The Troy Trojans had fans on the edge of their seats Saturday as the Trojans took second ranked Clemson down to the wire before falling 30-24.

After taking a 3-0 lead to begin the game, the Trojans hung in with the mighty Tigers from start to finish.

“I am happy with how our coaches prepared and how are players played on Saturday,” Troy head coach Neal Brown said during Monday’s press conference. “It needs to be a game that we build on. It’s never OK to lose, but we fought hard and played very physical football.”

After entering halftime trailing by just three points, sports fans across the country took notice. And, for much of the second half Troy was trending number one on Twitter.

“I thought we put Troy on the national map in college football,” Brown said. “(We were) number one trending for most of the afternoon on Saturday. Our fans that were at Death Valley were really vocal.”

Containing Heisman candidate Deshaun Watson was goal one for the Trojans defense. The Tigers gained 414 total yards on Saturday with 292 in the air.

Watson finished the game 27-53 with three touchdowns and one interception.

“I thought we had a great game plan,” Brown said. “Much credit to Vic (Koenning) and his staff. They do the defensive game plan. I thought they did a tremendous job.”

The Trojans also put an emphasis on stopping the run. Wayne Gallman rushed for 174 yards the week prior against Auburn. On Saturday he rushed for only 34 yards on nine carries.

“I didn’t do it. Our D-line, our linebackers and DB’s did,” said Koenning, Troy defensive coordinator.” I think we put an emphasis on that, but we do every week. Our guys played hard. We actually executed fairly well, and that was a big part of it.

Troy’s offense was led by the ground attack. Jordan Chunn, Jabir Frye and Josh Anderson rushed for 141 yards led by Frye who had a 66-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter.

The Trojans finished the contest with 245 passing yards led by sophomore receiver Deondre Douglas who had 93 yards and two touchdowns.

The highlight of the day came when Douglas hauled in both of his touchdowns in the final quarter.

“For (quarterback Brandon) Silvers and me our connection comes from not just only on the field but off the field,” Douglas said. “Me and him do a lot of things outside of football or outside of class. We hang out a good bit, a lot more than we did last year, and it’s obviously made a difference in how we connect.”

Although Troy came up short on Saturday the Trojan faithful let them know the effort was appreciated when more than 400 fans welcomed the Trojans off the bus in front of the field house Saturday night.

“It was huge. I thought the SGA here on campus did a great job organizing that. I appreciate the support. I think it is crucial for our guys to be active on campus, to have relationships,” Brown said. “We talked about it last week: How do we build our fan base on campus? And I think that is where we’ve got to build it first and foremost.”

The Trojans travel to the University of Southern Mississippi on Saturday. Game time is 6 p.m.