Red Wolves eye defending champ

— The Arkansas State Red Wolves bring the Sun Belt Conference's top defense and top scoring offense into today's league opener.

But Troy's toting the hardware.

Arkansas State (2-1) and Troy (1-2) play at 3:30 p.m. today at ASU Stadium in a matchup of the Sun Belt's two preseason favorites. Troy was the Sun Belt champion last season, defeating the Red Wolves in the regular-season finale to clinch the crown after earning a share of the title the two previous seasons.

"This is obviously a biggame coming up this week. We've had a good off week and a great week this week in preparation for the game," said ASU Coach Steve Roberts, whose team last played Sept. 12 in a 38-9 loss at Nebraska. "We have a tremendous challenge ahead of us, facing a very good Troy Trojan football team. It should be a great environment, great energy, great enthusiasm, and hopefully, it'll be a great game as well."

Troy is 0-2 on the road this season, losing to Bowling Green (31-14) and No. 1 Florida (56-6), but the Trojans are coming off a 27-14 victory over Alabama-Birmingham. They also have the Sun Belt's reigning offensive player of the week in quarterback Levi Brown, who has averaged 247.3 passing yards a game to rank second in the conference. Brown has thrown three touchdowns and four interceptions.

"He has all the throws, and he plays within the offense," Roberts said of Brown. "He has the arm strength to throw it down the field, but he is not afraid to throw underneath and put it in the hands of those skill guys and let them make things happen."

Troy has averaged 331.3 yards of total offense this season. They average only 84 yards a game rushing, with DuJuan Harris leading the team with 113 yards for the season.

Roberts said he thinks the Trojans will rely on the tempo and different sets to try to confuse ASU's defense, which has yielded 281.5 yards and 19.0 points a game.

"It's very tough to prepare for, very tough to practice against," Roberts said of Troy's offense. "A big concern for us defensively is gettingeverything communicated and making sure we're in position to make the calls, to make the adjustments in the tempo and challenge throws down the field."

Roberts said the Trojans' defense will likely try to use pressure to disturb the rhythm of quarterback Corey Leonard, who has helped ASU average 385 yards a game. Leonard ranks second in the conference in pass efficiency with a 133.8 rating.

"Defensively, pretty much everything starts up front," Roberts said. "All four of their defensive lineman are very tough. They don't stay blocked. The speed and finesse they have up front is obviously a concern."

Arkansas State leads the all-time series 5-3, but Troy has won the past two, including last season's 35-9 victory in Troy, Ala.

"This series is always a challenge," Roberts said. "Our two teams are pretty evenly matched."

Sports, Pages 21, 25 on 09/26/2009

Upcoming Events