Troy Blasts Coastal Carolina, Wins Record Seventh Sun Belt Title

Saturday, December 3

Troy, Ala.

2:30 p.m.

Troy University

11-2 , 7-1

Coastal Carolina

9-3 , 6-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Coastal Carolina

Troy

Troy Blasts Coastal Carolina, Wins Record Seventh Sun Belt Title

12/3/2022 9:54:00 PM | Football

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Troy dominated Coastal Carolina Saturday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Stadium and claimed a record seventh Sun Belt Conference championship with a 45-26 victory in the Hercules Tire Sun Belt Championship Game.

Troy (11-2) raced out to a 31-0 lead midway through the first half despite three-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Grayson McCall suiting up and playing for Coastal (9-3). The win is Troy's 10th straight, its longest winning streak since 1995, and the third longest active streak in the country.

Junior quarterback Gunnar Watson threw three touchdown passes, two to RaJae' Johnson, and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. He completed 12-of-17 passes for 318 yards and led the Trojans to points on five of their first six drives of the game.

Johnson set Sun Belt Championship Game records with his 134 receiving yards and his 65-yard touchdown reception that gave the Trojans a 31-0 lead with 9:57 to play in the opening half.

Troy scored on its first three possessions of the game and five of its first six possessions one week after scoring on its final five possessions at Arkansas State.

Brooks Buce opened the scoring with a 35-yard field goal, and the Troy defense answered with a three-and-out. On the first play of the ensuing possession, Watson connected with Deshon Stoudemire for a 65 strike to put Troy in front 10-0 less than six minutes into the game. Just over five minutes later, it was 17-0 Troy after DK Billingsley punched in one of his three scores on the day.

"That was as good a feeling as I ever had after a game," Sun Belt Coach of the Year Jon Sumrall said. "I'm proud of these kids. That's what the best part of this is. These kids have worked so hard, and they've done so much, and they've been through a lot. To win five games a year for the last three years, there was a lot of change we brought to the staff, and a lot of it wasn't comfortable."

Troy's top-tier defense made McCall and the Chants uncomfortable all night, including holding him to 9-of-15 passing for just 69 yards in the first half. The Trojans also forced McCall into a pair of turnovers, a fumble that led to a touchdown in the third quarter and an interception by T.J. Harris that sealed the victory late in the fourth quarter.

Billingsley finished with 57 yards on just nine carries and moved into 10^th place all-time in school history with 19 career rushing touchdowns.

Defensively, Dell Pettus recorded a game and career-high 11 tackles, while Carlton Martial finished with nine tackles tying him for Troy's all-time tackle record with 563.

McCall completed 29-of-41 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 18 yards and a score. Sam Pinckney caught a game-high 11 passes for 81 yards for the Chants.

Notable
• Troy won its seventh Sun Belt Championship and 22nd all-time conference title; Troy's seventh Sun Belt title rank alone as the most in Sun Belt history.

• Troy finished a perfect 7-0 at home for the second time in program history, tying the mark set by the 1996 squad.

• Troy finished with an average attendance of 25,661 for the season, setting a new single-season record that broke the mark of 24,527 in 2018.

• Troy outscored Coastal Carolina 31-7 in the first half; dating back to the fourth quarter at Arkansas State, the Trojans outscored their opponents 65-7 over a three-quarter period.

• DK Billingsley rushed for three touchdowns to tie a career high set previously set in 2019 against Georgia State.

• Troy had nine passing plays of 15-plus yards and six passing plays of 20-plus yards.

• Troy tallied 306 yards in the first half and outgained Coastal Carolina by a 306-140 margin in the opening half.

• Carlton Martial tied the Troy career tackles record with 563 after recording nine against the Chanticleers on Saturday.

• Troy forced two turnovers in the game; the Trojans entered the weekend ranked third nationally with 160 turnovers and 1.86 turnovers forced per game. Troy has now forced a turnover in 77 of its last 93 games and multiple turnovers in 50 of those 93 games.

• Brooks Buce improved to 16-of-18 on field goal attempts this season after booting a 35-yard kick against Coastal.

• Brooks Buce is now 24-of-27 in his Troy career after going 1,751 days in between field goal attempts (senior year of high school and ULM in 2021.