Troy

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Syracuse faces skepticism over its 2026 season outlookour readMissouri vs Troy kickoff time, TV details announcedour readThe South Alabama rivalry

Sun Belt · Gerad Parker, year 3 (14-14) · Veterans Memorial Stadium (AL) · 30,000 · 25,495 avg in 2026

The nationunrankedAP / Coaches
The model#107 CFB ZeitgeistSP+ #106 (-11.4) · FPI #104
The marketMissouri by 26.5at Missouri · our model 15% Troy · a number, not a pick

LastW 34–17 vs Alabama State · Sat Sep 12 · Jaheim Merriweather 127 rush yds, 3 TD, 3 rec yds

Nextat Missouri · Sat Sep 19 · 7 pm ET · Memorial Stadium · Missouri by 26.5 · series 1-3, lost the last 2 · Game preview

Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2

Zeitgeist statureRegional Program I#120 all-time– holding
one line from National Program III
The era · 2014 through 2025

The CFP Era

12 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.

Era record 88-64 12 seasons
Best season 12-2 2022
TRAJECTORY · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program Quality AP Rank (inverted) CFP Appearance
'14'16'18'20'22'24NOW
CHAPTERS · 12 seasons · tap to open the archive
'14 3-9 '15 4-8 '16 10-3 '17 11-2 '18 10-3 '19 5-7 '20 5-6 '21 5-7 '22 12-2 '23 11-3 '24 4-8 '25 8-6

Troy's 2014–2025 record is 88-64. The era is still being written; the CFP line is the one the program is arguing for.

Era win %
.578
Ranked seasons (AP)
2/12
Best AP finish
#23

Program outlook

In 2017, Troy walked into Tiger Stadium and beat LSU. In 2025, Gerad Parker engineered a four-win turnaround, won the Sun Belt West, and then lost the conference title game to James Madison 31-14. The Trojans measure themselves by conference trophies. They are one short.

Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs

The LSU win in 2017 is the program's permanent credential — a small south-Alabama school went into one of the loudest stadiums in the country as a heavy underdog and won, the kind of result that defines a program's identity for decades. Troy built that identity into a system: coach Neal Brown left for West Virginia after three straight ten-win seasons, Jon Sumrall won back-to-back Sun Belt titles including a 12-2 season in 2022, and then Sumrall left for Tulane. The pattern is consistent. Troy builds winning coaches and exports them, and the program measures itself by whether the next man can sustain what the previous one built.

Gerad Parker's 2025 season was the evidence the fanbase needed that the machine hadn't stopped. A four-win improvement, a Sun Belt West division title, a legitimate shot at the conference championship — the architecture was there. Then James Madison won the title game 31-14, and a 17-13 bowl loss to Jacksonville State closed a season that felt like a setup rather than a conclusion. Parker enters his third year with the program back near the top of the league and a cleaner path in front of him.

The 2026 Sun Belt race is Troy's to claim or not. The West division title in 2025 proved the program's contender status. The question Parker has to answer is whether this team finishes what last year's didn't — whether the conference trophy, absent since 2022, is coming back to south Alabama. Veterans Memorial Stadium is loud with the expectation.

On the field

Deep-South Sun Belt grit — physical, fearless, recruiting-savvy football built in the Alabama pipeline that both SEC schools and bigger G5 programs often overlook. Troy's identity is toughness-first: a defense that hits, an offense that doesn't ask for more than the roster can execute, and a roster constructed to spring upsets on programs that treat the Trojans as a stepping-stone. The brand of football is earned stubbornness from a small school that has no interest in its budget determining its ceiling.

program outlook · as of 2026-06-14

All-time record · Troy

Troy has won 55% of its games since 1935 — 72% at home, 41% on the road.

178-145 all-time · 35 seasons · 1935–2026

Home 101-39
Away 71-101
Neutral 6-5
1 g 1930s
1 g 1970s
8 g 1990s
55% 2000s
52% 2010s
59% 2020s

Coaching Era · Troy

Gerad Parker

Gerad Parker in year 3 of the rebuild. The methodology is taking shape.

Era Gerad Parker · 2024–presentPrev: Jon Sumrall (2022–2023)OC: Adam AustinPrev OC: Sean Reagan (2024–2025)DC: co-Nathan Burton / Dontae WrightPrev DC: Greg Gasparato (2023)
The full CFP-era story →The full coaching lineage →
3 years · era

Program memory

What this program never forgets

Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.

2017

The upset at LSU

Troy goes into Tiger Stadium and beats LSU — the program's defining giant-killing

The 2022 Sun Belt title

Jon Sumrall's 12-2 team wins the conference and the New Mexico Bowl

Losing the 2025 title game

Troy wins the West but falls to James Madison 31-14 in the Sun Belt Championship

Heartbreak

Moment of the season — so far · Troy · 2026

Won 34-17 vs Alabama State

Week 2 of 2026. The early statement — the game this season gets measured from, for now.

Decisive Margin

NFL Draft Pipeline

2023–2024

Troy has sent 3 players to the NFL Draft since 2023 — none in the first round.

Developing. Pipeline emerging.

3 picks · 0 in round 1
#107 Jake Andrews Center · 2023 · New England
#168 Javon Solomon Defensive Edge · 2024 · Buffalo · #2/577 final season
#181 Kimani Vidal Running Back · 2024 · Los Angeles · #15/310 final season
#106 all-time · 2 first-round picksthe talent factory →

More in this tab

Ladder finishHow far up the ladder this season got.

Season standing · 2026 · 2-0

Troy is 2-0 and unranked in the season's first weeks.

Even or better through the season's first weeks. The resume is still forming.

Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Coaching historyEvery hire and departure on record, not just the current era.

Coaching history

  • Hired Gerad Parker2024
  • Hired Greg Gasparato (interim)2023
  • Jon Sumrall departs23-4, 2 seasons
  • Greg Gasparato departs (interim)0-1, 1 season
  • Hired Jon Sumrall2022
  • Hired Brandon Hall2021
  • Chip Lindsey departs15-19, 3 seasons
  • Brandon Hall departs0-1, 1 season
Coordinator lineageOffense and defense under each coordinator.

Unit lineage

Troy’s offense and defense, by coordinator

FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.

Offense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2015 · co-Kenny Edenfield2016–2017 · co-Kenny Edenfield / co-Matt Moore2018 · co-Sean Reagan / co-Matt Moore2019–2020 · Ryan Pugh2021 · Luke Meadows2022–2023 · Joe Craddock2024–2025 · Sean Reagan2026 · Adam Austin
Defense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014 · Wayne Bolt2015–2018 · Vic Koenning2019–2021 · Brandon Hall2022 · Shiel Wood2023 · Greg Gasparato2024–2026 · co-Nathan Burton / Dontae Wright
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customsThe gameday customs unique to this program.

Rituals

Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.

FBS Reclassification (2001)

since 2001

more

Troy reclassified from FCS Division I-AA to FBS in 2001 — earlier than most Sun Belt programs. The 2001 jump produced rapid ascent through Sun Belt championships + multiple bowl appearances + the program's identity as Alabama's second football program (behind only Bama / Auburn / UAB in the state pecking order).

Bleed Cardinal Identity

since 2000s

more

'Bleed Cardinal' — Troy's defiance-rooted fan mantra — captures the program's identity in the shadow of Alabama's three larger programs (Bama, Auburn, UAB). The cardinal-red color + the post-FBS ascent + the multiple Sun Belt championships create permanent identity positioning.

Neal Brown 2017 / Jon Sumrall 2022 Eras

since 2017

more

Neal Brown's 2017 11-2 + Sun Belt championship + Dollar General Bowl + the LSU upset (24-21) made Troy a national G5 disruptor. Jon Sumrall's 2022 12-2 + New Mexico Bowl championship + multiple Sun Belt championships continued the era. The 2017 LSU win + 2022 12-win season cement modern relevance.

Cultural identityWhat college football loses if this program didn't exist.
BowlsEvery bowl this program's played, and how it did.

Bowl / Postseason Ledger

Recent postseason (2016-2025): 4-2

Most recent: 2025 — loss 17-13 (away). Last 5 postseason: 3-2.

20252023202220182017
Reddit blowupsThe plays that blew up on r/CFB.

r/cfb moments

7.2k
[Postgame Thread] Appalachian State Defeats Troy 32-28
Sep 2022 · r/cfb
213
[Postgame Thread] Troy Defeats Appalachian State 49-23
Dec 2023 · r/cfb
138
[Postgame Thread] BYU Defeats Troy 48-7
Sep 2020 · r/cfb

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