Sunday, September 05, 2004

Centerville 35 Troy 0

What a difference a week makes.

As good as Troy looked (at times) in Week One, that's how bad they looked on Friday night against Centerville. They were unable to get anything going on offense, and they looked bad doing it. The defense just got manhandled by a larger and more physical Centerville team. It was not what I had hoped to see from the Trojans after a big win over Dublin Coffman.

Troy's offense shot itself in the foot several times early with turnovers, and the problems snowballed from there. Centerville got up early by a couple of scores, and that was the ballgame. The offense just couldn't do anything. There were a couple of nice running plays, but the Trojans couldn't sustain a drive. On passing plays it just didn't look like there were enough players on the field--not enough held back in pass protection, not enough out in pass routes.

Centerville's fullback was too big and strong for the defense to contain. There's really not too much else that needs to be said about that.

Troy has quite a few very good players, but none of them are in a position to make things happen on their own. They're on the offensive and defensive lines, and at wide receiver. Troy's tradition under Coach Nolan has been based on having a stable of talented running backs, but the cupboard has been mostly bare since Ryan Brewer graduated. There have been some decent backs, but no gamebreakers. Until one shows up, the Trojans offense is likely doomed to inconsistency.

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