Almost a week after knocking off rival South Alabama, Troy head coach Chip Lindsey addressed the media for his weekly press conference on Tuesday morning.

The Trojans snapped a brief two-game losing streak with their 37-13 win over South Alabama and improved to 1-1 in conference play.

“It was an Important victory because it was a conference game and an important rivalry game,” Lindsey said. “It was nice to get a conference victory, and it ensures that all our goals are still out there as we control our destiny. Overall, it was a great night to be a Troy Trojan.”

The Trojans hit the road on Saturday to take on an Eastern Division rival for the first time when they arrive in Atlanta to take on the Georgia State Panthers.

The Panthers are currently in a tie for second place in the division a half-game ahead of the Trojans at 2-1.

“They’re much improved and have come a long way,” Lindsey said. “Shawn Elliott does a great job and you can see the recruiting success paying off for them. They’re a very good football team with a couple of really good wins over an SEC team in Tennessee, and then they beat a really good Army team last week that offensively is really tough to matchup against. We’ll have our hands full this week.”

The next three games for the Trojans will be divisional games against Georgia State, Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern – heading into this weekend’s game, both Georgia State and Georgia Southern sit ahead of the Trojans by a half game.

Despite dropping their conference opener against Arkansas State, the division championship is still in play for the Trojans and the Trojans know it

“Football is a long season and with young guys, you need to find a way to motivate them and remind them that we can still accomplish our goals,” Lindsey said. “As we sit here toward the end of October, we still play a lot of good football teams, but it helps that we have all of our goals in front of us.”

The Troy defense took a step forward last Wednesday. They held the rival Jaguars to 274 yards. The performance came in the wake of allowing 443 yards to Missouri and 558 yard to Arkansas State.

“We really only gave up one big play the whole game, the pass play,” defensive coordinator Brandon Hall said. “I think that was the biggest difference. We were able to come up with three turnovers and actually score on defense. When you do that, you give yourself a good chance to win.”

The defense will be without strong safety Melvin Tyus for the first half after he was ejected for targeting in the second half of the South Alabama game.

“Kyle Nixon will get back this week,” Hall said. “Dunmore has played the position as well. We’ll try to get those guys ready this week. At the end of the day, the good thing about it, if Kyle can get back and help us out, he has played the position before. He has experience and he’s an older guy. That would be big.”

The Trojans have knocked off the Panthers three consecutive seasons. They go for win number four on Saturday beginning at 6 p.m.