Troy faces explosive UL-Lafayette

TROY — Scoring on UL-Lafayette hasn’t been that hard for Troy the past three years. Stopping the Ragin’ Cajuns has been a different story.

ULL, Troy’s opponent Saturday at 6 p.m. at Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium, has jumped out to at least a quick 14-0 lead in each of the last three years.

In 2005, Troy rallied to tie the game at 28 on a 13-yard touchdown pass from backup Carl Meadows to Smokey Hampton with 22 seconds left, but lost 31-28 in overtime.

In 2006, the Trojans rallied to win 42-28 in Troy and won last year in Lafayette 48-31.

ULL put up 399 yards in 2005, 400 the next year and 504 last year, but most of last year’s output came early in the game. ULL surprised Troy early on a reverse when Jason Chery scored from 80 yards out.

“The only thing I can say is that if we let history repeat itself besides the first quarter, we’ll be OK,” Troy defensive back Terence Moore said.
Saturday, Troy will see most of the playmakers that rolled up yardage in the past three years, including Chery, who scored five first-half touchdowns in a 59-30 win over North Texas.

Chery scored on an 81-yard run on an end-around and on a 97-yard kick return. He caught touchdown passes of 17, 49 and 57 yards from quarterback Michael Desormeaux.

The most well-known of ULL’s stars is Tyrell Fenroy, a Doak Walker Award semifinalist for the nation’s top running back. He is the nation’s active leading rusher with 4,540 yards and is the leading rusher in Sun Belt Conference history. He shredded Troy for 156 yards in 2005, but was held under 100 yards in 2006 and didn’t play much last year because of an injury.

“I thought the guy was 195, 200 pounds, but you hit him and he feels like he’s someone who’s 230,” linebacker Boris Lee said. “He’s very, very tough to bring down.”

ULL’s run game is third in the nation at 283.7 yards per game.

Fenroy is a big part of ULL’s spread option offense, which was very effective early in the year when senior quarterback Michael Desormeaux was healthy. He sprained his knee midway through the year, and, while he has played, he hasn’t been effective and ULL (5-5, 4-1 Sun Belt) has lost two straight games.

Since he can’t run as well, Desormeaux is being forced to beat defenses with his arm, and he’s thrown five interceptions in the past two games.

Three quarterbacks — Desormeaux, Brad McGuire and Chris Masson — played in ULL’s 40-29 loss to Florida Atlantic.

Still, Troy’s defense must be on its feet because of the spread option threat.

“Our defense is about doing your job,” Lee said. “Sometimes you get caught up where a certain player won’t do what they’re supposed to do. That causes a gap to open up and good offenses find those gaps.”