Week One: Troy versus UAB

Troy at UAB--This is a matchup between two 3-9 teams that were outscored on average by 10+ points per game in 2011. The Troy Trojans were coming off of a 5-year streak in which they won at least a share of the Sun Belt title. The University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers had no big hopes in 2012 but were able to pull off one big upset in beating Southern Miss and UCF for two of their three wins.

Offense: Troy could do one thing just as well as anyone in the nation last fall and that was passing the football. Behind quarterback Corey Robinson, the Trojans threw for 291 yards per game putting them at 17th nationally in passing yards per game. Robinson was only able to find the end zone 21 times on the season with 15 interceptions. The running game was the biggest offensive weakness for the Trojans with 88 yards rushing per game and a 3.2 yards per carry average good for the 4th worst running game in the nation. The Trojans found the end zone a total of 33 times on the season while averaging 22.4 points per game, good for the 94th best scoring offense in the nation. UAB was good for 129 yards per game on the ground in 2011. The Blazers could only muster 3.9 yards per carry with 13 touchdowns running the ball. Passing was quite the adventure as the Blazers were right in the middle nationally with 234 yards passing per game. UAB struggled to get the ball in the end zone passing with only 12 touchdown passes in 12 games to go along with a disappointing 15 interceptions. EDGE: Troy

Defense: The Troy Trojans were the 113th ranked defense in the nation last fall with 465 yards allowed per game on the season. The Trojans gave up 203 yards per game on the ground with opponents hitting the defense for 4.5 yards per carry and 25 touchdowns on the season. In the air, Troy opponents threw for 261 yards per game with another 23 touchdowns. The Troy defense was only able to come up with 8 interceptions on the season. UAB found a way to be slightly worse than the Trojans in 2011 giving up 485 yards per game, putting the Blazers at 114th nationally in defense. The UAB rush defense gave up a whopping 5.2 yards per carry along with 203 yards per game and 26 touchdowns on the season. Passing the football was also quite easy for UAB opponents with the Blazers giving up 282 yards per game. The Blazers also gave up 26 touchdowns and only collected 9 interceptions on the season. EDGE: Push

Coaching: Larry Blakeney is the head coach of the Troy Trojans and is entering his 21st season as the head coach of the Trojans. Blakeney started his coaching career at Auburn as an assistant where he coached the Tigers through 1990. In 1991, Troy University picked Blakeney to start the program as a D-II independent. Blakeney has brought the Trojans from D-II to FCS to FBS where he has accumulated an overall record of 163-92-1 during his time at the program. Garrick McGee is the head coach of the University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers. McGee has been coaching since 1991 when he started at Langston. After Langston, McGee coached at Northern Iowa, Jacksonville Jaguars, Toledo, UNLV, Northwestern, and Arkansas before getting the job at UAB. This is McGee's first year as a head coach. EDGE: Troy

This is the first meeting between the two schools.

Many are trying to figure out is 2011 was a aberration for Troy or if they are just on the downslide with a 3-9 record last year. The Trojans were quite lucky to start this season with fellow 3-9 team UAB who have questions of their own this fall. Neither of these teams are really expected to do very much this fall  

but this game will show the rest of the nation whether Troy is back to usual or not in 2012. Expect Troy to win while scoring 40+ but giving up at least 20 points.