Last Second Touchdown Lifts Troy to Sixth Sun Belt Championship

Saturday, December 2

Jonesboro, Ark.

6:30 p.m.

Troy University

10-2 , 7-1

Arkansas State

7-4 , 6-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Troy

Arkansas State

Last Second Touchdown Lifts Troy to Sixth Sun Belt Championship

12/3/2017 12:35:00 AM | Football

Box Score Game-Winning Touchdown Troy Game Notes Players Press Conference Neal Brown Press Conference Final Play Box Score

By: Adam Prendergast

JONESBORO, Arkansas – Redemption. Troy won its record sixth Sun Belt Conference championship as the Trojans drove 72 yards in 66 seconds with no timeouts capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Silvers to Deondre Douglas to lift Troy past Arkansas State, 32-25, Saturday night at Centennial Bank Stadium.

Marcus Jones gave Troy (10-2, 7-1) a 24-13 lead with 7:46 to play in the game as he etched his name in the Troy record book with a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown – it was the longest defensive touchdown return in Troy's FBS history. Jones asserted his claim for Sun Belt Freshman of the Year earlier in the game as he returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to put the Trojans on the board.

"What a college football game," Troy head coach Neal Brown said. "I thought our kids were really resilient. We had a bunch of guys get beat up. I can't say enough about how our team battled. Go back a calendar year, we had the same opportunity at Georgia Southern on the same part of the field and we didn't get it done. The growth we made as a program since then, paid off tonight. We were able to finish the game."

Taking Back What is Ours ??#OneTROY? #RTW pic.twitter.com/07JzkoRnB3

— Troy Trojans FB 10 x ?? (@TroyTrojansFB) December 3, 2017

Arkansas State took a 25-24 lead with a pair of touchdowns just 88 seconds apart late in the fourth quarter to set up the dramatic finish between the two teams who have won 11 of the last 12 Sun Belt Conference championships.

Almost a year to the date when Troy's Sun Belt title hopes came up nine yards short at Georgia Southern (Dec. 3, 2016), the Trojans started their game-winning drive with 83 seconds on the clock and 72 yards of green in front of them.

Silvers opened with four straight completions to push the Trojans to the Red Wolves' 43-yard line. However, two straight incompletions after a 5-yard gain set Troy up with a fourth-and-5 and the game on the line.

Douglas made a miraculous 19-yard reception as he was falling to the turf to keep the drive alive. Following an Arkansas State (7-4, 6-2) penalty and an incompletion, Silvers found Douglas alone in the corner of the end zone for the game winner.

Silvers completed 23-of-41 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns, while Douglas finished with seven catches for 74 yards and Tray Eafford caught three passes for 70 yards.

Jones put the Trojans in front, 7-3, with his school record third kickoff return for a touchdown this season early in the second quarter. The true freshman returned two kickoffs for touchdowns at Coastal Carolina back on Nov. 11 and is already tied for the school's career record with three.

Justice Hansen gave the Red Wolves a 10-7 lead at the half with a 5-yard touchdown run with just over five minutes to play in the second quarter. It marked just the third time this season that Troy had trailed at the half.

Hansen finished 31-of-50 for 437 yards and two touchdowns through the air, but threw three costly interceptions. He also ran 16 times for 52 yards. Blake Mack led the Red Wolves with six catches for 104 yards.

Severely depleted by injuries, Troy's defense recorded four sacks and seven tackles for loss in the game and limited the high-powered Arkansas State offense to just 25 points – the Red Wolves entered averaging 39.9 points per game, ninth best in the country.

Troy got some much-needed points out of its offense to open the third quarter thanks to a 28-yard field goal by Tyler Sumpter to tie the game at 10-all. However, Arkansas State answered back with a field goal of its own to regain the lead.

On the ensuing drive, Brown dialed up a home-run ball on third-and-2 and it worked to perfection as Silvers found a streaking Eafford for a 44-yard touchdown and a 17-13 Troy lead.

Up Next
Troy will learn its bowl destination Sunday afternoon.

Notable

• Troy won its sixth Sun Belt Conference championship, which is the most by any school in league history ... it is Troy's first Sun Belt title since 2010. Troy won five straight league titles from 2006-10.

• Troy has won 10 games in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1999 and 2000 when the Trojans were a member of the FCS.

• Troy improved to 23-0 all-time under Neal Brown when leading after three quarters of play; the Trojans led 17-13 at the end of third quarter.

• After opening 3-8 under Neal Brown, Troy has now won 21 of its last 26 games.

• Troy's 20 combined wins over the past two seasons are the most in the school's FBS history and tied for the fourth most in school history.

• Troy is one of just 14 schools nationally to have won at least 20 combined games over the past two seasons.

• True freshman Marcus Jones became the first player in Troy's FBS history to have a special teams and defensive touchdown in the same game. He returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown and an interception 100 yards for a score.

• Brandon Silvers moved into sole possession of second place in Troy history with 82 career touchdowns responsible for after throwing for two touchdowns against Arkansas State. He is two shy of tying Corey Robinson for the school record.

• Brandon Silvers moved into fourth place all-time in Sun Belt history with 10,379 career passing yards after he threw for 246 against Arkansas State; he passed ULM's Kolton Browning on the list.

• Troy recorded four sacks and seven tackles for loss in the game; Troy now has 36 sacks on the season, which is tied for the 10th most in school history, and 101 tackles for loss, which is the fifth most in school history. The Trojans need just five tackles for loss in their bowl game to set a single-season school record.

• Troy held Arkansas State to 4-of-8 in the red zone and 2-of-8 on touchdowns in the red zone; the Trojans entered the game second nationally holding opponents to points 61.3 percent of the time in the red zone.