Troy heads to Louisiana, looking to keep pace in Sun Belt West

SportsTroy quarterback Goose Crowder (9) during a game vs. Southern Miss on Tuesday, Oct, 6, 2026, at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Troy. (Troy athletics photo)Troy athleticsBy Creg Stephenson | cstephenson@al.comTroy is seeking not only to keep pace in Sun Belt Conference West Division when it visits Louisiana this weekend, but also looking for its first road win of the season.The Trojans (3-2, 1-0) take on the Ragin’ Cajuns (4-2, 1-1) in Lafayette, La., on Saturday. Troy is 0-2 this year away from home, with non-conference losses to Missouri and Utah State.“Big test this weekend against a respected opponent and an opponent in the west side of our conference that is well respected and certainly one that we value in playing each and every year,” Troy coach Gerad Parker said. “So we’re excited about that matchup. Expect their best. We’ll need to be at our best.”Troy is coming off a pseudo bye week, having last played on Tuesday, Oct. 6. The Trojans beat Southern Miss 55-34 that night in their Sun Belt opener. The Southern Miss game was an offensive breakout for Troy, which hadn’t scored more than 324 points vs. an FBS team this season prior to erupting against the Golden Eagles. The Trojans ran for 437 yards, with quarterback Goose Crowder (145 yards) and Jordan Lovett (142) setting career-highs. “It felt good walking off the field,” Crowder said. “Coach Parker had always said, it needs to kind of come along. And I think we put together four quarters of football that we could be proud of. But the key to that is obviously repeating it, right? No one really cares now that game’s over. It’s done, and we’re on to Louisiana.”Louisiana did play this past Saturday, a 32-31 loss to Louisiana Tech. The Ragin’ Cajuns led 31-19 late in the fourth quarter before the Bulldogs scored twice in the final four minutes to win. While Troy leads the Sun Belt in rushing yards per game at 220.4, Louisiana is strong against the run. The Ragin’ Cajuns allow just 100.7 yards per game and 3.5 yards per carry. “They’re really talented, they play hard,” Crowder said. “They do a lot of different stuff as far as in the back end. They bring pressures in multiple ways and can get to it for multiple ways. They do a good job on the defensive staff. We’ll have to be ready for it.”Troy’s defense, meanwhile, has been a mixed bag of late. The Trojans are in the middle of the pack in scoring and total defense, struggling a bit to defend the pass.Louisiana boasts one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the Sun Belt in Lunch Winfield. The burly sophomore averages 4.9 yards per carry and leads the conference with eight rushing touchdowns, while completing a league-best 72.4% of his passes.“I feel like I’m talking about them from last year,” Parker said. “Again, Lunch is playing at an extremely high level. He’s an even better runner and passer now than he was a year ago. He’s clearly the leader of that football team and the offense has got a lot of respect for him and how physically tough he is. He played through injury last year. He put it on tape of how tough he is.”Kickoff for Troy-Louisiana is set for 4 p.m. Central on Saturday at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium in Lafayette. The game will stream live via ESPN+. Creg Stephenson became college sports managing producer for AL.com in 2026. A veteran of more than 30 years as a sports writer, he is a past president of the Alabama Sports Writers Association and has won...