As a hometown player, Troy’s John Johnson knows what the Trojans’ 7-1 season means to the community.

“I have seen it everywhere,” said the Troy receiver and Charles Henderson alum. “Out in the city, my family has been telling me that we have been playing good. Their co-workers, Judge (Wes) Allen, all of them are telling us that we are playing good and that we need to keep up the good work.”

And that is motivating the players.

When Neal Brown became Troy’s 21^st head coach in 2015, the community hoped he would be the spark that saw the magic return to a program that had five bowl appearances in a six-year span in the early 2000s.

Now, the Trojans are undefeated in the Sun Belt Conference, with expectations of clenching a conference championship and making their first bowl appearance since 2010.

“Championships are won in November, so we are excited about this opportunity,” Brown said this week.

The excitement began in the second week of the season when the Trojans took the then No. 2-ranked Clemson Tigers to the wire before losing 30-24. The game drew national attention and, for a brief shining moment, Troy was trending number one on Twitter.

Since the loss the Trojans have won six straight games and the excitement continues to grow.

So have the calls for national attention. A grassroots movement to #rankTroy has garnered nearly 1,500 likes on Facebook and continues to spread across social media. The Trojans received 28 votes in last week’s Associated Press poll.

“That is showing that people are noticing and getting behind Troy,” Johnson said. “As a team, we really can’t focus on that very much because we need to focus on actually winning games. Winning games is how you become ranked. If we keep taking care of business, the fans keep staying in the sports writers’ ears, then maybe it will happen. The Trojans still have three conference games remaining on their schedule including a matchup with the first place Appalachian State this Saturday. If Troy wants to be included in the polls, a win on Saturday should go a long way in determining that.

“The rankings are a by-product of winning,” Brown said. “If we get to 8-1 I think our chances improve. We have to get back out there and establish ourselves. We have a chance to do that on Saturday.”

The Mountaineers and the Trojans kick things off at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Stadium and Johnson and Brown hope for a packed house.

“Saturday is a great opportunity for our community and our campus and football program to be showcased,” Brown said. “We want to honor our veterans. We also need to have a big crowd in our stadium. We need everyone to turnout and we need to push to sell out the stadium, which I don’t think we have ever done.”