Troy secures bowl bid
Published 3:00 am Wednesday, November 1, 2017
The Troy Trojans are once again bowl eligible after knocking off Georgia Southern on Saturday afternoon.
The importance of postseason play is not lost on head coach Neal Brown and the Troy Trojans.
There was a lengthy gap between Troy’s last bowl appearance and the 2016 season. Before ending the drought last season, the Trojans had not made a bowl game since the 2010 New Orleans Bowl against Ohio.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” Brown said after Saturday’s win. “It gets us to 6-2 overall, which gets us bowl eligible. I think that’s a critical number. it’s something that I don’t think we should take lightly. By no means was that the end goal, but we had dry run there for a long time.”
The Trojans became bowl eligible a week earlier last season and eventually landed a spot at the Dollar General Bowl in Mobile against Ohio. The Trojans won that game 28-23.
The Trojans have played in six bowl games since making the transition to Division-1. They have made the trip to New Orleans three times, including two in a row in 2006 and 2007 following Sun Belt conference championships. They have also been to Mobile twice. Before last year’s Dollar General Bowl, the Trojans made a trip to the GMAC Bowl against Central Michigan following the 2009 season.
Those two stadiums will once again be possible destinations for the Trojans following this season. The New Orleans Bowl would pit Troy up against a Conference USA team while the Dollar General Bowl will match the Sun Belt Conference against the Mid-American Conference. The Sun Belt Conference also has tie-ins with the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, the AutoNation Cure Bowl in Orlando and the Arizona Bowl.
The New Orleans, Camellia and Cure bowls will all take place on December 16. The Dollar General Bowl will be on December 23 and the Arizona Bowl on December 29.