Troy notes: Marcum scores touchdown in home state

The first touchdown of the game for Troy came when receiver Zack Marcum scored on a 10-yard pass from Levi Brown in the first quarter.

Marcum had three catches for 28 yards in Troy’s 40-20 win over Western Kentucky on Saturday.

It was Marcum’s second career touchdown but first in two years. He last scored on Dec. 1, 2007 against Florida Atlantic.

Marcum is from London, Ky., and walked on to Troy in 2006. He earned a starting spot at Z-receiver this year. He said he had around 30 family members and friends at the game for support.

“It was pretty special,” Marcum said. “I was hoping I would get a chance to make a play close to the end zone, and I got it on the first drive. It was pretty cool to do it in front of family. It was awesome.”

Addison makes some plays
Junior defensive end Mario Addison, a reserve behind likely future NFL Draft picks Cameron Sheffield and Brandon Lang, had himself a breakout game in the win. In the first half, Addison had a key sack of speedy WKU quarterback Kawaun Jakes and had a tackle for loss.

He ended the game with five tackles, 2.5 for a loss.

“Coach put me in so we could have fresh legs and a defensive end that could run east-west with the quarterback,” Addison said. “I’m glad he put me in, and I proved to him that I could go the distance with him, whatever play is ran.”

Addison also made some plays on special teams after R.J. Roberts left with a minor injury.

“When he went down, I knew I had to step up to help the team,” Addison said. “I always put it all on the line when I go out there.”

X marks the spot
Reserve linebacker Xavier Lamb came up with a crucial fumble recovery late in the second quarter. WKU had forced a Troy punt, but Will Goggans’ rugby kick went off the hands of WKU’s Jake Gaebler.

Lamb recovered at the WKU 5-yard line. Two plays later, DuJuan Harris took an option pitch from Jerrel Jernigan and scored from five yards out, helping Troy take a 21-17 lead.

Something to smile about
Troy didn’t take a lead over WKU until there was 3:23 left in the second quarter as DuJuan Harris scored on a 5-yard touchdown run.

The 26 minutes and 37 seconds that WKU didn’t trail was the longest the Hilltoppers have gone in a game this season without trailing.

But it’s the 17th straight loss for WKU dating back to last season, and the Hilltoppers, now in their first season of postseason eligibility at the FBS level, aren’t looking for moral victories.

“We’re not into moral victories, and we’re not ever going to be into moral victories,” WKU head coach David Elson said. “We’ll take the way we played in the first half and gain confidence from it. We’ll take the way we played in the second half and learn lessons from it.”

Streak stays alive
Troy quarterback Levi Brown kept his streak of consecutive passes alive without an interception. He now has gone 258 straight passes without an interception. He went 20-of-33 for 251 yards and a touchdown.

Headed into Saturday, he was one behind Utah State’s Diondre Borel, who was playing a 9 p.m. game at Hawaii. Borel had thrown 226 without a pick.

The NCAA record in one season is 271, set by Fresno State’s Trent Dilfer in 1993.

By the numbers
21 – Minutes it took for Troy to finally force a WKU punt
37 – Yards quarterback Levi Brown gained on a fourth-quarter run, a career long. Brown ran for 41 yards, second on the team.
317 – Total yards (passing, rushing, receiving) by WKU quarterback Kawaun Jakes
1 – Number of wins Troy is away from clinching a fourth straight Sun Belt title.
3.5 — Tackles for loss by defensive end Brandon Lang.