Meh...I like Blakeney, but he is out of line. What does he benefit from saying nothing? Nothing. What does he benefit from calling out Auburn and Alabama? A lot.
There is no reason for Troy to play Auburn or Alabama. It would give credibility to Troy, even with an ass whipping, where Troy doesn't deserve the credibility.
Georgia playing GSU is completely different that Auburn or Alabama playing Troy. GSU is a tiny football program. Troy is a smaller D1 school that is trying to compete with the big boys. Why give them any more advantage to compete?
You would certainly know more about that situation than most. I respect your opinion but I just can't see Troy gaining any advantage from winning or losing this game. Srsly, no disrespect but Troy will pretty much always be Troy, regardless if they pull a big upset of Auburn or Alabama or any other big name school. They've always taken on all comers, from Nebraska to Miami to LSU and on and on. Have beaten several of them and should have won many more, including Tennessee and Miss. State last year. Blew those games.
Even with a win over AU or UA, they'll still have a 35,000 seat stadium that is rarely if ever filled, no matter who the opponent. 4* and 5* players aren't going to suddenly choose Troy over us because of an upset win and I can't see boosters deciding to give multi-millions to the program because of it either. Troy will most likely always have a budget that's 1/5th or 22.7% of Auburn's or Alabama's, if that much.
However, what you would see at JHS is a packed house as opposed to the maybe 70K that showed up the past two Saturdays. I think there would be a huge in-state buzz over the game (at least the first one) and the City of Auburn would benefit from at least 15-20K more fans being on campus for the game.