Football Hosts Eastern Kentucky Saturday at The Vet

TROY, Ala. – Coming off a solid Sun Belt Conference opening victory, the Troy football team continues its three-game homestand with a non-conference matchup against Eastern Kentucky at The Vet on Saturday; kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.

"The game this week is a game where we need to go out and execute our offense and it will come down to us getting focused and playing and practicing to our standard," head coach Chip Lindsey said at his weekly press conference. "That's what we're selling to our team. We're excited to play again at home this week and next, and we're excited to get started."

Gates to The Vet will open at 12:30 p.m. and fans are encouraged to enter the stadium early to help alleviate congestion as kickoff draws nearer. Face coverings for fans are required inside The Vet and while tailgating. Additionally, fans are reminded to use their GAME 2 ticket for the game.

Troy (2-1, 1-0 Sun Belt) was methodical in its victory over Texas State last weekend with the Trojans outgaining the Bobcats 488-254 in the game with 80 of Texas State's yards coming on the final drive against Troy's reserves.

"Defensively, I'm really pleased with how we have played in two of our three games this season," Lindsey said. "Our defense has really done a nice job of limiting explosive plays. I think that's the key to playing good defense in this day and age. With all of the good offenses out there you need to limit the explosive plays and ones that lead to quick touchdowns."

In Troy's two wins, the Trojans have outscored their two opponents by an 84-31 margin while limiting Middle Tennessee and Texas State to an average of 247.5 total yards and 3.84 yards per play. Jayden McDonald leads the Trojans with 19 tackles, Javon Solomon has a team-best 3.5 tackles for loss and Reddy Steward paces Troy with two sacks – all three players are underclassmen.

Sophomore quarterback Gunnar Watson continued the impressive start to his Troy career as QB1 throwing for four touchdowns and 338 yards en route to earning Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week honors. In the first half of Troy's two wins, Watson has completed 47-of-64 passes for 487 yards and five touchdowns.

Troy's offense featured plenty of star power with true freshman running back Kimani Vidal rushing for 106 yards on just 12 carries to become just the third true freshman in school history to top the century mark in a game. Kaylon Geiger caught seven passes for 121 yards and a touchdown to join Watson and Vidal as just the 14^th Troy trio to finish a game with 300 yards passing, 100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving in a game.

Know Your Foe
Eastern Kentucky (1-3) becomes Troy's fourth straight opponent to play the Trojans coming off a bye week – nine of Troy's 12 opponents this season will play the Trojans coming off extended rest.

The Colonels are coming off a pair of games against FCS opponents (The Citadel and Houston Baptist) after opening the season with back-to-back contests against Marshall and West Virginia.

Parker McKinney has thrown seven touchdown passes in the last two games. He ranks third in FCS football with eight passing touchdowns this season, while Alonzo Booth is second in FCS football with 277 rushing yards and fourth in yards per carry (4.86).

Notable
• Five of Gunnar Watson's six touchdown passes this season have come on third or fourth down.

• Troy ranks ninth nationally holding opponents to just a 50 percent success rate (3-of-6) on third and short rushes (1 or 2 yards).

• Troy has reached the 400-yard mark of total offense in 11-of-15 games under head coach Chip Lindsey.

• The Trojans are 7-1 when leading at halftime and 5-0 when rushing for more than 200 yards under Chip Lindsey.

Football Hosts Eastern Kentucky Saturday at The Vet

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Players Mentioned

Kaylon Geiger

Jayden McDonald

Javon Solomon

Reddy Steward

Kimani Vidal

Gunnar Watson

Troy University Athletics