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The Troy Trojans (1-4, 0-1) are coming off a frustrating loss on Saturday but have to turn right around and prepare for a Thursday night matchup against the Texas State Bobcats (2-2, 0-0) this week.

Something that has been a struggle for the Trojans all season has been health and availability. Every week the Trojans have dealt with more and more injuries, and against ULM starting quarterback Goose Crowder, backup quarterback Tucker Kilcrease and defensive lineman Luis Medina all went down with injuries.

“I’ll be very candid, this is certainly something I’ve never seen at this level, starting at your quarterback health and it’s sort of dispersing at every position on offense and defense, which makes things hard because it also affects how you practice,” Troy Coach Gerad Parker said of the injuries. “You have to adjust the physical nature or just the length of practice because of available bodies and that also can affect execution, unfortunately.”

Despite those injuries, Parker was adamant he isn’t allowing his team to just look at that as an excuse for losses.

“We aren’t giving in to that and (allowing) it to be an excuse for our failures or shortcomings,” Parker emphasized. “All of this is my responsibility and I fully accept it and accept the challenge and will push forward to make sure we do everything we can to get things righted. It’s certainly a real problem and something we’re battling, though.”

Parker said that Crowder, Kilcrease and Medina would all be game-time decisions Thursday night.

Parker also said that he knows any problems the Trojans have had on the field doesn’t stem from the culture of the program.

“I mean this humbly but we don’t have a culture problem,” he said. “Our guys have a shared belief and vision together and our guys have supported that and our guys practice hard. There is more to winning than that, though.”

Troy also made a change at center against ULM after a number of bad snaps set the offense back. Walk-on Tyler Cappi replaced Eli Russ at center and Russ moved over to left guard.

“I think, for us, the pivotal moment (early in the game) was where we just couldn’t handle the snap to the quarterback,” Parker said of the decision. “It’s unfortunate we had some snap issues that didn’t allow us to execute. So, instead of doing something like that again we thought it was best to move Cappi down (to center) and allow Eli to add value to us elsewhere and move him to guard. We’re always looking at everything possible to find ways to better execute.”

Executing will be key for Troy this week, on a short week of preparation, as Texas State comes to town for another Sun Belt Conference matchup. The Bobcats are coming off a frustrating loss of their own, falling 40-39 to Sam Houston in a game that saw Texas State hold a 22-0 lead in the first quarter.

“The explosive nature and tempo and pace of their offense brings the biggest challenge,” Parker said of Texas State. “Their explosive pass game, their quarterback is a great player and how fast they go is a challenge. They have skill players all over the place and are really good upfront. They give you multiple problems in their pass explosiveness and the run game.”

Texas State averages 37.5 points per game, good for third in the conference, while also averaging 451.8 yards per game, which is fourth best. The Bobcats’ 294 yards per game passing also ranks second. Meanwhile, Troy’s defense is fifth in the SBC in scoring, fourth in total defense, fifth in pass defense and seventh in run defense. Troy also ranks last in turnovers forced and second to last in sacks.

“I think defensively, what they’ve done upfront in their personnel to create havoc and play across the line of scrimmage and ball get off is huge for them,” Parker said of the Bobcat defense. “It’s a critical issue for us that we have to address quickly.”

Texas State leads the SBC in sacks and Ben Bell leads the conference in both sacks and tackles-for-loss. The Bobcats also cause issues in the kicking game.

“They are explosive at kickoff return and punt return, that game can be flipped in a hurry in terms of field position,” Parker said. “If we’re not careful it can be a problem. So, we have to make sure we’re good in our coverage units.”

Troy also has a weapon on special teams in kicker Scott Taylor Renfroe, who converted all of the Trojans’ points against ULM and kicked a career-long 49-yard field goal.

“That was awesome,” Renfroe said of kicking the longest field goal of his career. “It was a good feeling just to be able to kick your career long. Going out there I had no idea how long the kick was. I just focused on banging the kick through and helping the team.”

Troy will host Texas State at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3, in a game that will air nationally on ESPNU.