JONESBORO — Troy brought its band and called the tune Saturday night.
The Trojans finally looked at home at Arkansas State, taking a 27-0 victory to end a three-game conference losing streak to the Indians before an announced crowd of 14,694 at Indian Stadium.
Troy, which never had beaten the Indians in Sun Belt Conference play and had won only once at Indian Stadium, dictated the tone with a big-play defense featuring five sacks for 38 yards in losses, two interceptions bycornerback Leodis McKelvin, one by cornerback Elbert Mack and a fumble recovery by Boris Lee for a touchdown.
It was the second consecutive loss for the Indians (3-5, 1-3), who haven't scored in six quarters after building a 31-pointsper game scoring average.
"The bottom line is we've lost two games in a row," Coach Steve Roberts said. "We've got to find a way to win a football game, have some fun, work, stay together as a team, which I haveabsolutely no questions at all whether we're going to do that or not because of the character of the young men on our football team."
Last week's 24-7 loss at Middle Tennessee made the Indians long shots at best to win the Sun Belt, and Saturday's loss knocked them out of the race.
"That's a bunch of malarkey," Roberts said, rejecting the idea the Indians have nothing to play for. "Every time the ball is teed up if you're a competitor, if you're a football player, you want to win. It doesn't matter if you're playing in the back yard or out here in Indian Stadium."
Along with the takeaways, Troy, which last won in Jonesboro in 1992 and is 2-5 against Arkansas State, stole the halftime show with its award-winning marching band that made the trip from southeast Alabama. When its big night was over, Troy (6-2, 5-0) the defending Sun Belt champion, was the only team left with a perfect conference record after FloridaAtlantic's overtime loss to Louisiana-Monroe.
"It was a great win for our program," Troy Coach Larry Blakeney said. "I have a high regard for Steve Roberts, his coaching staff and his kids. We're proud to get this win and get back toward Troy."
It was the first time Arkansas State had been shut out at home since losing 31-0 to Northern Illinois in 1992. It was also the first home shutout in five-plus seasons for Roberts, whose teams have lost just seven home games.
"It's disappointing to lose a ballgame here in Indian Stadium," Roberts said. "It's disappointing to lose a ballgame anywhere. It's a team game. The first question I got ... [is did] the defense play well enough to win? No. Because we didn't win. That's the bottom line. You have to win football games as a team."
Troy led 10-0 at halftime on a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Omar Haugabook and a 40-yard field goal by Greg Whibbs.
The Trojans took the ball to start the second half and went 77 yards to score on Haugabook's 1-yard run from the shotgun on fourth-and-goal with 10:49 left in the quarter. Haugabook completed a 41-yard pass to Jerrell Jernigan during the drive to set the Trojans up at the Indians 9.
Haugabook, last year's Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year and the New Orleans Bowl MVP, left the game with a hamstring pull in thefourth quarter and finished 14 of 23 for 156 yards and a team-high 94 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.
Redshirt freshman Tanner Jones took over for Haugabook, and the Trojans drove for Whibbs' 45-yard field goal that made it 20-0 with 10:22 left in the game.
Troy's last score came when Sherrod Martin hit backup quarterback Travis Hewitt and forced a fumble in the end zone that Lee recovered with 7:15 to go. Mack then intercepted Hewitt to end the Indians' next possession.
Arkansas State recovered a fumble and got an interception and twice reached the Troy 12 in the first half. But the Indians came away with no points thanks to McKelvin's end zone interception of Leonard and missed field goals by Josh Arauco and Brian Sheffield.
"We definitely shot ourselves in the foot," said Leonard, 10 of 24 for a season-low 105 yards and 2 interceptions.
Sports, Pages 29, 39 on 10/28/2007