Troy secures victory with 34-12 win over Florida A&M

Another game-winning performance from Devonte Ross and a dominant second half gave Troy a 34-12 victory over Florida A&M on Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Ross caught 11 passes for 229 yards and three touchdowns — including a 98-yard pass in the fourth quarter — and totaled 279 all-purpose yards as the Trojans (1-3) won for the first time under new head coach Gerad Parker and ended a four-game losing streak overall. Troy outscored FAMU 20-3 in the second half after leading just 14-9 at halftime.

“We still have so much to clean up, but there is no ugly or bad win,” Parker said in his postgame comments on ESPN+. “This football team needed a win.”

Quarterback Goose Crowder returned to the lineup after sitting out last week's loss at Iowa with a shoulder injury and completed 18 of 25 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. Three of those touchdowns went to Ross, a 20-yard touchdown in the second quarter that put the Trojans up by eight points, a 44-yard touchdown in the third quarter that gave them a 12-point lead and the 98-yard touchdown that decided the game with 8:36 left.

It was the second straight big game for Ross, who totaled 219 all-purpose yards and scored all three of Troy's touchdowns in last week's 38-21 loss to Iowa. In that game, the sophomore from Cartersville, Georgia, caught touchdown passes of 63 and 62 yards and returned a punt 77 yards for a touchdown.

Damien Taylor scored Troy's other two touchdowns on a 40-yard run in the first quarter and a 7-yard pass from Crowder early in the fourth quarter. Taylor accounted for 109 of Troy's 212 rushing yards in the game.

FAMU (2-2) scored all of its points on field goals by Cameron Gillis, who made kicks from 29, 22, 31 and 43 yards. Gillis' third kick gave the team a five-point lead at halftime.

Rattlers quarterback Daniel Richardson threw for 288 yards, including 141 yards on 10 catches by Jamari Gassett. Troy controlled the second half, however, limiting Florida A&M to just 120 yards of offense.

Things got pretty tough towards the end, with both teams committing a total of 25 penalties for 235 yards. Troy was penalized 12 times for 125 yards.

“Some of those games were provoked, but we need to step up and play cleaner,” Parker said. “But I'm proud of the guys, especially how we came out of the locker room (in the second half) and what we did to finish the game.”

The win was Troy's first since Dec. 2, 2023, when they defeated Appalachian State 49-23 to win their second consecutive Sun Belt Conference title. The Trojans then lost 17-10 to Duke in the Birmingham Bowl and also lost in their first three games this season.

Parker not only had an 0-3 record as Troy's head coach, but also an 0-9 record, including his six-game stint as Purdue's interim coach at the end of the 2016 season. He said Saturday he was more happy for his players and coaching staff than for himself.

“To be honest, if you do this long enough, you're not thinking about anything but what you have to do for next week,” Parker said. “But I'm going to try to take a deep breath and say, 'You know, that was OK.' I'm going to remember this day for a long time.”

Troy begins Sun Belt Conference play next Saturday at home against Louisiana-Monroe. The Warhawks are 2-1 after losing 51-3 at top-ranked Texas on Saturday.

Kickoff for Troy-ULM is scheduled for 6 p.m., with live streaming on ESPN+.