Neal Brown and the Troy Trojans come home to the friendly confines of Veterans Memorial Stadium Saturday when they welcome the Charleston Southern Buccaneers to Larry Blakeney Field.

The Trojans return home after a competitive loss a week ago in Raleigh against North Carolina State.

“Obviously we are fired up about our home opener. I think that’s one of the things we need to continue to take a step forward in our program, we need to defend our home turf and that will begin Saturday night,” Brown said earlier this week. “We are expecting a good crowd. I appreciate everyone in the Dothan, Montgomery and Troy area to come out and support us and our guys.”

And Brown made a promise to the fans, as well. “If you watched the game on TV, I’ve been preaching this; we’re going to play the right way. There are some areas we need to improve on, but we’re going to play the right way and we are going to compete and be exciting to watch,” he said.

The Buccaneers are a competitive FCS team.

“I think they’re a solid football team. I think the first thing you look at is that they are a winning program for the past two years: 8-4 last year, with two of those losses from Division I opponents in the SEC, Georgia and Vanderbilt,” Brown said. “I think they went 10-3 the year before.”

The Buccaneers return 17 starters off last year’s team, nine on offense and eight on defense.

The challenge for Troy is to try and contain the option offense, an offense that has proven problematic in the past.

“Offensively they are very unique system. They’re option-oriented team, something that we haven’t seen in a live situation. The quarterback is Austin Brown, a senior, dual-threat. He threw the ball really well at the end of last season, and he can run,” Brown said.

The Buccaneers come to Troy following a 42-14 win over North Greenville.

In the game against North Carolina State, the Trojans had a couple injury situations at key positions. Quarterback Brandon Silvers was injured in the second half when he was hit hard from behind. Wide receiver Brian Holmes injured his leg at the end of the first half while coming down with the football after making a completion.

“I feel better than I did Saturday. It’s getting a lot better and I’m bending it more now,” Holmes said. “I don’t think it will affect my explosiveness too much.”

Both Silvers and Holmes are expected to play on Saturday.

The Trojans are no strangers to playing FCS programs, and after last year’s loss to Abilene Christian they won’t take any opponent lightly.

“You can’t think, ‘this team is this and we’re D1,” said Troy running back Brandon Burks. “You have to be willing to fight every down. That’s what those guys did last year. Abilene Christian wanted to fight and prove themselves, and they did. It’s not going to happen this time. We’re not going to underestimate anybody. We’re going to come out fully focused and play every down like we did this weekend.”

The Trojans and Buccaneers will kick off at 6 p.m. Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium.