Troy University Athletics
NOTEBOOK - A Deeper Look Inside the "Battle for the Belt" Victory
11/7/2021 5:42:00 AM | Football
There was no hesitation, nor was there any doubt.
With starting quarterback Gunnar Watson knocked woozy in the second quarter of Saturday's game against South Alabama, Troy head coach Chip Lindsey called on Taylor Powell to lead the offense.
Powell started the first five games of the season and made his first appearance late in the first half since the South Carolina game. He came into the game with 2:49 left in the second quarter, with the Trojans up 31-7.
Gunnar Watson started against Georgia Southern with Powell nursing a lower leg injury and hasn't relinquished the starting spot. Watson left the game at the end of a drive where South Alabama was penalized for a late hit on the quarterback as he gained two yards on a keeper. The extra 15 yards gave the Trojans a first down at the 36 and that drive ended with a 3-yard TD run by Jamontez Woods.
Powell came out for the next drive and never came out. He inherited a 31-7 lead and knew his job was to protect that advantage.
"It was fun. Obviously, we didn't have the ball much the second half," Powell said. "It felt good to be out there. It's been hard mentally these last couple weeks just battling some stuff. It's nice to get out there and just play a little football."
It was obvious Powell remains less than 100 percent.
"I'd like to not get into that," he said cryptically when asked about his health. "You can ask Coach Lindsey, but I'd prefer not to get into it."
He also made it clear he got great support from Watson, and he gives his teammate exactly the same support.
"You're a competitor, you want to play, even with the limitations of my body," Powell said. "I've been in Gunnar's shoes, and he's been in my shoes. The great thing about it is our QB room is great. Whenever I'm out and he's in, I'm trying to help him out. We're always communicating and talking about stuff. He's a helluva guy, and I've got great respect for him. He's made it easy and so has the rest of the team."
Lindsey said Powell's attitude has "been great."
"He's a great teammate. Taylor's still not 100 percent healthy ... He and Gunnar are close," the head coach said. "If Gunnar's not ready to go, I've got no problem with him playing. He's doing a great job helping us. He's a team guy. It's just the way he was raised. I knew that when I recruited him a long time ago, then getting him here now. … He wants to be a coach one day. He understands things a little more than some people do."
Receiver Tez Johnson said Taylor played really well, despite 6 of 11 passing for 80 yards.
"He's that first guy in, last guy out type of guy. He's going to always work, no matter what," said Johnson, who had four catches for 46 yards. "We knew when he went in, we were going to be all right. We knew we had somebody back there with experience with us. We all bought into Taylor at that point."
Banged up: Troy's victory was more impressive considering the Trojans had several players go down to injury besides Watson.
"We're missing some guys and we lost some guys during the game," Lindsey said. "We've recruited, hopefully, to build some depth for these kinds of situations and some of those guys paid off today."
Running back Kimani Vidal left the game, like Watson, with a head injury. Linebacker Carlton Martial didn't play for much of the second half with a quad contusion. Receiver Luke Whittemore injured his knee on the big pass completion from Powell that gained 34 yards and did not return.
Left guard Deandre Butler missed the game with an injury. Kannon Biggs made his first career start for Troy.
Defensive TD: Linebacker K.J. Robertson turned his first career interception into a pick-6 with a 32-yard interception return with 4:55 left in the first half.
South Alabama QB Desmond Trotter threw an ill-advised pass trying to avoid a sack by Javon Solomon and Robertson made him pay.
"The QB scrambles out because of the great pressure, Von hits him and he just throws it up," Robertson recalled after the game. "I guess I had the easiest job, I just can't drop it.
"Then I catch it, it still doesn't seem real. I was fixing to give the ball to Martial because I didn't know what to do. I feel bad, but I sort of grabbed Martial and threw him into somebody – which isn't a good idea now that I think about it – but I scored. I think Lewis got a big block. It still doesn't seem real. I was just excited; the team was excited. I'm glad I got it."
Robertson's return was Troy's third pick-6 of the season. The last time a Troy defense had three pick-6s in the same year was 2004. The Trojans have 90 interceptions since the start of the 2016 season. They came in second nationally since that period.
Big half: Troy's 31 points in the first half were its most since it scored 34 against Southern in the season opener and the most against an FBS opponent since it had 31 against Arkansas State in 2019.
Their three rushing TDs in the first half were the most for the Trojans since the season opener against Southern and the most against an FBS opponent since the 2020 season opener against Middle Tennessee.
Stats don't matter: Troy's victory was its first under Lindsey while being outgained. South Alabama had 335 yards of offense compared to Troy's 308. Of course, the Jags ran 81 offensive plays to the Trojans' 56 and enjoyed a 36:25-23:35 edge in time of possession.
Troy is now 1-14 under Lindsey when they are outgained.
It was also the Trojans' fifth win when they posses the ball for fewer than 30 minutes under Lindsey. In addition, it was Troy's lowest time of possession in a win since it beat Coastal Carolina in 2018 with a TOP of 19:51.
Long run: Receiver Tez Johnson ran for a 31-yard TD, his longest of the season and first rushing TD of his career. The play was an end around the right side.
"I was so tired, I couldn't run, for real," Johnson said. "I thought when I made the (last) cut I would fall."
Closing in: Carlton Martial, despite not playing many snaps in the second half, recorded 14 tackles to lead Troy. He finished with double-digit tackles for the third straight game and the 16th time in his career. He is 56 tackles shy of setting the all-time Sun Belt Conference record of 459.
It was tough for the Mobile native not to be on the field against the Jaguars, but Martial kept extolling his teammates from the sideline.
"I was just telling those guys, 'Finish the game, finish strong,'" Martial said. "It's going to come down to the last drive."
Martial said backup linebacker Jordan Anthony, who finished with a career-best 10 tackles, played well for him in the second half.
"We knew he would step in and do his thing," Martial said. "We're glad to have him."
Early turnover: Troy fell behind early 7-0 when South Alabama took the opening kickoff 88 yards in 11 plays to the end zone and went three-and-out on its first possession.
But a turnover seemed to ignite the Trojans. A bad exchange between backup quarterback Desmond Trotter and running back Terrion Avery resulted in a fumble and defensive lineman Antonio Showers recovered on South Alabama's 22-yard line.
That turnover set up Troy's first points of the game, a 22-yard field goal by Brooks Buce that cut South's lead to 7-3 with 7:15 left in the first quarter.
Troy won the turnover battle 2-1.
The series: Troy now leads the series with its rival 7-3, including four in a row. Troy head coach Chip Lindsey has not lost to the Jaguars.
The road team is 6-4 in this series. The Trojans' road win in 2019 snapped a four-game winning streak by the visiting team. Troy is 4-1 in Mobile, and the Jaguars are 2-3 in Troy.
What's next: Troy welcomes No. 24 Louisiana for its homecoming game. The Ragin' Cajuns lead the Sun Belt West Division with a 6-0 conference record and an 8-1 overall mark after its victory Thursday night over Georgia State.
It will be a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
With starting quarterback Gunnar Watson knocked woozy in the second quarter of Saturday's game against South Alabama, Troy head coach Chip Lindsey called on Taylor Powell to lead the offense.
Powell started the first five games of the season and made his first appearance late in the first half since the South Carolina game. He came into the game with 2:49 left in the second quarter, with the Trojans up 31-7.
Gunnar Watson started against Georgia Southern with Powell nursing a lower leg injury and hasn't relinquished the starting spot. Watson left the game at the end of a drive where South Alabama was penalized for a late hit on the quarterback as he gained two yards on a keeper. The extra 15 yards gave the Trojans a first down at the 36 and that drive ended with a 3-yard TD run by Jamontez Woods.
Powell came out for the next drive and never came out. He inherited a 31-7 lead and knew his job was to protect that advantage.
"It was fun. Obviously, we didn't have the ball much the second half," Powell said. "It felt good to be out there. It's been hard mentally these last couple weeks just battling some stuff. It's nice to get out there and just play a little football."
It was obvious Powell remains less than 100 percent.
"I'd like to not get into that," he said cryptically when asked about his health. "You can ask Coach Lindsey, but I'd prefer not to get into it."
He also made it clear he got great support from Watson, and he gives his teammate exactly the same support.
"You're a competitor, you want to play, even with the limitations of my body," Powell said. "I've been in Gunnar's shoes, and he's been in my shoes. The great thing about it is our QB room is great. Whenever I'm out and he's in, I'm trying to help him out. We're always communicating and talking about stuff. He's a helluva guy, and I've got great respect for him. He's made it easy and so has the rest of the team."
Lindsey said Powell's attitude has "been great."
"He's a great teammate. Taylor's still not 100 percent healthy ... He and Gunnar are close," the head coach said. "If Gunnar's not ready to go, I've got no problem with him playing. He's doing a great job helping us. He's a team guy. It's just the way he was raised. I knew that when I recruited him a long time ago, then getting him here now. … He wants to be a coach one day. He understands things a little more than some people do."
Receiver Tez Johnson said Taylor played really well, despite 6 of 11 passing for 80 yards.
"He's that first guy in, last guy out type of guy. He's going to always work, no matter what," said Johnson, who had four catches for 46 yards. "We knew when he went in, we were going to be all right. We knew we had somebody back there with experience with us. We all bought into Taylor at that point."
Banged up: Troy's victory was more impressive considering the Trojans had several players go down to injury besides Watson.
"We're missing some guys and we lost some guys during the game," Lindsey said. "We've recruited, hopefully, to build some depth for these kinds of situations and some of those guys paid off today."
Running back Kimani Vidal left the game, like Watson, with a head injury. Linebacker Carlton Martial didn't play for much of the second half with a quad contusion. Receiver Luke Whittemore injured his knee on the big pass completion from Powell that gained 34 yards and did not return.
Left guard Deandre Butler missed the game with an injury. Kannon Biggs made his first career start for Troy.
Defensive TD: Linebacker K.J. Robertson turned his first career interception into a pick-6 with a 32-yard interception return with 4:55 left in the first half.
South Alabama QB Desmond Trotter threw an ill-advised pass trying to avoid a sack by Javon Solomon and Robertson made him pay.
"The QB scrambles out because of the great pressure, Von hits him and he just throws it up," Robertson recalled after the game. "I guess I had the easiest job, I just can't drop it.
"Then I catch it, it still doesn't seem real. I was fixing to give the ball to Martial because I didn't know what to do. I feel bad, but I sort of grabbed Martial and threw him into somebody – which isn't a good idea now that I think about it – but I scored. I think Lewis got a big block. It still doesn't seem real. I was just excited; the team was excited. I'm glad I got it."
Robertson's return was Troy's third pick-6 of the season. The last time a Troy defense had three pick-6s in the same year was 2004. The Trojans have 90 interceptions since the start of the 2016 season. They came in second nationally since that period.
Big half: Troy's 31 points in the first half were its most since it scored 34 against Southern in the season opener and the most against an FBS opponent since it had 31 against Arkansas State in 2019.
Their three rushing TDs in the first half were the most for the Trojans since the season opener against Southern and the most against an FBS opponent since the 2020 season opener against Middle Tennessee.
Stats don't matter: Troy's victory was its first under Lindsey while being outgained. South Alabama had 335 yards of offense compared to Troy's 308. Of course, the Jags ran 81 offensive plays to the Trojans' 56 and enjoyed a 36:25-23:35 edge in time of possession.
Troy is now 1-14 under Lindsey when they are outgained.
It was also the Trojans' fifth win when they posses the ball for fewer than 30 minutes under Lindsey. In addition, it was Troy's lowest time of possession in a win since it beat Coastal Carolina in 2018 with a TOP of 19:51.
Long run: Receiver Tez Johnson ran for a 31-yard TD, his longest of the season and first rushing TD of his career. The play was an end around the right side.
"I was so tired, I couldn't run, for real," Johnson said. "I thought when I made the (last) cut I would fall."
Closing in: Carlton Martial, despite not playing many snaps in the second half, recorded 14 tackles to lead Troy. He finished with double-digit tackles for the third straight game and the 16th time in his career. He is 56 tackles shy of setting the all-time Sun Belt Conference record of 459.
It was tough for the Mobile native not to be on the field against the Jaguars, but Martial kept extolling his teammates from the sideline.
"I was just telling those guys, 'Finish the game, finish strong,'" Martial said. "It's going to come down to the last drive."
Martial said backup linebacker Jordan Anthony, who finished with a career-best 10 tackles, played well for him in the second half.
"We knew he would step in and do his thing," Martial said. "We're glad to have him."
Early turnover: Troy fell behind early 7-0 when South Alabama took the opening kickoff 88 yards in 11 plays to the end zone and went three-and-out on its first possession.
But a turnover seemed to ignite the Trojans. A bad exchange between backup quarterback Desmond Trotter and running back Terrion Avery resulted in a fumble and defensive lineman Antonio Showers recovered on South Alabama's 22-yard line.
That turnover set up Troy's first points of the game, a 22-yard field goal by Brooks Buce that cut South's lead to 7-3 with 7:15 left in the first quarter.
Troy won the turnover battle 2-1.
The series: Troy now leads the series with its rival 7-3, including four in a row. Troy head coach Chip Lindsey has not lost to the Jaguars.
The road team is 6-4 in this series. The Trojans' road win in 2019 snapped a four-game winning streak by the visiting team. Troy is 4-1 in Mobile, and the Jaguars are 2-3 in Troy.
What's next: Troy welcomes No. 24 Louisiana for its homecoming game. The Ragin' Cajuns lead the Sun Belt West Division with a 6-0 conference record and an 8-1 overall mark after its victory Thursday night over Georgia State.
It will be a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
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