The Trojans overcame adversity and secured their best start to the season since 2000 with the homecoming win over Georgia State on Saturday.

The 31-21 win brings the Trojans’ record to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the Sun Belt Conference.

“Overall, we are 3-0 in the conference, that’s what we were hunting,” said Troy head coach Neal Brown. “That was the goal last week, and we achieved that. We overcame adversity, which I think speaks to our football team.”

The special teams unit once again gave the Trojans a boost. Kicker Ryan Kay converted on three field goals and freshman B.J. Smith had an onside kick recovery and also a key 44-yard kick off return setting up a Trojan scoring drive.

“If you look at our wins, in every one of our games, we’ve had significant contributions in special teams,” Brown said. “It reaffirms what we tell our kids … if we get everyone bought into that being our edge as a program, then it can pay off.”

The special teams helped an offense that struggled at times moving the football. The Trojans finished with 363 yards of total offense.

“The negatives are we did not play very well in the run game,” Brown said. “I thought we were undisciplined at running back and at offensive line. We have to perform better than that. We didn’t have very many explosive plays. We just didn’t get down the field. We didn’t have a single explosive run.

“We also have to score touchdowns in the red zone; I know we faced some adversity there.

On the positive side was the time of possession. Troy had the ball for 34 minutes compared to 25 for the Panthers.

“We controlled the clock, and we got a lot of snaps,” Brown said. “The first drive of the game Georgia State didn’t get the ball until right around the six-minute mark. That was a 21-play drive to open the game up. That set the tone for the entire game.”

The Panthers totaled 418 yards and the Trojans had trouble giving up the big play.

“We gave up too many big plays in the passing game,” Brown said. “We did a poor job on third and long. We have done a really nice job being consistent with our third down defense all year, but we let some third and longs get away from us in that game and we have to get that fixed.”

The defense did however turn the ball over. For the fifth consecutive game, the Trojan defense forced multiple interceptions. Brown also said the defense did well limiting the Panthers on the ground.

“We forced three turnovers. They rushed for 1.5 yards per carry, and I think it would have been right around a yard per carry of they didn’t get that big run on the quarterback scramble in that final drive.”

The Trojans will put their undefeated conference record on the line this Thursday when they head to Mobile to take on South Alabama in front of a nationally televised audience.

“This is a huge opportunity for us to play on Thursday night in a nationally televised game on ESPNU,” Brown said. “We didn’t have this opportunity a year ago, and it was something we felt slighted about. We have to take advantage of this. It is a rivalry game, and a trophy game.”

Kickoff is 6:30 p.m. at Ladd Peebles Stadium.