Trojans knock of Campbell 43-14 in season opener

Published 11:03 pm Saturday, August 31, 2019

By Mike Hensley

The Troy Trojans out gained Campbell 527-114 in their 43-14 season opening win on Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The win gives head coach Chip Lindsey his first win as Trojan head coach.

It took over 2 and half hours to play the opening half. Lightning in the area forced a delay of 74 minutes.

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“Happy for the win,” said head coach Chip Lindsey. “That was a game that was different with the delay. Worried about how the team was going to come back after the delay, but I was really pleased with how we came back in the second half. Overall, I was pleased with how we played, obviously we have some things to clean up.”

The win gives the Trojans their first opening day win since knocking off Austin Peay in 2016. The 29-point win was Troy’s most lopsided win since week two of last season when they knocked off Florida A&M 59-7. It’s Troy’s sixth-straight home win.

Quarterback Kaleb Barker completed 18 of his 29 passes for 282 yards and he had two touchdowns in his first game action since last season’s injury.

“I thought Caleb Barker played really well,” Lindsey said. “I thought he was pretty efficient. He threw a couple of touchdowns, so I was pretty pleased with how responded in his first time playing.”

After the lengthy first half, the Trojans went into the locker room holding a 20-7 lead.

Senior running back and Sun Belt Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year B.J. Smith took the opening play from scrimmage 40 yards and after a facemask the Trojans had possession deep in Camel territory. The drive stalled leaving Tyler Sumpter to make a 27-yard field goal for the game’s first points.

Barker threw his first post injury touchdown when he connected with Reggie Todd on a 61-yard touchdown for his longest touchdown completion of his career, putting the Trojans up 10-0.

Barker finished the first half 14-24 for 222 yards.

The Camels scored their touchdown after a Troy’s only turnover of the night. Todd fumbled a punt, giving the Camels possession on the Trojan 16-yard line. Quarterback Caleb Snead threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to bring the Camels back to within three at 10-7.

Barker’s second touchdown of the game came when he found Luke Whittemore for a 10-yard touchdown pass to put the Trojans back up by 10. It marked the fourth time in Barker’s career that he had a multiple touchdown game.

Sumpter made a 25-yard field goal to send the Trojans into halftime leading by 13.

In Troy’s first possession of the second half, Smith rumbled his way in for a 24-yard touchdown to put Troy up 27-7. It was his 16th career touchdown, good enough for 10th in school history.

Smith broke the 100-yard mark when he rushed for 108 yards on 10 carries.

Backup running back DK Billingsley picked up his first career touchdown when he rumbled his way in for a one-yard touchdown, putting the Trojans up 34-7.

Billingsley added another touchdown midway through the second quarter when he took a Barker handoff 38 yards for the score to bring the score to 43-14.

Billingsley finished the game with 86 yards on 12 carries.

Todd finished the game with three catches for 105 yards, while Kaylon Geiger hauled in five catches for 104 yards. It was the first time since the 2017 New Orleans Bowl that the Trojans had two receivers have more than 100 receiving yards in the same game.

The Trojans will have an early by week before returning home to play Southern Miss on September 14.

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