This is an article from Kevin Scarbinsky
Show is on for Troy State vs. Missouri
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Show me. That's what you said to Troy State when the Trojans decided to play football with the big boys.
Show me you can win games as a Division I-A program. Show me you can draw crowds. Show me you can schedule home games against teams that anyone will care to see.
Show me, show me, show me.
Troy State's answer: Missouri.
At home in the nicest little stadium in the state. On national TV on ESPN2. Thursday night, Sept. 9. Get your tickets now. They won't last long.
"Our critics said, `No one will ever go to Troy and play,'" TSU AD Johnny Williams said Tuesday afternoon. "We've shown that's not true."
Missouri isn't just anyone. The Tigers are ranked in almost every preseason magazine's top 25. Don't be surprised if they win the Big 12 North.
Quarterback Brad Smith is someone special. He may be the best quarterback on the move in the college game, and he's getting heavy preseason play as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
That kind of player and that kind of team rarely show up in this state from outside the SEC.
"Personally, I think it validates our move to Division I," Williams said. "This is the biggest game that's ever been played in Troy, Ala. Let's don't even hesitate to say it."
How did this happen? How did Troy put together a home invasion from a team far better than the herd of non-conference sheep that'll be led to slaughter in Bryant-Denny and Jordan-Hare this year?
A lot of hard work and a little luck.
When Troy State started its big move toward Division I-A football, Williams contacted the AD at every I-A program by letter. And then he followed up with a phone call.
He started a dialogue with Missouri, which helped. Missouri then hired Mike Alden as its new AD, which helped more. Alden had been the AD at Southwest Texas, which played in the Southland Conference with Troy State. He and Williams were friends from those days.
Williams proposed a 2-for-1 deal, with Troy State making two trips to Missouri and Missouri returning one game. The Tigers weren't a ranked team with a celebrated quarterback at the time, and the deal was done.
The better Missouri got, the better the deal looked for Troy State. The icing came last week when the teams moved the game to a Thursday night for a prime-time spot on ESPN2.
That happened because ESPN2 had televised the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic from Troy's Movie Gallery Veterans Stadium last year. That game was played there because Troy State's stadium has been expanded and modernized.
It seats 30,000. It sits right on campus. It features AstroPlay turf, 27 luxury suites, a six-story press box and a state-of-the-art lighting system.
It's the kind of home UAB football needs and Legion Field will never be.
Williams even consulted with ESPN in the stadium's expansion to include the kind of high-tech amenities - like fiber optic cables - a TV network likes to see.
So, come September, Troy will show you and me and the entire nation. Big things can happen in small places.
Kevin Scarbinsky's column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Great article about Troy from the
