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The Troy Trojans are coming off a frustrating loss against Arkansas State last week but saw glimpses of what could be with some of the best football played all season from the Trojans in the second half.

Troy coach Gerad Parker started his weekly press conference with the media on Monday talking about what he saw from his team in the game.

“We’re disappointed once again and we’ve had to say that way too many times this season,” he continued. “I felt like we were on the brink of finding our football team and doing some things from our second half of play and the moment we created to take the lead twice. Unfortunately, we didn’t finish the job but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a job done.

“I think the response from our football team in the second half is to be commended and is the level of play expected. On the other side of that, the first half play from our second quarter defense effort – or lack thereof – and the first five possessions (on offense) being three turnovers is just not what we want to be.”

Parker saw the fight from his team he wants to see.

“It was a huge effort from us to come back into that football game on the road and to give ourselves a chance to win,” he said. “I’m proud of our resiliency. That is expected but noticed. This is a huge week for us to try and get this thing flipped and take another step of improvement in front of our homecoming crowd. We need to come out and play well for our homecoming crowd, for Troy University, for our alumni, for our fan base and for our staff and players.”

With the Trojans trailing by three points with 10 seconds remaining – and seemingly in field goal range – quarterback Matt Caldwell heaved a pass into the end zone that was intercepted to seal the Arkansas State win. Parker said there were different approaches that could be made in the situation.

“If you’re at home – or honestly, had your kicker practiced all week – your approach is different,” said Parker. “Had you not bee down 20 points and come back the way we had, it might be different. All of those things come into it.”

Parker went on to describe his though process in the decision in detail.

“I made the last call and it’s very simple; go win the football game if the football game is able to be won with 10 seconds left,” he emphasized. “The play call was a version of a ‘double post’ with a ‘climb route’ from (Devonte) Ross, our best receiver. If that gets turned free, let’s go win the game and go home and if it’s not, let’s execute what we do with 10 seconds left and run, throw it away or check the ball down to the flat and go out of bounds around the 20 (yard line) and kick the ball and go into overtime.

“We didn’t execute that and had the behavior as if it was fourth down and we needed the touchdown there. That’s on us coaches to put us in a position where our quarterback – and everyone – knows what you do here if it’s not available to win the game. The mentality was to go win the game and if we can’t execute that, go kick the ball.”

Parker took the blame for the execution of the play but stood by the decision for a number of reasons.

“We didn’t do that in our execution of it, which falls directly on me,” he said. “So, that’s exactly what happened and what my thought and mentality was going into that last play. To be fair, I stand by it. I would call it 10 more times again but with that being said, we have to make sure that everyone from our QB, coordinator, me and everyone knows what we’re going to do there to execute it properly.”

Parker also talked about the decision to start Caldwell and said that Brantley native Tucker Kilcrease’s health factored into that decision.

“For us, as with anything, it’s about who puts you in the best position to win games,” Parker flatly said. “Right now, Tucker’s health has something to do with that. Efficiency and being able to throw the football with efficiency also went into it. That’s how it will remain as of now going into this week.”

Parker wouldn’t delve deeper into Kilcrease’s health but said he would be listed as “probable and available” going into this week’s Homecoming matchup with Coastal Carolina. Parker also confirmed that freshman Montgomery native Caleb McCreary is the next in line at quarterback after Caldwell and Kilcrease.

“If both (Caldwell and Kilcrease) were out, the only option – outside of exploring some other things we’ve talked about – would be Caleb McCreary to go in as an emergency quarterback,” Parker said.

Parker and the Trojans will look to continue to build off the momentum created in the second half against Arkansas State this week.

“We happened is we created momentum plays by scoring the ball on the first drive of the second half,” said Parker. “The turnover on the plus side of the field was huge and led to points. We made some plays and that’s easy to just say that but we were also very attacking in the second half. I thought we were not passive and we went and just played football at a high level with high effort and executed.

“We ran the ball on offense and ran to the ball on defense. Our approach was better, for whatever reason, and we made momentum plays that was caused by playing with high effort. That put us into position in the fourth quarter to be able to win the game.”

Troy will host Coastal Carolina for Homecoming this Saturday, Nov. 2, at 3 p.m.