Week 4 Preview: Troy at Buffalo

The 1-2 Troy Trojans will be in Buffalo for a matchup against the 2-1 Buffalo Bulls. The Trojans are coming off a 28-7 loss to the Memphis Tigers, where the offense struggled and they lost starting quarterback Goose Crowder to a shoulder injury. The Bulls have won back-to-back games, the last coming in dramatic fashion, with a late touchdown to give them the lead and go home with a 31-28 victory over the Kent State Golden Flashes.

This will be the second matchup ever between these two teams. The first matchup was back in 2018, and Trojans came out on top 42-32. The Bulls are playing a Sun Belt Conference team for the first time since 2023.

Troy

In Saturday’s matchup against Memphis, Crowder went down early in the first quarter with a right shoulder injury, an injury in which head coach Gerad Parker said he would be out indefinitely. Crowder posted an Instagram story on Sunday in a hospital bed. In a press conference on Monday, Parker confirmed that Crowder had surgery on his injured right shoulder. Crowder is expected to return at some point this season.

“There’s a window of what’ll be recommended by the medical team that we’ll listen to, but it is a window so it’s just going to be a matter of those people making those decisions within the window they’ve given us,” Parker said. “He will be back at some point this season to play, we just don’t know exactly when yet and we’ll know more as we go.”

Tucker Kilcrease stepped in for Crowder after the injury, completing 10 of his 29 passes for 65 yards and an interception. Parker wasn’t willing to name anyone the starting quarterback on Monday, even though he acknowledged Kilcrease and Houston transfer Ui Ale are at the forefront for competing for the job.

This isn’t unfamiliar territory for the Trojans as Crowder only played four games last year due to multiple injuries.

The Troy offense will look to bounce back in a major way against the Bulls on Saturday. They only managed to have 112 total yards of offense in the game, didn’t cross midfield until their last drive and the only touchdown happened to come from the defense on a strip sack.

“The challenge this week is to move forward and execute better on offense and take the next step in playing a complete game on defense and special teams to go on the road and play yet another very challenging opponent in Buffalo,” Parker said.

Buffalo

The Bulls had a thrilling win at Kent State on Saturday, with a game winning touchdown from Ta’Quan Roberson on a 22-yard pass to Victor Snow with 1:03 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Bulls fell 14-0 late in the second quarter after Kent State quarterback Dru DeShields found Cade Wolford for a 41-yard touchdown. The Bulls then responded with 24 unanswered points to take a 24-14 lead with 5:15 left in the third. Kent State then responded on their next drive when DeShields found Terik Mulder for a 50-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 24-21.

Kent State took a 28-24 lead with 2:37 left in the fourth after a drive that lasted nearly the entire fourth quarter. DeShields had a 3-yard run that capped off a 22-play 93-yard drive.

Buffalo responded after this with the pass from Roberson to Snow to put them up 31-28 and win a game that came down to the wire against a Kent State team that was considered a heavy underdog going into that game.

Roberson had an impressive game, completing 28 of his 40 passes for 318 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. He also added 53 yards rushing. As a team the Bulls ran for 139 yards on 29 carries averaging 4.8 yards per carry.

The Bulls have averaged 38 points per game and 485 yards per game in the last two games.