Neal Brown’s Troy just won its second Power 5 upset in 2 years

The Trojans are much closer to a finished product than are Scott Frost’s Cornhuskers.

Nebraska is the next Power 5 victim of a feisty Troy Trojans football team. Neal Brown’s bunch, who beat LSU in 2017, came away with the 24-19 win on Big Ten Network, getting out to 17-point lead early in the first half against the Cornhuskers. The Huskers entered the game as a 12-point favorite, but leave at 0-2 for the first time since 1957.

Run defense led the way for the Trojans, with the Huskers gaining only 3.9 per carry on the day. Troy also forced two interceptions by backup QB Andrew Bunch and added a fumble recovery, but turned the ball over twice themselves.

The Trojans were spurred on by this 58-yard punt return for their first touchdown touchdown.

Brown has built Troy into a sustainable Group of 5 program.

They’ve won double-digit games in the last two seasons, and almost derailed Clemson’s national championship season in 2016. In 2017, they beat LSU in Death Valley. So these Trojans are certainly game to spoil the day of a storied Power 5 program. Brown has this Troy program in great shape.

“There’s more than a few advantages to a place like this, when you’re a head football coach. Everyone wants to talk about what you don’t have or what’s different somewhere else, but I can drive past the two bars in town on my way home every night and tell, without getting out, if one of our players is in there. You can’t do that most places.”

And Scott Frost had quite a bit of work to do to turn this Cornhuskers program around, which bottomed out under Mike Riley with a 4-8 2017 campaign. Nebraska lost to Colorado in their actual season opener (the scheduled one was cancelled due to bad weather) and expectations for Frost should be tempered anyway because he’s got a rebuild on his hands.

A big beneficiary of anything that makes Troy look good: Boise State.

The Broncos absolutely blasted the Trojans in Week 1, and early on Boise State looks like it could be the frontrunner for the Group of 5 New Year’s Six berth. Their resume will need all the help it can get in addition to BSU staying unblemished, so any increase in Troy’s status — win or lose — can only be good for Boise State.