Back on college football, back in Troy, Alabama

I don't always call college football, but when I do … I often wind up calling the Troy Trojans.

On Saturday, I will call Troy football for the third time, and I also saw them as a spectator last year. However, the most memorable Troy game I've ever been to is a bittersweet one: The Trojans crushed Rice in the 2006 New Orleans Bowl, the Owls' first bowl appearance in 40 years. I treasure that night because I got to watch the game with my father, a fellow Rice alum who had been to our previous bowl appearance in the 1960s, but we got a pretty good butt-kicking in the actual game.

2015 marks my second visit to Veterans Memorial Stadium in Troy, Ala. (here's a look back at my first), reachable via the airport in Montgomery, Ala., and an hour's drive south.

Naturally, Troy just happened to have its 2006 New Orleans Bowl trophy sitting in the office of new head coach Neal Brown. Thanks for the welcome!

But seriously, I'm calling Saturday's game between Troy and Charleston Southern with former FCS championship-winning coach Mickey Matthews, and we had an excellent visit with Troy on Friday. We got to take in a practice session that was definitely more practice than walkthrough, and we had excellent conversations / storytelling sessions with Brown, defensive coordinator Vic Koenning, and former head coach Larry Blakeney. (They did most of the storytelling, I did most of the listening and a good share of the laughing.)

Charleston Southern is a small Baptist school that just got lights for its football stadium and was ecstatic to draw more than 4,000 fans for its home opener last week. But the Buccaneers have been excellent recently, are used to winning, and took Vanderbilt down to the wire last year. What's more, they run an unusual option attack that is very difficult to defend. For a Troy program that is in rebuilding mode, this is no simple task. Still, the Trojans will have a size advantage, run an up-tempo offense that can also be difficult to defend, and should be highly  motivated.

So it should be a good one! Mickey and I are asking for good weather and a close game, so check it out Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN3!

Since I'm in the area ... My first college football game at an SEC stadium

My fall work in the SEC means I will occasionally get to drop in on extra sporting events, and I had the chance to take in my first college football game in an SEC stadium (although I have been to midnight yell practice at Texas A&M) at the University of Georgia's Sanford Stadium on Saturday.

While I have no special ties to Georgia, I've always had a soft spot for Sanford Stadium because of its distinctive hedges. When you see a lot of the big stadiums on TV, they're mostly distinguishable only by the colors painted in the end zones and worn by the fans. With Georgia, however, you see the hedges and instantly know where the game is taking place. It always makes me think of watching football with my grandfather as a kid.

Georgia's game on Saturday was a noon kickoff against Troy, a school I called twice in 2012 but was definitely going to be overmatched in this game. After a wake-up call around 5:30 am CT in Mississippi, I flew to Atlanta, got my rental car, and set out for Athens, Georgia (only a little more than a year after my first trip to Athens, Greece).

An Obama sighting in ... Texas?

Dan McCarney addresses the Mean Green Friday.

I haven't had time to blog about my game this weekend, North Texas vs. Troy, but it's not because I haven't been preparing for it. I arrived in Denton on Friday afternoon and quickly headed to highly-regarded Apogee Stadium, which opened last year, for the Mean Green's walk-through. I ended up seeing a more than credible impersonation of President Barack Obama, about the last thing I expected to find in Texas, as part of the North Texas post-game speeches.

The impersonation came from actor Aaron Norvell, who played under Dan McCarney at Wisconsin in the early 90s and was one of two of McCarney's former players invited to speak to North Texas following its light workout. As McCarney put it, "I don't let anybody speak to this team unless they're special, I love them, or both," and it was a nice way to close the afternoon.

In terms of the game, it's a great "battle of philosophies," as Troy head coach (and Friday birthday boy) Larry Blakeney put it, between Troy's wide-open, up-tempo aerial attack (537.7 yards per game) and the battering, physical, ball-possession approach favored by North Texas. To put it in perspective, Troy threw more passes in one game this year (75 against Louisiana-Lafayette) than North Texas has all season (73). Both teams, former conference powerhouses, badly need a win to get into the Sun Belt Conference title race.

The real key to the game, though, will be turnovers. Troy is an abysmal -5 on the season, including turnovers on four straight possessions against Mississippi State last week - the Trojans wound up losing by one score. North Texas is +3, and I think the Mean Green will have to win the turnover battle again to open the year with a win.

Apogee Stadium, opened 2011.

For more on the game, check out the excellent blogs by the teams' respective beat-writers, outgoing Drew Champlin (Dothan Eagle) and  Brett Vito (Denton Record-Chronicle).

Tonight's game kicks off at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. Follow @jtyardley for more coverage before and after the game.

Why you should watch: Saturday's Sun Belt opener for Troy, Louisiana-Lafayette

After an early wake-up call in Shreveport, I returned to southern Alabama for the second consecutive weekend, this time for tomorrow night's Sun Belt Conference opener between Troy and Louisiana-Lafayette. My partner for this game will be former Florida State offensive lineman Forrest Conoly, and we had a great time this afternoon touring the Troy campus and talking with Trojans head coach Larry Blakeney. One thing to watch for on the broadcast: There's a slight height differential. As in, Forrest stands 6-foot-7, and I would be generously listed as 6-foot-0. We'll see if the camera can fit us in the same picture.

Turning to the game, I think it's going to be a good one. Troy was 3-9 last year, but the Trojans dominated the conference from 2006-10, and they haven't lost a home opener since the mid-1980s (24 wins in a row since a tie in 1987). With an enthusiastic crowd expected, this is their chance to prove to themselves and their fans that they can contend for the conference title once again.

On the other side, Louisiana-Lafayette (they prefer just 'UL') may have the most momentum of any program in the conference. The Ragin Cajuns (can't say that nickname enough) are coming off of the best season in school history (9-4) and a dramatic New Orleans Bowl victory over San Diego State. That energized their passionate fan base, which had the largest attendance increase in the NCAA last year, and has helped second-year head coach Mark Hudspeth's recruiting efforts for the future.

Both teams see themselves as Sun Belt contenders and have reason to believe they can win the tone-setting conference opener. What I'm excited about for tomorrow night:

1. The atmosphere
Troy is an under-the-radar football hotbed. A long-time Division II powerhouse that transitioned to Division I back in 2002, Trojan fans have tremendous pride in their history of conference titles and NFL players. (For the record, I've had healthy respect for them since they kicked my Rice Owls' butts in the 2006 New Orleans Bowl.) I expect Troy fans to come out in force for the home opener, but I also expect Ragin Cajun fans to travel well and provide some support for the visitors. If the rain holds off (which remains a bit iffy, but we can hope), 33,000-seat Veterans Memorial Stadium should be rocking.

2. Quarterbacks
Any discussion of these two teams has to start with their signal-callers, the MVPs of the last two New Orleans Bowl games. Troy junior Corey Robinson set a national high-school record with 91 touchdown passes in one season as a senior in Paducah, Kent., and he's thrown for 3,400+ yards in back-to-back seasons. On the other side, UL senior Blaine Gautier makes the Cajuns go. He can throw the deep ball - although he was erratic downfield in the season-opening win - and scramble when necessary. He tied Jake Delhomme's school record with five career games of 300+ yards passing, except Gautier did it in a single season. Yeah, these guys can play.

3. Second, third, fourth chances
Both teams have guys who have overcome long odds, adversity, or their own mistakes to become productive collegiate players. For example, Troy walk-on linebacker De'Von Terry, the reigning SBC Defensive Player of the Week, used to be excused from some practices by Blakeney so he could earn enough money to stay in school. Lafayette linebacker Le'Marcus Gibson and Troy safety Barry Valcin are both sixth-year seniors who had to apply for extra years of collegiate eligibility, while Gibson and teammates Tig Barksdale and Delvin Jones are both playing at their third school. These are just some examples, but we're going to be watching a lot of seriously motivated guys tomorrow night.

4. The big men
They may not be quite as big as my esteemed partner, but both teams have some big guys up front who you will definitely notice. As Blakeney put it, "the guys who hit each other on every play" are going to play a big role. Each team has three linemen upwards of 290 pounts, led by the Quave brothers - Daniel and Mykhael - at guard for UL and Troy center Kyle Wilborn. On the defensive side, watch for Lafayette nose tackle Justin Hamilton, a 330-pound sophomore who forced two fumbles against Lamar, and the speed of Troy ends Tony Davis and Marty Stadom.

5. Throwback kickers
Both teams employ specialists who handle punting and placekicking, which seems kind of old-school. Lafayette's Brett Baer is closing in on the NCAA record for kicking accuracy and hit from 50+ yards last week. He's also 7-for-9 on onside kicks in his career, recovering four of them himself. Troy's Will Scott, a junior college transfer signed for his punting, won the kicking spot and hit from 44 yards against UAB. If my opener was any indication, one or both of these guys could be lining up some high-pressure kicks on Saturday night. I hope you'll tune in to see it.

Saturday night's game will kick off at 7 p.m. ET and can be seen on ESPN3 and WatchESPN. Follow @jtyardley for more coverage before and after the game.