Troy notes: Marcum ready for homecoming

TROY — Saturday’s 4 p.m. game at Western Kentucky will be a homecoming of sorts for Troy wide receiver Zack Marcum, and this time he should get a chance to contribute.

The senior is from London, Ky., which is two hours from Bowling Green. He’s listed as a starter at the Z-receiver position, and he’s third on the team in receiving with 23 catches for 241 yards for the first-place Trojans (6-2, 5-0 Sun Belt).

“We’re rolling right now, and we want to keep it rolling,” Marcum said. “Personally, I’m out there making some plays so it’s been fun. I’ve had the opportunity to make a few more catches, so it’s fun to take advantage of the opportunities that come.”

Marcum said his dad was looking for 20 tickets Monday, but “it’ll probably end up being more than that.” He barely played in the 2007 game at WKU, a 21-17 win, as he was buried in the rotation as a youngster. Gary Banks, now of the San Diego Chargers, was the starter back then and played most of the snaps.

“I was behind Banks, so I didn’t get in that much,” Marcum said. “Rightfully so.”

With the Hilltoppers coming in as statistically the worst team in America (0-8, 0-4 in league play, last in the country in total defense), it would be easy for the Trojans to look past WKU, but Marcum doesn’t expect that to happen.

“The easy mindset is to say they’re 0-8 and we’ve got this under wraps, but you look at how they’ve competed against teams like South Florida,” Marcum said. “They’ve got some good players, and we need to get ready for them and not have a letdown.”

Stats don’t lie: According to cfbstats.com, Troy is sixth in the country in total offense (455.8 yards per game). Quarterback Levi Brown is third in the country in passing yards with 2,526.

Davis playing well: Receiver Andrew Davis hasn’t had as many balls thrown his way as a senior might like, but he’s turned it on, offensive coordinator Neal Brown said. Davis has seven catches for 86 yards and scored on a 22-yard catch in Saturday’s 42-21 win over UL-Monroe Saturday.

“He’s played better the last half of his junior year and this year than he ever has, but a lot of the things he does go unnoticed,” Brown said. “He had a big block on Jerrel’s touchdown (a 41-yarder against ULM). He can play any of the four positions.”

Davis’ career game came last year against WKU, when had five catches for 101 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown reception.

Bad defense: WKU’s defense is ranked 120th out of 120 teams nationally, but head coach David Elson attributed the performance in Saturday’s 68-49 loss to North Texas to 23 missed tackles.

“We’re struggling right now, and yeah, when you look at it we’ve regressed (defensively) because we’re not tackling as well,” Elson told the Bowling Green Daily News. “But there’s absolutely no reason why we can’t tackle better this Saturday, why we can’t execute better this Saturday, why we can’t cover better, why we can’t rush the passer better.

“That’s what our guys have to realize. Last week’s performance can’t dictate this week’s performance. We’ve got to work at it in practice and get ready to go.”