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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MeanGreen61 Wrote:Troy State's answer: Missouri.

"Personally, I think it validates our move to Division I," Williams said.

It's a nice game, but how exactly does playing Missouri validate a move to D1 and make for the "answer"?

Alot of teams play good teams. I don't know if you could consider Missouri even a top tier BCS team.

I think it's great for Troy, I just don't see how this is the "validation" of D1 football.

Beating Missouri would be a validation. Simply playing them is not.

BTW- This writer seems to have sour grapes for UAB. UAB is on national tv 3 times this year, one of which is at Legion Field. Apparently, it didn't keep the ESPN crew away.

Quote:It's a nice game, but how exactly does playing Missouri validate a move to D1 and make for the "answer"?

Alot of teams play good teams. I don't know if you could consider Missouri even a top tier BCS team.

I think it's great for Troy, I just don't see how this is the "validation" of D1 football.

Beating Missouri would be a validation. Simply playing them is not.

BTW- This writer seems to have sour grapes for UAB. UAB is on national tv 3 times this year, one of which is at Legion Field. Apparently, it didn't keep the ESPN crew away.

What, by your own standard, validates a D-IA program? Has UCF been validated? I bet they have. I'm not trying to start a flame war, I'm just curious.

Missouri is pre-season Top 25, is in the Big 12, and is coming to Troy. I think a win over Mizzou at Movie Gallery will validate Troy's 1-A position quite well.

I will be glued to my TV set; this is great exposure for SBC Football and Troy will do the SBC proud. I expect Mizzou to lose!

I think that it is great that Troy is able to pull in a BCS school to come to their home stadium since a majority of BCS schools are scared to play a road game against a good mid-major team.
Look at what we did to Baylor last year at Fouts, do you really think they will be coming back anytime soon.

Trojans1andAll Wrote:

Quote:It's a nice game, but how exactly does playing Missouri validate a move to D1 and make for the "answer"?

Alot of teams play good teams. I don't know if you could consider Missouri even a top tier BCS team.

I think it's great for Troy, I just don't see how this is the "validation" of D1 football.

Beating Missouri would be a validation. Simply playing them is not.

BTW- This writer seems to have sour grapes for UAB. UAB is on national tv 3 times this year, one of which is at Legion Field. Apparently, it didn't keep the ESPN crew away.

What, by your own standard, validates a D-IA program? Has UCF been validated? I bet they have. I'm not trying to start a flame war, I'm just curious.

I guess you could say our Bama win was "validation", but I don't even consider that.

A validation would be a bowl appearance, a conference title, or a BIG win. UCF was 9-2 in 1998. We were independent and ready to accept a bowl bid, and it got yanked from us at the last minute. I believe that despite having our bowl yanked, we somewhat validated ourselves then, along with bringing Culpepper out of UCF and into NFL greatness.

However, I still don't think UCF has made our big "splash" in College football yet. I believe that's coming very soon.

Like I said, it's a great game for Troy. I just don't think merely playing Missouri is a validation of being a big time D1 player. UCF played VT at home in 2001 and lost. It didn't validate anything for us.

Hopefully we will on September 11 this year when WVU visits Orlando. We'll have 50,000+ in the stands ready for a big win at home.

Playing tough against most of the the likes of Miami, Nebraska, Arkansas, Minnesota, Kansas State, Iowa State, LSU, South Carolina, Miss. State (a win) and Marshall (a win) and more validated Troy's I-A move.

Getting a major BCS program to come to Troy seals the deal.

Now, when will UCF honor its commitment to play Troy again? I loved that series.

BMarkey Wrote:Playing tough against most of the the likes of Miami, Nebraska, Arkansas, Minnesota, Kansas State, Iowa State, LSU, South Carolina, Miss. State (a win) and Marshall (a win) and more validated Troy's I-A move.

Getting a major BCS program to come to Troy seals the deal.

Now, when will UCF honor its commitment to play Troy again? I loved that series.

Before you start throwing accusations at UCF, let me share some scores with you.

42-14 loss- Nebraska
38-7 loss- Miami
47-14 Maryland
23-0 loss- Arkansas
41-5 loss- Kansas State

Played them tough? C'mon....

Like I said, beating Missouri would be a validation.