A. Stacy Long

Montgomery Advertiser

MOBILE –

Two cheerleaders tapped on Troy athletic director John Hartwell's shoulder and pointed him toward a little boy with a special note.

The Trojans' 27-13 loss to South Alabama on Friday had just ended, and one fan, albeit a young one, made his feelings known.

"Call Ed Orgeron now," the note read.

With longtime Troy coach Larry Blakeney retiring at the end of the season and the Trojans (1-7, 1-3 Sun Belt) officially eliminated from bowl contention, the search may soon take the spotlight.

"A lot of people are starting to get down, but we can't do that," receiver Chandler Worthy said. "We have to get going and have to make this season into something.

"It's about more than just football now."

Troy's defense, despite a run of first-half success, again struggled and its offense continued its slide, too.

The Trojans totaled just 145 yards passing, but 62 of that was on their final three offensive plays. An 8-yard touchdown pass from Dontreal Pruitt to B.J. Chitty came with 1 minute to play.

"The passing game and the running game weren't there. Which one do you want?" Blakeney said. "We were not good enough throwing it and we were not good enough rushing it against a good team like this, and the defense couldn't stop them.

"That's trouble."

Troy did have 164 yards rushing, their second-highest total of the season. But the Trojans rank 98th in Division I-A in rushing offense.

Before the last-drive passing success, the Trojans were headed toward their worst passing game since 2009.

"Those guys did a good job of gameplanning us up," Worthy said. "We got the running game going a little bit, but it wasn't enough."

The Jaguars (5-2, 4-1) led 10-0 after their second offensive possession and the Trojans couldn't rebound.

But Troy held USA to just 47 total yards over the rest of the first half.

With two Ryan Kay field goals, a 43-yarder in the second quarter and a 38-yarder early in the third, the Trojans trailed just 10-6.

"We just have to keep playing and keep feeding off that," linebacker Mark Wilson said. "We have to build on that and keep getting better, but we still didn't play well enough to win."

South Alabama's rushing offense thrived from there.

The Jags answered Kay's second field goal with a four-play, 72-yard touchdown drive that ended with a Xavier Johnson 14-yard touchdown run.

After Troy went three-and-out, the Jags went 77 yards in seven plays. Kendall Houston capped it with a 41-yard touchdown run.

Suddenly, the promise of a 10-6 deficit had ballooned into a 24-6 hole.

"We're confident in our defense, but we have to keep getting better," Wilson said. "They made some changes in the way they ran their zone a little bit, and they capitalized on some big plays."

Houston and Johnson both set career highs.

Houston ran for 178 yards on 18 carries, while Johnson ran 15 times for 107 yards. The Jags, after running for 321 yards in last weekend's win over Georgia State, finished with 296 yards on the ground.

Hartwell didn't run to his phone afterward. The Trojans still have four games left in the season, starting Thursday at Georgia Southern.

"We still have a lot of games left," Worthy said. "We can't stay down now."