2026 Missouri Football Opponent DEEP DIVE: Troy Trojans

I really don’t see any reason why Missouri should ever play the Troy Trojans in football.

Sure, Missouri has blown out Troy in two separate occasions. A 44-7 trouncing in 2002 when Troy went by “Troy State” and was an D-1 independent means absolutely nothing, and the 52-21 victory in 2005 overlooks the fact that Missouri only put up 20 points in the first half against them. a 25-point 3rd quarter helped, but still.

But Missouri played Troy in 2004. If you’re older than 30 you know what happened then. A Tiger squad with conference contender stamped on it and a potential Heisman contender at quarterback implemented an unwise scheme change on offense and went up against a Troy defense featuring NFL Hall of Famer Demarcus Ware and lost on the road 24-14, stamping out any happy dreams with impunity.

Oh, and Missouri also played Troy in 2019. “But Nate,” you say with confusion, “Missouri won that game 42-10, why are you grumpy about that?”. Mmm. Yes. Missouri did win.

But what did it cost?

A Cale Garrett All-American-potential season, for one. The last-minute Navy-to-Missouri commit was playing defensive football at a level rarely seen in Columbia, logging 43 tackles (29 solo), 5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 passes defensed, 3 interceptions, a fumble return for a touchdown AND an interception returned for a touchdown. And that was over 5 games! But he tore his pectoral muscle against Troy, finished out the game anyway, and was promptly told his season was done.

AND. DON’T FORGET. Those dirty Troy Trojans also hit quarterback Kelly Bryant super late on a touchdown pass, injuring his knee and forcing him to miss the rest of the game. There are several factors as to why that 2019 team fell apart but having Bryant be injured for the rest of the year was certainly one of them. The loss of Cale Garrett was another.

So. Yeah. Forgive me if I believe playing Troy is a bad thing for Missouri to do because…

/waves hands franticly at the paragraphs above

…I FEEL A LITTLE JUSTIFIED IN THAT SENTIMENT.

But let’s go through this exercise anyway.

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Here’s what Troy did last year:

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Coaching Staff

Gerad Parker – 3rd Year – 12-14 (9-7)

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Assistant Staff

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Roster Movement

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[words] so if Troy lost 25 players – and we’re ignoring the fact that no one wants those transfers – and only brought in 14 guys to replace those losses, then where the heck are they going to find guys to get out of the negative of the portal equation and fill out a competent FBS two-deep?

The answer: JUCO, babaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!

When it comes to recruiting junior college players, Gerad Parker and his staff were busier than a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest.

Of the 34-man incoming “high school” recruiting class, 18 were playing junior college football last year. That’s damn-near Bill Snyder at K-State levels of JUCO-ry.

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Offense

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Quarterback

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Running Backs

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Receivers

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Offensive Line

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Defense

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So what does it all mean?

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