Troy Rallies from 17-Down to Stun Louisiana

Saturday, November 5

Lafayette, La.

4 p.m.

Troy University

7-2 , 5-1

Louisiana

4-5 , 2-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Troy

Louisiana

Troy Rallies from 17-Down to Stun Louisiana

11/5/2022 9:27:00 PM | Football

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

LAFAYETTE, La. – Troy scored the game's final 23 points, including Kimani Vidal's game-winning 22-yard touchdown run with five seconds remaining, to rally from a 17-point deficit and stun Louisiana, 23-17, Saturday at Cajun Field. The victory was Troy's sixth straight overall and fifth straight Sun Belt win.

It was Troy's (7-2, 5-1 SBC) largest comeback since 2013, when it trailed UAB 31-14 before eventually winning 34-31. The Trojans remain a half-game ahead of rival South Alabama in the Sun Belt West Division standings and hold the tiebreaker over the Jaguars thanks to the head-to-head victory.

The Trojans took possession of the ball with 1:22 to play, armed with two timeouts and the game tied at 17-17. Following a pass interference call, Gunnar Watson connected with Tez Johnson on a 2nd-and-5 for a 13-yard gain to put the Trojans on the brink of field goal range.

On 3^rd-and-6, Vidal rushed for 10 yards down to the Louisiana 22-yard line, and Troy called timeout with 10 seconds remaining. However, Vidal had different plans than setting up a game-winning field goal attempt as he went around right end and tiptoed down the sideline for a 22-yard touchdown; the original call on the field had him stepping out at the 3-yard line, but replay overturned it for a touchdown.

Vidal rushed for a season-high 117 yards on 21 carries for his first 100-yard game of the season. Watson completed 21-of-35 passes for 228 yards with a pair of touchdown passes, both to tight ends. Tez Johnson caught eight passes for 81 yards, and RaJae' Johnson added five catches for 79 yards.

Troy trailed 17-0 following Ben Wooldridge's second rushing touchdown of the game for Louisiana (4-5, 2-4) with 8:36 to play in the third quarter. A methodical 20-play, 85-yard drive by the Trojans followed the Cajuns' touchdown, which took the final seconds off the third-quarter clock.

Sumrall made a game-changing decision on the final play of the quarter, deciding to go for it on 4^th-and-goal from the 3-yard line. The move paid off as Watson found tight end Michael Vice for the Trojans' first points of the game.

From that point on, it was all Troy. The Trojans outgained the Cajuns 201 to 14 in the fourth quarter, holding Louisiana to just 14 rushing yards on 10 carries; the Cajuns were 0-of-5 through the air.

Following a huge three-and-out by the Troy defense, the Trojan offense took advantage of the momentum, slashing down the field on six plays thanks to big gains by Tez Johnson and Vidal before Watson hit a streaking Deyunkrea Lewis for a 35-yard touchdown on 3^rd-and-8.

After the teams traded punts, the Troy defense forced another three-and-out, but a 60-yard boot by the Cajuns' Rhys Byrns pinned the Trojans on their own 28-yard line.

Troy covered 60 yards on its first two plays of the ensuing possession on passes of 25 yards to Tez Johnson and 35 yards to RaJae' Johnson. The drive stalled there, but Brooks Buce drilled a 37-yard field goal knotting the game at 17-all with 2:41 to play.

Wooldridge completed 13-of-29 passes for 112 yards, while Chris Smith rushed for 97 yards on 18 carries to lead the Cajuns.

Carlton Martial moved into a tie for third all-time in NCAA FBS history with 526 career tackles after recording a game-high 13 stops. He also forced his eighth career fumble, the second most in Troy's DI history and fifth most in Sun Belt history.

Louisiana butchered a pair of early scoring opportunities, missing field goals of 42 and 25 yards in the first half before Wooldridge put the Cajuns on the board with an 11-yard touchdown in the second quarter. The Cajuns finally connected on a field goal late in the second quarter to push their lead to 10-0 at the half.

Quotable – Head Coach Jon Sumrall
"That first half was a butt-kicking. We did not play up to our standard or the way we want to play Troy Football. But you can't question the adjustments that we made. What a testament to the character of the men on our team. With our backs to the wall, we talk a lot about so what, now what. Rising to Build is our mantra, and when we are building something special, you can't stop, and we won't stop."

Notable
• Louisiana had outscored Troy in the last two meetings by an 88-24 margin (2019, 2021).

• Troy has now won six straight games for the first time since the 2017 squad won seven consecutive games. It is currently the seventh-longest active streak in the country (Clemson losing at the time of publish).

• Troy improved to 6-31 since 2015 when trailing at the half

• Troy won for just the 13th time in its DI history (2001) when allowing its opponent to rush for more than 200 yards in the game and the first time since Sept. 22, 2018, at ULM.

• Troy outscored Louisiana 23-7 in the second half; the Trojans entered the game with a +3.75 scoring margin in the second half after posting a -4.33 margin in 2021.

• Troy was held scoreless in the opening half for the first time since Sept. 18, 2021, at Southern Miss. Troy won that game 21-9.

• Troy rushed for 154 yards in the game marking its sixth straight game topping the 100-yard mark after not doing so in the first three games of the season. It's the first time since 2018 when the Trojans rushed for more than 100 yards in the first 11 straight games of the season.

• Two of Troy's three touchdowns came from 10-plus yards; the Trojans entered the weekend ranked 14th nationally, with 65 percent (13-of-20) of its touchdowns coming from 10 or more yards out.

• Troy held Louisiana to just 91 yards in the second half after the Cajuns racked up 224 yards in the first half. Additionally, Louisiana went 1-for-6 on third down in the second half after going 6-for-10 in the first half.

• Brooks Buce is now 20-of-23 in his Troy career after going 1,751 days in between field goal attempts (senior year of high school and ULM in 2021); he entered the weekend 13th nationally over the past two seasons with his 88.9 success rate.