What Gerad Parker said before Troy's game against South Alabama

Gerad Parker would not commit to a starting quarterback Monday after Troy's homecoming loss to Louisiana Tech — a game in which the Trojans lost the turnover margin by three and never found their footing.

"It's kind of all hands on deck to figure this out," Parker said when asked if Tucker Kilcrease would start Saturday against South Alabama. "Monday of today, after such a huge letdown, I think is too soon to give you a fair and honest answer."

Parker called turnover margin the number one issue facing his team. Troy lost it by three against Louisiana Tech after winning it by a large amount in its overtime road win at James Madison the week before. The same symptoms followed both losses this season: stalled drives on offense, unfinished drives on defense and no impact on special teams.

The Trojans (4-5, 2-3 Sun Belt) travel to Hancock Whitney Stadium to face South Alabama (4-5, 2-3 Sun Belt) at 6 p.m. Saturday. Both teams need two wins in their final three games to reach bowl eligibility. The loser drops to 4-6 and must win out.

Parker also weighed in on the College Football Playoff expansion to 24 teams, arguing Group of 6 programs deserve a path because their universities are contributing to the House settlement. "If we're going to be a part of a university and athletic programs that are doing our part to contribute to the House case and the funds that needed to be put in to pay for that, there better be a way in," Parker said.

Full transcript

On the homecoming loss and rivalry week:

"You saw two weeks back to back of it. One in our favor where we win turnover margin by a large amount and win a great road game, and then come home and we lose turnover margin by plus three and don't sustain drives on offense and don't finish drives on defense and don't affect the game on special teams.

"You cannot play winning football against good football teams in that regard. We've got to control that and find ways to be better.

"It's a big week for our fan bases — both teams — as we play South Alabama. A huge rivalry and a great in-state rivalry for both sides. We've got to go to Mobile and look forward to traveling down there to put on certainly a better version of ourselves this week, and no quicker way to do that than to just get to work."

On playing consistent football:

Q (Maya Kitchens): "It seems like the highest of highs and then sometimes the lowest of lows. You have a chance to put a big mark this weekend in a rivalry game. Is that just a conversation in the locker room of shutting out the noise?"

"The only solution is you have to ignore the noise. But I would argue too, I think you have to ignore the same thing when there's large amounts of success. You've got to have a system in place that plays to standards and processes and ways that you have sustained success rather than riding an emotional wave of I feel good because we won or I feel awful because we did not win.

"We have to believe and know we can improve those things, or what's the point of having three games remaining. Although this is a massive week for Troy football, I'm more concerned about us playing more consistent football on game day because of our processes and their belief in each other rather than great preparation during the week that doesn't lead to them seeing some fruits of their labor."

On the quarterback decision:

Q (Josh): "Is Tucker the guy at quarterback moving forward?"

"Those that love us and those that are mad at me right now, either way, go look at the tape. Meet me at Baumhower's and we can talk through all the skill and scheme and talk through it with Barry, and I can show you things that happened in the route game and how we attacked them that looked pretty good. For whatever reasons, on different plays, we didn't hit them or get it done. But there's stuff there that we left out on that field at the beginning of that game that certainly could have made that result look different going into half and then further in the game.

"Long story short, we've got to play better. That involves a lot of different things, but I don't know at this time that I can tell you where we'll go at the quarterback position to go play well on Saturday night."

On the defense against Louisiana Tech:

"Then much like we've been in erratic play on that side, we would let a ball come off of our edge when we've got an edge player sitting there for a stretch play and we lose our edge and give up two touchdowns. We don't challenge properly and play tight enough coverage in our secondary and we give up what I believe was 24-of-29 passing on throws of 15 yards and under that we just don't contest.

"They do a great job — that's not to take away anything from Louisiana Tech. But much of the problems exist on our side in base defense and execution."

On turnover margin and ball security in practice:

"You look at our first turnover — it's a ball exchange on a reverse that we had executed just fine throughout the whole week, and we put it on the ground and lose it. The next one with Tuck, he tries to keep the ball alive when sometimes you just have to secure the football and go down and take the sack.

"The list goes on and on. We'll certainly do everything in our minds to continue to practice it better and do it better. And then there's a matter of doing it. Execution is complicated and very simple — coach to player and player back to coach. We've got to know what to do and do it."

On Luke Petit at center:

"It's probably very similar to where we're at at the quarterback position — it'll be an ongoing process of looking at who's available and what we can do to maybe make us better. I think he would agree and I would agree that he's more comfortable playing guard. But the availability of everybody and where we're at may not allow it. It's going to be an evaluation today and tomorrow to see what gives us the best chance."

On the locker room mindset:

"The things you're looking for that you don't want to have happen would be a group that is not playing or preparing well and not being held accountable. They're in good spirits. We had morning lift this morning. We're here and all accounted for and on time. They worked their tails off, were spirited and did well. They're not feeling great about the result. They shouldn't be. We'll come into an afternoon team meeting where I will get them pointed in the right direction and we're going to go and be pros about it."

On leadership:

"On offense, Goose has been beat up and hasn't played and still been as present as anybody — there to help Tuck and get guys going during practice to make sure we practice the right way. Our wide receivers are not as vocal in their leadership, but I couldn't be more proud of those six guys. Their practice habits have improved and they're playing harder and playing better. We haven't seen the fruits of that labor just yet, but I like where they're headed.

"Our running backs — specifically Jordan Lovett and Gavin Griffin — have been very vocal in leadership. Jaheim Merriweather, although he got dinged during the game, had played his best ball and really had his best energy at practice. Jordon Jones has played at a very high level at right tackle. We need him to lead vocally better, but he has certainly played better. Same thing for Elijah Prather, who's been here a long time with us, playing better and finally healthy.

"As I told Adam, 10 of the 14 football teams in this conference have three losses. We're not alone. We've got to find a way to manage this right now and still fight for Troy and play this week to be 1-0 and worry about the next two after."

On the playoff expansion to 24 teams:

"If the Group of 6 football teams are a part of this deal, if we're going to be a part of a university and athletic programs that are doing our part to contribute to the House case and the funds that needed to be put in to pay for that, there better be a way in. And there should be a way in. We could fight for one more and do all that all we want to. All the other conferences can fight all they want to. We're a part of the solution to college football. This is still a good brand of football. The Sun Belt Conference has put itself in a position where we are strong with 14 going down to 13.

"If you're fighting for college athletics, whether Group of 6 or Power 4, those Power 4 football teams still need teams to play out of conference. We still need to work together. This shouldn't be a battle of Group of 6 versus Power 4. We're all a bunch of coaches that still coach a game to serve our players and make them better men and better football players.

"I've coached the University of Notre Dame. I've coached at Penn State. I've coached at Purdue, Duke, Marshall, here. All things in between. Grew up in Division 1-A football. I never looked at it as I was better than another football coach when I was at the highest of levels in blue bloods.

"I do think that there's a path in which Group of 6 football teams should be in the playoff. Probably more than one, but let's call it one. At least we've kept that because our universities are doing their part to help pay for things that need to be paid for. I stand firm on that."

On Donnie Smith's performance against Louisiana Tech:

Q (David): "You mentioned Donnie Smith had his best game. What did you see on tape?"

"Donnie's pretty calm in how he carries himself at all times, but he had some juice in that game when he was rolling and playing at his best. There were some responses, reactions and energy to his teammates during some havoc plays that I hadn't seen out of him in a while. Thought it was great to see and thought he was at his best."

On motivation with the division race out of reach:

"If that's not the answer — that we're playing for each other and our staff together, what we want these memories to look like as we finish a year together — we don't have what a team really represents. I believe we have that. I believe with every fiber of my body that's what we'll see out of us the last three weeks.

"I think this football team understands that. They understand they want to play for the pride of what they represent and how they want this to finish, certainly in a rivalry week."

Transcription corrections

• "Sunb Belt" → "Sun Belt" (throughout)
• "Kino" → "Keno" (Keno Jones, #15, LB)
• "Luke Hodgej" → "Luke Petit" (#51, OL, team captain — transcription garbled last name)
• "Luke Pettit" → "Luke Petit" (same player, variant transcription)
• "Tai Clemens" → "Ty Clemons" (#11, DL, team captain)
• "Jordan Love it" → "Jordan Lovett" (#1, RB)
• "Jaheim" → "Jaheim Merriweather" (#3, RB — full name added for clarity)
• "Jordan Jones" → "Jordon Jones" (#55, OL — roster spelling is "Jordon")
• "Prather" → "Elijah Prather" (#58, OL — full name added for clarity)
• "LTE" → "Louisiana Tech" (transcription artifact)
• "blueb bloodoods" → "blue bloods"
• "Bombowers" → "Baumhower's" (likely Baumhower's Victory Grille — publisher to confirm)
• "House Oliver case" → "House case" (House v. NCAA — transcription garble or coach misstatement)
• "1A football" → "Division 1-A football"
• Filler removal (um, uh, you know) — standard practice, meaning preserved

Name flags for publisher

1. "Barry": Parker says "talk through it with Barry." Likely offensive coordinator or position coach. Need publisher to confirm identity.

2. "Baumhower's": Transcript says "Bombowers." Cleaned to "Baumhower's" (Baumhower's Victory Grille chain in Alabama). Publisher to confirm.

3. "House Oliver case": Transcription says "House Oliver case." The actual antitrust settlement is House v. NCAA. Either Parker misspoke or the transcription garbled it. Cleaned to "House case" in transcript. Publisher to decide handling.