Troy Trojans buck trend and take down South Alabama at home
The Troy Trojans took down the South Alabama Jaguars 37-13 in the annual Battle for the Belt on Wednesday night.
The Trojans won the rivalry game at home for the first time since 2013 and, after winning the Belt last season, Troy is the first team to claim the trophy in back-to-back seasons since its debut in 2015.
The win put a stop to a trend that saw the visiting team in this series come away with a win in each of the last four years.
Quarterback Kaleb Barker completed 20 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns to two interceptions. Running back DK Billingsley led all rushers with 100 yards on 5.0 yards per carry.
Troy turned the ball over three times, but the defense came through with three takeaways of its own while holding the Jaguar offense to 271 total yards.
“Extremely proud of the defense,” head coach Chip Lindsey said following the game. “I think that was the key to the game. Our defense is getting better each week.”
The first quarter saw just three drives, but the rivals delivered with points on each occasion. Troy opened the game with a 12-play drive that ended in a 31-yard field goal from Tyler Sumpter.
South Alabama saw a little more success on its first drive, moving to the Troy one-yard line. The Trojans stood up Tra Minter and Cephus Johnson twice from three feet away and forced the Jaguars into a short, 18-yard field goal.
On the ensuing possession, the Trojans went all the way with a 14-play touchdown drive ending with a one yard touchdown catch by Kaylon Geiger.
The Trojan defense returned to the field and performed another bend-but-don’t-break act on the following South Alabama drive, allowing the Jaguars to reach the one-yard line once again. Like a persistent bouncer, Troy would not allow entry this time, either. The Jaguars elected to go for it on fourth down and Johnson’s pass sailed behind the endzone.
Third time was the charm, though.
After taking over from the five-yard line, Barker fumbled the football while trying to pump fake and the Jaguars took over in prime position. Kawaan Baker took a jet screen to the endzone on the first play to tie the game at 10.
Troy ended the half with two more field goals courtesy of Sumpter. The first came with 1:08 left in the second quarter and, thanks to a quick 24-yard punt from the Jaguars, the second came just as the half expired to give Troy a 16-10 lead at the break.
Troy outgained South Alabama 233-113 in the half, despite the slim lead.
The third quarter featured much of the same qualities of the first half. South Alabama entered Troy territory three times in the quarter and came away with a total of three points.
On the other side, Troy found the red paint by way of a 15 yard touchdown pass from Barker to Geiger. Barker also gave up the football again, throwing his second interception of the game in the period.
Sunderland would get his quarterback back early in the fourth quarter, though, by picking off Johnson for a second time and taking it 29 yards to the house to put the Trojans up 30-13.
Troy later tacked on another touchdown for good measure. This one coming from freshman Trevon Woolfolk, his first career score.
Healthy Trojans
The status of multiple players on the offensive side of the ball were up in the air ahead of the mid-week game. Most notably, Barker was listed as questionable by Lindsey after taking a late hit to the upper body in the first half against Missouri.
Not only did Barker start on Wednesday night, he came out on fire. The senior completed seven of his first eight attempts for 74 yards and a touchdown. Four different players caught one of the seven completed throws. In that span, Barker also ran for 23 yards.
Billingsley’s status was also up in the air after getting banged up against the Tigers. His 100 yards against South Alabama gives him three 100-yard performances this season.
Fellow backfield mate Jabir Frye saw his first action since going down against Southern Miss on September 7. The junior picked up 26 rushing yards on six carries while catching three passes for 15 yards.
“Getting Jabir (Frye) back was huge,” Lindsey said. “Just seeing him back running and healthy and moving around. Jabir is going to be a big part of our offense moving forward.”
Missed opportunities
Troy had to settle for three field goals in the first half with a chance at six points each time. Late in the first half, Barker had an open man in Geiger in the corner of the endzone after a Jaguar defender fell down. The ball sailed over Geiger’s head and out of bounds.
Before that, Barker’s second quarter fumble proved costly. Instead of at least forcing the Jaguar offense to eat up field again, South Alabama quickly took advantage to even the game.
The trend continued in the second half. Following one of several third quarter muffled South Alabama drives inside Troy territory, Barker threw his second interception of the game. The Jaguars were able to capitalize on the turnover with a field goal.
“We were hit-and-miss on offense,” Lindsey said. “We were very inconsistent. If we’re going to reach our goals and do what we want to do we’ve got to stop turning the ball over. That’s the bottom line.”
On the next drive, the Trojans moved into Jaguar territory again but stalled just inside the redzone. Sumpter, who was 3-3 up to this point, then missed his first field goal of the game.
Downfield pass defense
Troy’s struggles defending the pass have been prevalent, to say the least. A bye week and a date with Johnson seemed to help the Trojan secondary take a step in the right direction.
In the first half, Johnson attempted three deep passes and saw two of them hit the turf. One of the balls fell into the hands of spear-turned-corner Will Sunderland for his second interception of the season.
Johnson continued to struggle in the second half, misfiring on three more deep balls. Johnson finished zero for six on deep passes and 20 for 38 overall for 183 yards and two interceptions.
Bend but never break
Similar to Troy, South Alabama left points on the field all night long. Not similar to Troy, South Alabama left a lot of points on the field.
The Jaguars had the ball inside Trojan territory eight times in 11 drives and came away with only three scores and 13 points. South Alabama’s only touchdown came when it took over at the three yard line following a Troy turnover.
South Alabama converted just three third downs in 12 attempts and turned the ball over three times. Troy’s 96 forced turnovers over the last four seasons leads the entire country.
The Troy front seven showed out throughout the contest, giving up 91 rushing yards on 2.7 yards per carry. Inside linebackers Carlton Martial and Justin Whisenhunt had 10 tackles each and led a unit that logged six tackles for loss.
Multiple playmakers from the backfield
Troy has had to use a number of players out of necessity this season, but got to use a number of options on Wednesday out of choice.
Six different players touched the ball coming out of the backfield during the game, including two wide receivers. Geiger logged two carries and a pop-pass reception while in motion and Khalil McClain turned a backwards pass into an 18 yard pass to Bret Clark in the first half.
Three different players ran the ball 10 times and fourth, Frye, had nine total touches. Woolfolk had 10 carries for 42 yards on the night.
“Establishing the run game is going to make the passing game easier,” Barker said after the game. “Especially if they’re not going to respect the fact that we can run the football, which I think we can versus any team. I think we should run it down their throat like we did (tonight).”
Will Sunderland’s Flu Game
Step aside Michael Jordan, the newest rendition of the Flu Game is here. Sunderland revealed following the game that he had the flu this past week and was still dealing with symptoms while out on the field.
“This game, I didn’t feel so well,” Sunderland said. “I had to go out there with my team and my brothers and just fight over that sickness.”
Fight over it he did. Sunderland had four tackles to go along with his two interceptions. His pick six, according to Sunderland, was his first ever at any level.
Up next
Troy has six weeks and six Sun Belt opponents coming up with Georgia State next on the docket. The Panthers are 4-2 and coming off their second consecutive conference victory.