Tuesday Takeaways: Taking down the Toppers
What a win. After the App State miracle, it was nice to be on the winning side of such a close game.
Troy is now 3-2 and 4-1 against the spread (thanks Alabama A&M). Army is the only remaining non-conference opponent, and the Knights just lost to previously winless Georgia State 34-17.
Speaking of other conference teams, That Team in Mobile managed to knock off the defending conference champions, immediately putting the target on its back and making the Battle for the Belt that much more meaningful.
They would be 5-0 if they simply kicked a field goal against UCLA, but then again, glass houses, etc.
Now Troy hosts Southern Miss in the first Delta of Hate game, a series that will more than likely determine the winner of the division.
Before we can look to the new neighbor, we have to look at how we did against their former Conference USA foe, and our former Sun Belt opponent: Western Kentucky.
The Good
| Offensive MVP | Jarret Doege |
| Defensive MVP | Richard Jibunor |
| Stat of the Game | DK Billingsley: 122 yards rushing |
The story of the game was Jarret Doege, stepping in for an injured Gunnar Watson, going up against the team he played with all offseason, and sealing Troy’s win with two fourth-quarter touchdowns.
The matchup of the game was Western’s passing attack against Troy’s defense. The secondary actually stood up to the Tops and limited the yards after catch. That strategy proved to make the difference, especially in the second half.
More importantly though, Troy brought pressure to West Florida transfer Austin Reed, taking him down five times. Richard Jibunor was the workhorse for this defense, too, with 1.5 sacks, two pass breakups and the all-important forced fumble at the end of the game.
Credit must also be due to Carlton Martial, who recorded 12 sacks and an interception; Javon Solomon with 5 tackles, two for loss, a sack and a quarterback hurry; and Craig Slocum with eight tackles.
On the offensive side of the ball, credit to this running game. It produced more against WKU than any other team this season: 135 yards. 122 of those came from DK Billingsley, who also put Troy on the board with a great 21-yard run, his longest of the night.
There are several moments that could go down as the play of the game: the fumble that ended WKU’s final drive, the Philly Special that gave Troy a late lead, or even the second Doege touchdown, which put Troy on top for good.
Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen an exodus like Saturday night, when floods of people filed out of the stadium after that play.
This is a very tough decision, but for my play of the game I actually have to go with the first Doege touchdown.
It brought his full story to a climactic head, and it dealt a near death blow to the Tops. Just look at what it did to the win probability.
The Bad
There’s really not much to say. Gunnar threw a bad pick at one point, and a miscommunication caused a bad pass, a terrible intentional grounding call and a turnover on downs late in the game.
Troy gave up four sacks, the same number Southern Miss has picked up the last three games, but the offense got the job done. More importantly, it looked like a really balanced attack too.
So apart from cutting down on penalties (7) and increasing third down conversions (5/14), it’s hard to ask for much more out of this team.
The Ugly
Off the top of my head, these are five players I saw go down with injuries Saturday:
- Will Choloh
- Caleb Ransaw
- Mike Rivers
- KJ Robertson
- Gunnar Watson
That’s on top of already losing Duyenkrea Lewis, Jayden McDonald and Luis Medina. Coach Sumrall said these three likely aren’t coming back this week.
The good news is most of the guys hurt Saturday walked off the field on their own. Rivers actually went back into the game.
In the Monday press conference, coach mentioned that Watson and Choloh might have been able to return to the game, but they are officially “questionable to probable” for Saturday. Robertson is fine too.
Sumrall said Ransaw will not play even if he’s cleared.
“Every kid on this team, I’m gonna treat like my own son… but head and necks I’m gonna be even more cautious,” he said.
As for everyone else, we’ll see how this team responds on Saturday. If the App State game is any indicator, the next man up will take care of business.
Martial’s Magic Number: 59
There are seven regular season games left. The two-time reigning Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week needs to average just 9 tackles each game to get there.
Right now he’s averaging 11.2 tackles per game, good for a tie at 3rd in the country, and at that rate he’ll break the record in November, against Army or ULM.