Heads hung low Saturday as the Trojans walked off the field following a 30-24 loss in frond of a record crowd of 29,013 to Mississippi State, the first SEC opponent to visit Veterans Memorial Stadium.

“It really hurt them to lose the game,” head coach Larry Blakeney said at Monday’s press conference. “It would have been easy to brush it on past being an SEC team and Mississippi State, but these guys busted a lot to win that game.”

For the second consecutive week, Troy racked up over 500 yards of total offense just to come up on the short end of the scoreboard.

Quarterback Corey Robinson was 32-45 for 343 yards. Two first half interceptions killed Troy drives, however, and led to Mississippi State points.

“We feel like we should this and should that. Should be 3-0. All these turnovers whether it’s through the air or on the ground, we’ve go to cut them out,” Robinson said. “Once we do that, we’re going to be a very difficult team to beat.”

The Trojans were strong on the ground as well as the air. Running back Shawn Southward rushed for 137 yards on 20 carries, his second 100-yard game of the season.

Mississippi State score 20 points off of four Troy turnovers in the first half. The Trojans fumbled on their last two possessions of the first quarter and threw interception on their first two possessions of the second quarter.

“It’s like I told them at halftime when they decide to protect the football, we’re going to have a good football team,” offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield said. “Bottom line is we’ve coached, we’ve harped, we’ve preached on it. We’re going to play the guys who protect the football.”

Troy now hits the road to face North Texas. The Trojans fell to UNT last season for just the second time in the series’ history.

“(North Texas) have played two very good teams (LSU and Kansas State). They’ve got good size and good speed,” Edenfield said. “They’re going to be tough and have a great plan.”

Defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell says the Mean Green offense will pose a challenge as well.

“They are a ball control team,” Rowell said. “They take advantage of things when they can and try not to make mistakes.”

Game time is set for 6pm.