Troy offense was conservative against MTSU

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — First-year Troy offensive coordinator Neal Brown admitted that sophomore quarterback Jamie Hampton’s modest stats were a result of him being conservative.

He said this Thursday after the game, before he had a chance to review film. In Hampton’s first real start — he went out for the opening play last year at Georgia and caught a throwback pass from receiver Gary Banks — the lefty went 17-of-28 for 136 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Hampton ran 11 times for 41 yards and a score.

Troy won its opener at Middle Tennessee 31-17.

“He did some good things,” Brown said. “Some of his struggles were on me. I knew coming in that I thought our defense would fare well against their offense.

“I like that matchup, so I handcuffed him early.”

Hampton struggled early. On two of Troy’s first three possessions, the Trojans went three and out. On the other one, Hampton scored from four yards out after Boris Lee intercepted a pass and ran it to the 4-yard line.

Despite the win, MTSU held the ball for nearly 11 minutes more than Troy.

“I probably should have just let him play,” Brown said. “He made some plays and made some good runs. I felt like on third down he could have picked up some yards he didn’t get on a couple of them.

“He did OK. There’s room for improvement. But, we played our conference rival on the road and we got a win, so we’ll take it.”

Troy struggled on third down, hitting just 4-of-13 conversions. The Trojans lost three fumbles, two on special teams.

Adams gets first start: Steven Adams was one of two former walk-ons making his first career start. The other was defensive leader Bear Woods. The linebacker had 14 tackles.

But Adams, a junior, started at right guard over senior Wes Potter, who started 11 games at the position last season.

Potter played in relief.

“(Adams) outperformed him in camp,” Brown said. “Really, over the last 10 days, he played a lot more physical. That’s still an evaluation. Potter played a good bit, so we’re going to go week-to-week on it.”

Lee stopped by quarterback, again: Troy linebacker Boris Lee made his sixth career interception but was stopped four yards short of the end zone by MTSU quarterback Joe Craddock.

It’s not the first time Lee has been stopped short of the end zone by a quarterback, but in fairness to him, this time he had nowhere to run as the lane closed quickly.

“He threw it and I caught it,” Lee said. “Back in my receiving days, I could take it to the end zone. (Craddock) just got in my way.

“Before I knew it, he got my foot and I went flying.”

Lee’s most memorable stop by a quarterback came in the 2006 New Orleans Bowl, when Rice quarterback Joel Armstrong knocked him out of bounds at the 1-yard line. Troy scored three plays later in the 41-17 win.

Up next: Troy is at LSU next Saturday for a 7 p.m. game.