 TROY 48, OHIO 21
Both teams finished the season at 8-5 overall. It was Ohio’s fifth bowl loss in as many tries.
Troy quarterback Corey Robinson completed 32 of 42 passes for 387 yards and four touchdowns, while Dujuan Harris ran for 105 yards on 14 carries with another score. Wideout Jerrel Jernigan caught seven passes for 48 yards, while Tebiarus Gill snared four passes for 80 yards and three more scores.
Ohio was led by quarterback Boo Jackson, who completed 14 of 21 passes for 209 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Running back Vince Davidson was the squad’s leading ground-gainer with 36 yards on six carries. Wideout Riley Dunlop had four catches for a career-high total of 91 yards.
Defensively, Troy’s Jonathan Massaquoi and Brannon Bryan shared top honors with eight tackles, while the former had three tackles for loss, including 2.5 sacks. The Trojans sacked Ohio five times, while the Bobcats were unable to get to Robinson.
Ohio’s Shannon Ballard tied a New Orleans Bowl record with a career-high 13 tackles (Boris Lee, Troy-2008), while Tremayne Scott registered the team’s only tackle for loss.
Jernigan got the Trojans on the board first when he finished off a 10 play, 78 yard drive. He lined up at quarterback and darted one way, then the other and into the corner of the end zone for a 12-yard scoring run. The score came at the 9:52 mark of the first quarter.
Brett Moncrief caught a 14-yard pass over the middle on the first play from scrimmage, while Jernigan snared another one for 13 yards. On third-and-7 from the Ohio 37-yard line, Robinson hit Eric Thomas for nine yards and the Trojans converted again when DuJuan Harris took a draw play for eight yards on third-and-2 from the Ohio 20-yard line for another first down.
The Bobcats responded in impressive fashion when Jackson found wideout Steven Goulet on a 34-yard scoring strike down the middle nearly five minutes later. Faced with a third-and-1 from his own 28-yard line, Bates took a quarterback draw up the middle for three yards to keep the drive moving. The Bobcats also got a big 24-yard run up the middle from Davidson to get to the Troy 34-yard line.
On the next drive, Robinson put Troy ahead by a score when Gill hauled in a 31-yard scoring pass down the sideline at the 1:57 mark. Following an Ohio facemasking penalty on the first play of the drive, Jernigan caught a four-yard pass on third-and-3 from the Troy 46-yard line to extend the possession.
Jernigan struck again with 12:42 to go in the first half when he snared a Robinson pass on a 16-yard slant route and took it into the end zone to give the Trojans a 21-7 advantage. Jernigan caught an 18-yard pass on the first play of the drive, while Jamel Johnson nabbed an 18-yard toss on second-and-10 form the Ohio 37-yard line.
Ohio stalled a Troy drive midway through the second quarter, but Trojan kicker Michael Taylor hit from 50 yards out to extend the Troy lead to 17 at the 8:33 mark.
Gill caught another Robinson pass across the middle and squeezed into the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown with 2:56 left to put Troy up 31-7. Robinson hit D.J. Taylor for 10 yards on a third-and-2 from his own 38-yard line, while Shawn Southward scampered 31 yards down the sideline to put the Trojans in business at the Ohio 24-yard line.
Robinson beat blitzing Ohio defenders on his touchdown pass, this one a 26-yard throw over the middle to Gill with just 36 seconds left in the half. The Trojans got the ball in good field position, starting the drive at their own 45-yard line.
Taylor completed another drive with a 33-yard boot to make the score 41-7 with 11:58 to go in the third. Southward picked up 14 yards on third-and-3 from his own 43-yard line, while Thomas picked up 17 more yards on a toss over the middle.
The Bobcats came out firing in the second half as Terrence McCrae and Dunlop had receptions of 14 and 51 yards, respectively, while Jackson racked up 23 yards on the ground in consecutive plays. The Bobcat quarterback capped the drive when he hit wideout Donte Foster on a five-yard slant over the middle at the 8:31 mark to make the score 41-14. The score was the first of Foster’s career. The drive lasted eight plays and covered 93 yards.
Troy answered right back, however, when Harris danced into the end zone from two yards out just over two minutes later to reinstall the Trojans’ 34-point lead. He also had the drive’s biggest play when he exploded up the middle on a 50-yard run down to the Ohio six-yard line.
Jackson struck again when he connected with Dunlop on an 18-yard fourth-down touchdown pass to finish off a nine-play, 54 yard drive to account for the final margin. The Bobcats had originally punted on the drive, but Troy was tagged with an illegal substitution penalty on fourth-and-6, and still seemingly stopped Ohio on the ensuing play. However, the Trojans jumped offsides on that play and Donte Harden responded two plays later with a 23-yard run down the sideline to give Ohio a first down at the Troy 11-yard line.
Troy converted 10 of its 15 third-down opportunities, while Ohio was held to a 4-12 clip.
Harden also set a New Orleans Bowl record and tied another. His 161 yards on kickoff returns topped the previous mark of 153 by Shaka Hill of Memphis in 2007. Harden’s eight kick returns tied a record also held by Memphis’ Hill.
Jackson finished his career as Ohio’s career leader in completion percentage (.604), pass efficiency (136.3), total offense per play (6.18), passing yards per attempt (7.7) and touchdown passes (38).
Courtesy of Ohio Athletics |
