Taylor's field goal gives Troy victory

TROY – Michael Taylor’s second chance came at the hands of an unlikely source.

Sophomore Tony Davis, a defensive lineman who has played sparingly in two years, made a diving interception off a deflection with 1:07 left. Troy drove down the field and Taylor drilled a 34-yard field goal with four seconds left as the Trojans opened the 2010 season with a 30-27 victory over Bowling Green at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

On Troy’s previous drive, Taylor missed a 51-yard field goal wide to the left. He hit field goals of 26 and 40 yards earlier in the game.

“(My confidence was down, but) it got right back up when Tony picked that ball off,” Taylor said. “It gave me another chance, and I wasn’t going to ruin it for the team this time.”

Troy answered its quarterback question, starting freshman Corey Robinson but instituting a package for junior Jamie Hampton, who ran six times for 25 yards and completed two passes for 12 yards.

Robinson, after throwing two early interceptions, settled down and rallied the team down the field after Davis’ interception. He hit Jerrel Jernigan for 3 yards, TeBiarus Gill for 17 and Brett Moncrief for 13 down to the BG 33.

After an incompletion, Robinson ran for five yards and slid down at the 28, but BG’s Eugene Fells came in with a helmet-to-helmet hit for the personal foul.

Robinson ran for a loss of three back to the BG 17, setting up Taylor’s 34-yard attempt from the middle of the field.

“Any time you’ve got something like that on your chest and you come through, it’s something special,” Robinson said. “I’m really proud of (Taylor).”

Bowling Green drove the ball to Troy's 35, getting into field goal range, before Davis' interception.

Robinson’s decision to start was kept quiet by Troy coaches. He threw for 252 yards – one shy of a school record by quarterbacks in their first start (Levi Brown threw for 253 against FIU in 2008). Robinson hit 25-of-37 passes with a touchdown and two interceptions.

“There’s always pressure being a quarterback and being a football player period,” Robinson said. “There’s pressure making the right decision, and I made a couple of bad decisions early in the game. I’m going to try to improve on that week to week and get us some wins.

“I made a couple of bad, bad decisions early that cost us almost the game. Everybody kept keeping me up on the sideline, telling me to forget about it, saying we had to ride the highs and forget the lows. I went out there and tried to help my team win the game as best as I could.”

BG started the scoring with a 35-yard touchdown run by Willie Geter midway through the first quarter, but Troy answered with a 74-yard drive in 1:48. Hampton came in and ran for six yards on his first carry, setting up Robinson’s 38-yard touchdown pass to Jason Bruce.

The Falcons took over then, scoring on a 3-yard touchdown pass to Adrian Hodges from Matt Schilz and getting a field goal with 10:23 left in the second quarter to go up 17-7.

Troy’s defense bowed up after that, not allowing another offensive touchdown. Troy got a 26-yard field goal by Taylor and a 1-yard run late in the first half from Southward, and the game was tied at 17 going into the half.

BG’s Eugene Cooper scored on a 63-yard punt return less than a minute into the third quarter. Troy’s Jerrel Jernigan answered that with a 49-yard touchdown run out of the wildcat formation. The teams traded field goals to end the third quarter.

Troy, which utilized nine new defensive starters, held Bowling Green to 329 total yards. The Falcons had 147 after the first quarter.

Troy held BG freshman quarterback Matt Schilz to 22-of-43 completions for 221 yards.
Linebacker Xavier Lamb had 10 tackles.

“The defense, when it was dead on the line, they rose up,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said.
One player who stepped up was defensive end Mario Addison, who had two sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss in his first start.

“We stepped up,” Addison said. “I asked them how bad do they want to breathe? ‘If I’m holding you under water, how much do you want to breathe?’ They said, ‘A lot.’ I told them, ‘Then play, play like it’s your last breath,’ and they came out and played hard.”

Troy plays at Oklahoma State next week at 6 p.m.