Troy Players Called Players-Only Meeting After Duke Loss
Troy head football coach Larry Blakeney.
The Troy football team called a player-only meeting after their 38-31 loss to Duke.
“I walked into the meeting room and left,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney told AL.com. “They got there early to meet and I granted them that privilege. Sometimes as a group you need a cleansing of your mind, your heart, your spirit. Sometimes you need to air things out as a team and I’ve never seen one of those things hurt a team.”
While Blakeney is the school’s all-time winningest football coach with a record of 171-101-1 record into the game against South Alabama, they have fallen on tough times the last two seasons. The Trojans last had a winning season in 2010 when they went to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and defeated Ohio University for an 8-5 season.
Over the last two seasons they have gone 3-9 in 2011 and 5-7 in 2012 for a combined 8-16 mark. They have started off the 2013 season with a 2-3 mark.
Troy will welcome South Alabama to Veterans Memorial Stadium for the first time and only the second time the two teams have met in South Alabama’s short history. The Trojans won the first meeting between the two 31-10 in a wet, sloppy game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
This will be Troy’s homecoming game against the Jags who are quickly developing into a bit of a rivalry. The two schools recruit the same players and areas while only being separated by about 176 road miles.
Could Blakeney’s seat be getting a little warm in Troy? I wouldn’t put his job on the market by any means, but there may be a sense of urgency starting to grow in Troy to get more wins and back to a bowl game.
Don’t forget what Blakeney said last year during SBC Media Day. Read his quotes here.
Go Jags! Beat Troy!