Troy earns road win over FIU

MIAMI — Jerrel Jernigan felt he had a lot to prove.

The Troy wideout was looking for his first big game since a knee injury last year, and he had made comments earlier in the week about being the best receiver in the Sun Belt.

“(Offensive coordinator Neal Brown) was on me all week for what I said in the paper about being the best receiver in the Sun Belt, so I had to back it up,” Jernigan said.

Jernigan’s 97 yards receiving in the first half, including a highlight-reel 40-yard catch and run, helped Troy to a 42-33 win at Florida International Saturday night. The Trojans are now 4-2, 3-0 in league play.

Jernigan and FIU wideout T.Y. Hilton are considered to be the top two wideouts in the league. Hilton was bothered by a knee injury of his own, and had just 44 yards receiving because of that.

Still, Jernigan stood by his comments earlier in the week.

“I feel real good about that,” he said.

It was a mistake-filled win for the Trojans. Despite rolling up 565 yards of offense, the Trojans lost three fumbles and committed 11 penalties for 115 yards.

Quarterback Levi Brown threw for 391 yards, hitting 28-of-37 passes. He threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to TeBiarus Gill, the 40-yarder to Jernigan and a 7-yard scoring pass to DuJuan Harris, but he lost two fumbles — one near the end of the first half that led to an FIU field goal.

“That’s going to come back and bite us eventually if we keep turning the ball over like that,” Brown said. “We lucked out tonight. Other than the turnovers, I thought we played well, but we’ve got to cut that out.”

Jernigan’s score put Troy up 28-10 as he made one guy miss and hurdled over another trying to make a low tackle. Last year against FIU, in a 33-23 Troy win, Jernigan had 131 yards receiving, 88 rushing and threw a touchdown pass.

“I told him he was looking like a playmaker again,” Brown said. “That’s good to see. We needed to get him going, and we did.”

Troy led 7-0 early, but FIU, sparked by a personal foul on David McDowell and pass interference on Courtland Fuller, tied the game, then forced a Dantavious Parker fumble and went up 10-7 early in the second quarter.

Jernigan and Harris then caught touchdown passes, and Maurice Greer ran for a 46-yard touchdown. A roughing the passer call on third down against Brandon Lang set up another FIU score, and Brown’s fumble late in the second quarter set up a field goal. Troy led 28-20 at the half.

Touchdown runs by DuJuan Harris (4 yards) and Shawn Southward (3 yards) put Troy up 42-20, but the Golden Panthers (1-5, 1-2) added two late scores to make the game closer.

“It’s a typical Troy-FIU game,” Troy linebacker Bear Woods said. “We came out strong, and they just don’t go away. Their quarterback is a warrior. We knew they’d be in it for four quarters, and we prepared for that.”

Troy head coach Larry Blakeney wasn’t pleased with the 11 penalties called against the Trojans, and neither were players. Starting right guard Steve Adams was ejected after a pileup when Brown fumbled late in the second quarter.

“There’s so many penalties in the game, I don’t know,” Blakeney said. “Probably most of the calls were there. I’d be anxious to see.”

Harris led Troy with a season-high 86 yards rushing. FIU quarterback Paul McCall threw for 257 yards and was intercepted once by Troy’s Bryan Willis. Troy held FIU to 38 yards rushing.

Troy has now won four straight since dropping its first two. Despite the high number of penalties, they are overcoming them. The Trojans host North Texas next week.

“I guess we’re playing aggressive,” Woods said. “Tonight I felt we were on the bad side of some penalties. Good teams are able to bounce back.

“I said at the beginning of the year that whoever’s winning (the Sun Belt) this year is going undefeated. We’re right where we want to be, 3-0.”

Scoring SummaryFirst quarter
10:31 Troy 7, FIU 0: TeBiarus Gill 13 pass from Levi Brown (Michael Taylor PAT). 9 plays, 75 yards, 2:57. Key play: Zack Marcum’s 17-yard catch to the FIU 41 where Brown scrambled and hit him by the sideline
second quarter
14:54 Troy 7, FIU 7: Daunte Owens 4 run (Dustin Rivest PAT). 8 plays, 75 yards, 2:32. Key play: A 4th and 4 pass to Greg Ellingson gained 9 to the Troy 26.
13:05 FIU 10, Troy 7: Rivest 41 FG.  4 plays, 0 yards, 0:22. Key play: A fumble by Troy QB Dantavious Parker was recovered by FIU at the Troy 24.
10:52 Troy 14, FIU 10: Jerrel Jernigan 40 pass from Levi Brown (Taylor PAT). 6 plays, 80 yards, 2:13. Key play: Jernigan’s 20-yard run on a 3rd down reverse to the Troy 48.
5:55 Troy 21, FIU 10: DuJuan Harris 7 pass from Levi Brown (Taylor PAT). 9 plays, 84 yards, 3:08. Key play: A 14-yard pass to tight end Travis Boyd to the 19.
2:17 Troy 28, FIU 10: Maurice Greer 46 run (Taylor PAT). 3 plays, 82 yards, 0:49. Key play: The touchdown, where Greer went through untouched.
1:10 Troy 28, FIU 17: Kendall Berry 9 pass from Paul McCall (Rivest PAT). 6 plays, 49 yards, 0:59. Key play: A 15-yard penalty on Brandon Lang for hands to the face of the quarterback on third down extended the drive.
0:08 Troy 28, FIU 20: Rivest 22 FG. 5 plays, 8 yards, 0:54. Key play: Levi Brown fumbled and FIU recovered at the Troy 13 and a personal foul penalty gave FIU the ball at the 7.
third quarter
10:35 Troy 35, FIU 20: Harris 4 run (Taylor PAT). 12 plays, 64 yards, 4:25. Key play: A 9-yard reception by Marcum to the FIU 30 on third down.
9:57 Troy 42, FIU 20: Shawn Southward 3 run (Taylor PAT). 2 plays, 48 yards, 0:21. Key play: A 45-yard pass to Josh Jarboe to the FIU 3 after Bryan Willis’ INT.
Fourth quarter
6:10 Troy 42, FIU 27: Darrian Mallary 5 run (Rivest PAT) 12 plays, 76 yards, 4:59. Key play: A 21-yard reception by Jacob Younger

0:00 Troy 42, FIU 33: Jason Frierson 2 pass from Paul McCall (no PAT attempted). 1 play, 2 yards 0:04. Key play: Troy downed it on fourth down with 4 seconds left in the game, turning it over.