Troy kicks off its Sun Belt West title defense at home, and somehow this is the first time these two programs have ever squared off at the FBS level, even though Troy owns the series outright from their old FCS days.
Gerad Parker walks into his opener with about as much preseason goodwill as a Group of 5 coach can collect — Troy picked up 12 of 14 first-place votes in the Sun Belt's preseason poll and is expected to make its fourth conference title game appearance in five years. But the depth chart is still an open question. Goose Crowder and Tucker Kilcrease are competing for the starting quarterback job, and neither has been named the guy heading into kickoff. Sam Houston, meanwhile, is a year into Phil Longo's air-raid rebuild and just wants an offense that looks like one.
+Picked to win the Sun Belt West, near-unanimous poll support
+Reached the Sun Belt title game a season ago
+Owns this series outright dating back to the FCS days
−Lost its leading rusher and leading receiver in the offseason
−Outrushed in 7 of its final 8 games a year ago
−Starting quarterback job still unsettled entering the opener
Troy also has to replace its two best skill players from a year ago — leading rusher Tae Meadows left for Auburn and leading receiver DJ Epps is now at West Virginia — while trying to fix a run game that got outrushed in 7 of its final 8 games last season. Sam Houston's rebuild is starting from a much deeper hole: the Bearkats went 2-10 a season ago, including nine losses by two scores or more, and they're walking into a true road opener against the class of the Sun Belt West. The number DraftKings has posted here reflects all of that gap up front.
None of that changes the shape of the season for either program. Troy still has a Sun Belt Championship to chase after falling to James Madison in last year's title game, and this opener is really about finding out whether the pieces Parker plugged in during the offseason hold up before conference play gets serious. Sam Houston's goal is smaller and more specific — string together competitive quarters, avoid the kind of collapses that defined 2025, and give Longo's scheme something to build on before Conference USA play starts.
The new-look Troy backfield is the thing to watch early. Parker's staff spent the offseason trying to fix an offensive line that got pushed around for most of last year, and doing that against an FBS newcomer at home is about as friendly a proving ground as it gets. If the run game controls the clock the way Troy wants, this could get out of hand fast; if it doesn't, Sam Houston's defense has shown it can hang around for stretches even in a lopsided season.
For Sam Houston, this is as much about identity as it is about the scoreboard. Longo's air-raid system is designed to sling it 50-plus times a game regardless of who's snapping it, and a full offseason with him should mean fewer of the shutdown stretches that plagued the Bearkats a year ago. A competitive showing here — even in a loss — would be a real building block heading into the return to a freshly renovated Bowers Stadium.
Kickoff is the first data point of the season for both staffs, and neither one is likely to treat it as a throwaway. Troy wants proof its rebuilt pieces can hold up against the standard it's set for itself; Sam Houston wants proof that year 2 under Longo actually looks different from year 1.
