Troy tries to avoid penalties against Arkansas State

Almost everything was perfect in last week’s 27-14 Troy win over UAB, except for setting a school-record 15 penalties.

Troy (1-2) starts Sun Belt play today at Arkansas State (1-1) in a 3:30 p.m. game televised by CSS.

Offensive coordinator Neal Brown said 12 were called on the offense, though at least two were offsetting because of a UAB penalty on the same play or declined.

“Eight of the 12 were legit,” Brown said. “The other four were knick-knack stuff.”

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Troy writer Drew Champlin and sports editor Jon Johnson preview the Troy-Arkansas State game.

 

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Left tackle James Brown was called three times for not being on the line of scrimmage. Left guard Tyler Clark was called twice for a false start, though once was when he got out of his stance as Troy was changing the play.

But late-hit personal foul calls on receivers Andrew Davis and Zack Marcum hurt.  Both came after Troy had moved the ball inside the 10-yard line.

“The two late hits were both good calls but bang-bang deals,” Brown said. “Whistle blew and hit. It wasn’t any intentional harm, but if you’re playing hard all the time, one of those is going to happen every once in a while.”

Quarterback Levi Brown said the Trojans came out playing physical, leading to a few of the penalties.

“We were playing hard and really physical (against UAB),” Levi Brown said. “Sometimes when you’re physical, you get a few flags. Hopefully we can keep playing physical and cut down on the flags.”

Looking deep: Levi Brown hit two receivers with deep bombs, connecting with Josh Jarboe for 67 yards and Chip Reeves for 63. Both are speedsters who can connect on a big play at any point in the game.

“I’ve seen them do it in practice a bunch, but practice is always different than a game,” Levi Brown said. “To see them do it in a game, it makes me more likely to throw it to them in a game. It makes them more confident and know they can run by people in game.”

Other notes: The last Sun Belt game the two teams played was against each other, as Troy took a 35-9 home win last year. ... ASU running back Reggie Arnold (104.5 ypg) leads the league in rushing. ... ASU will start a new tradition today with the first Red Wolf Walk into the stadium before pre-game warm-ups.