Preview 2018: Previewing and looking ahead to the Troy Trojans season with what you need to know.

Preview 2018: Troy Trojans

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense

– Top Players, Key Game, Fun Stats

– What Will Happen & Win Total Prediction

– Recruiting Class Analysis | Schedule Analysis

– Troy Previews 2017 | 2016 | 2015

Troy has the coach, it has the systems, and it has the success.

Now it has to beat all the bad teams to truly be special.

The Trojans managed to beat LSU at LSU.

They pushed eventual national champion Clemson in Death Valley in a 30-24 loss early in 2016, and lost last season on the road to a Boise State squad that ended up winning 11 games and the Mountain West title.

They won 21 games and two bowls over the last two seasons, and they took a piece of the Sun Belt championship last year.

And they lost to a lousy South Alabama team that won just three other games, scored just three points with the Sun Belt world on the line late in the 2016 season, and managed to lose to a mediocre Georgia Southern squad a few weeks later.

Appalachian State and Arkansas State are the fellow stars of the Sun Belt, but this year, Troy has the shot to be something special at an even bigger level, and it starts with the head coach.

38-year-old Neal Brown needed one year to turn Troy into a big, big winner, and he’s shockingly back to give it all another go. Eventually, some large-name school will come calling, but in the meantime, he has assembled a wonderful coaching staff, has another defense that should be among the nation’s best at getting into the backfield, and still has several key pieces in place to make the offense rock.

But more than anything else, he’s going to have to beat the mediocre to go along with the possible shocking wins.

Troy needs to replace four-year starting quarterback Brandon Silvers, but it’s still going to be good enough to get by Boise State in the home opener if everything else works right.

The offense has to replace two good starting running backs and the line is replacing the left tackle, but the talent is in place on both sides of the ball to potentially stun Nebraska on the road.

But there can’t be a letdown against Liberty. Or Georgia State, or Coastal Carolina or Texas State.

It’s this simple for Troy and Brown at this point – just win every game.

This team might just be good enough to do it.

NEXT: Offense Breakdown, Defense Breakdown, Top Players, Final Prediction & What Will Happen