy, and she's a crazy person. The rest of us that pay attention to CFB know how good Troy has been, and should be again this year.

[Ineedbotox]

At this point, it's not about whether the MAC can compete with the BCS schools. It's about whether the MAC is the worst conference in football. So stinking sad.

The only reason I even spoke up to begin with is I got sick of all the crap being thrown around about how good Troy is. If you want to compare them to other non-BCS schools, sure, I guess they're getting better on that totem pole. But if you are talking about comparing them to legitimate contenders in college football, that is a stupid argument, yet there are plenty of you out there still making it. What's even sadder is I think you are making these arguments because you think we can't beat this team. I mean we beat Pitt last year who was a legitimate contender.

I'm sincerely surprised there aren't any other BG fans out there who think this "Troy is great" talk is a bunch of crap. And whatever J4H. I guess I don't pay attention to CFB and know nothing because I'm a girl. You can tell me you were right when Troy wins a BCS bowl.

[TG1996]

At this point, it's not about whether the MAC can compete with the BCS schools. It's about whether the MAC is the worst conference in football. So stinking sad.

The only reason I even spoke up to begin with is I got sick of all the crap being thrown around about how good Troy is. If you want to compare them to other non-BCS schools, sure, I guess they're getting better on that totem pole. But if you are talking about comparing them to legitimate contenders in college football, that is a stupid argument, yet there are plenty of you out there still making it. What's even sadder is I think you are making these arguments because you think we can't beat this team. I mean we beat Pitt last year who was a legitimate contender.

I'm sincerely surprised there aren't any other BG fans out there who think this "Troy is great" talk is a bunch of crap. And whatever J4H. I guess I don't pay attention to CFB and know nothing because I'm a girl. You can tell me you were right when Troy wins a BCS bowl.

Actually, I thought the conversation was that Troy was better than a few teams/programs in most BCS conferences. Now it's whether Troy would win a BCS bowl?

Must be a lawyer.

[hammb]

At this point, it's not about whether the MAC can compete with the BCS schools. It's about whether the MAC is the worst conference in football. So stinking sad.

The only reason I even spoke up to begin with is I got sick of all the crap being thrown around about how good Troy is. If you want to compare them to other non-BCS schools, sure, I guess they're getting better on that totem pole. But if you are talking about comparing them to legitimate contenders in college football, that is a stupid argument, yet there are plenty of you out there still making it. What's even sadder is I think you are making these arguments because you think we can't beat this team. I mean we beat Pitt last year who was a legitimate contender.

I'm sincerely surprised there aren't any other BG fans out there who think this "Troy is great" talk is a bunch of crap. And whatever J4H. I guess I don't pay attention to CFB and know nothing because I'm a girl. You can tell me you were right when Troy wins a BCS bowl.

If your definition of "Legitimate Contender" is Pitt, then yes I will gladly argue with you that Troy is very close to that level of program. If your definition of "legitimate contender" is a BCS championship caliber team then no Troy isn't close to that level.

Pitt is generally a middle of the road BCS team. Last year they were picked to be good, and disappointed.

I don't know where you're even coming from with this Troy winning a BCS bowl crap. The cards are stacked against ANY nonBCS team to even reach, let alone win, a BCS game. That is irrelevant to the argument some of us were actually making. Nobody here is saying that beating Troy is akin to beating Texas. Their record plainly shows that when they go against the BCS elite they have struggled in recent years. However, when they're going against teams outside of that elite level, they've fared pretty damn well, and are clearly a top 50 team in D1A football.

Furthermore, I'm not talking up Troy's program because I don't think we can beat them. I'm talking up Troy's program because you appear blind to the actual quality of said program. It's a good football program. It's especially impressive when taken in the context of how long they've been in 1A. Do I think we can beat them? Yes. I don't think they're appreciably better than last year's Pitt team, plus we've got them at home. I do believe we can beat Troy this year, but I also think that in the grand scheme Troy is probably a better team than us. Last year's Pitt team was a better team than us too, but we beat them.

My point is this: If you're ranking the teams in college football Troy probably falls somewhere in that 40-50 range. BG is likely lower than that in the 60-70 range. I'm not here saying that Troy is going to win a national title or compete for a BCS berth. I'm certainly not here to say that the Sun Belt or the MAC are great football conferences, because they're probably the worst 2 conferences in college football. Beating Troy would be a good win, but not great. Losing to them would also not be the death knell for the program.

[h2oville rocket]

At this point, it's not about whether the MAC can compete with the BCS schools. It's about whether the MAC is the worst conference in football. So stinking sad.

The only reason I even spoke up to begin with is I got sick of all the crap being thrown around about how good Troy is. If you want to compare them to other non-BCS schools, sure, I guess they're getting better on that totem pole. But if you are talking about comparing them to legitimate contenders in college football, that is a stupid argument, yet there are plenty of you out there still making it. What's even sadder is I think you are making these arguments because you think we can't beat this team. I mean we beat Pitt last year who was a legitimate contender.

I'm sincerely surprised there aren't any other BG fans out there who think this "Troy is great" talk is a bunch of crap. And whatever J4H. I guess I don't pay attention to CFB and know nothing because I'm a girl. You can tell me you were right when Troy wins a BCS bowl.

Actually, I thought the conversation was that Troy was better than a few teams/programs in most BCS conferences. Now it's whether Troy would win a BCS bowl?

Must be a lawyer.

If Troy wins out and goes to a BCS Bowl and wins, the argument will have been whether Troy could win the mythical NCAA championship and since they didn't clearly they aren't as good as the best BCS team in the land.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

At this point, it's not about whether the MAC can compete with the BCS schools. It's about whether the MAC is the worst conference in football. So stinking sad.

The only reason I even spoke up to begin with is I got sick of all the crap being thrown around about how good Troy is. If you want to compare them to other non-BCS schools, sure, I guess they're getting better on that totem pole. But if you are talking about comparing them to legitimate contenders in college football, that is a stupid argument, yet there are plenty of you out there still making it. What's even sadder is I think you are making these arguments because you think we can't beat this team. I mean we beat Pitt last year who was a legitimate contender.

I'm sincerely surprised there aren't any other BG fans out there who think this "Troy is great" talk is a bunch of crap. And whatever J4H. I guess I don't pay attention to CFB and know nothing because I'm a girl. You can tell me you were right when Troy wins a BCS bowl.

This must be about the third time you've changed the argument. You're not getting ridiculed because you're a chick, you're getting ridiculed because you are typing really retarded things.

[Ineedbotox]

In the midst of all of you lecturing me about how great Troy football is, I saw this link:

http://www.sportingnews.com/college-foo ... nference-0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Apparently, someone at Troy thinks they are a BCS buster. Their coach also spoke to that (somewhere along the lines of "so you're saying there's a chance).

I would also point to the line about the Sun Belt being a place that "offered [kids] a chance to play major college football close to home if the depth chart was a little too crowded at their preferred SEC or ACC schools." Yes, apparently I am not the only one with this opinion.

Look at the teams in that conference. Seriously, they are just bad teams. Please, please prove me right Falcons. We are not the worst conference in football, and Troy is not going to a BCS bowl...

[Ydfalcon]

I don't think anybody on this board was actually saying that Troy is going to a BCS bowl. From my perspective, what is being said (and is also the way I feel) is that Troy does have a good program, and in fact, they are probably on par with a low-level Big 10/SEC/Big 12 etc. team. If Troy played Arkansas, I would say they could very possibly win that game. But, on the flip side, when they do play Florida, I expect Florida to beat the crap out of them fairly easily. Both are SEC (and thus, BCS) schools. In respect to how Troy compares to BG, I'd say they're at around the same level, but I might give some advantage to Troy. However, with the fact that we are playing at home, and with the excitement that seems to be around this program right now, I'd say we could definitely win this game.

Similarly, I'm not about to say that the Sun Belt is a great conference on par with the best of Division 1A conferences. But I will say that it's not like they're nothing but a bunch of crap schools. To me, they fill the same role in the SEC region that the MAC does in the Big 10 region. So, putting the Sun Belt/Troy down as though they're trash, to me, seems not too far off from saying the same thing about the MAC and/or BG, in terms of how they relate to the true powerhouse schools.

And none of this has anything to do with you being a female, or anything of that sort. Please do yourself a favor and stop accusing people of saying that.

[Bleeding Orange]

I had no idea there was a cat fight going on in this thread!

How anyone can say that we should be ashamed if we lose to a team like Troy is totally beyond me. If we should be ashamed in that instance, how did any Purdue fan go on living after losing to us - twice?

[Jacobs4Heisman]

We are not the worst conference in football, and Troy is not going to a BCS bowl...

You are the only person here who has said either of these things.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

NOT. May be better than BG, but they are not better than Mizzou or any other Big 12 team.

Just so the original argument doesn't get lost in all of Botox's misdirection.

Do you want to actually argue this point, or just admit it was a really dumb thing to say? Plenty of people have given reasoning as to why Troy would not be the worst team in the Big 12. Do you have any reasoning as to why you think they would be besides "the sun belt sucks"?

[bgsukid]

Troy would be favored in Vegas against Iowa State no matter where the game was played because the people who's job it is to know, know Troy is a better program right now. Anybody that pays attention to CFB knows Troy has some damn good athletes as evidenced by them taking LSU to the wire last year and by recent NFL drafts. Osi Umenyiora, DeMarcus Ware and Leodis McKelvin have all been drafted in the 1st or 2nd round just in the last six years and all are having good to great NFL careers so far. I'll also throw in Lawrence Tynes who wasn't highly drafted but was the kicker for the Giants Super Bowl championship team two years ago. When's the last time anybody from Iowa State was worth a crap in the NFL or was even highly drafted?