Troy Drops Season Opener at No. 21 Ole Miss

Saturday, September 3

Oxford, Miss

3 p.m.

Troy University

0-1 , 0-0

Ole Miss

1-0 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Troy

Ole Miss

Troy Drops Season Opener at No. 21 Ole Miss

9/3/2022 7:33:00 PM | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Game Notes Player Press Conference Sumrall Press Conference Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2 Photo Gallery 3

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Troy fought back to outgain No. 21 Ole Miss in the second half of the season opener, but a three-drive spurt in the middle of the opening 30 minutes was enough for the Rebels to come away with a 28-10 victory Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Troy (0-1) forced three second half turnovers, all within four drives of each other, and held Ole Miss (1-0) to just seven points and 165 yards in the second half.

"I'm really disappointed in the loss," Troy head coach John Sumrall said. "Our goal was come in here and win the game. We will improve from this and have a lot of growth from week one to week two; I can promise you that. Our guys are in the frame of mind of a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset. I'm really proud of our fight at the end and grateful for our fan base; we had a tremendous turnout and cannot thank them enough."

Ole Miss scored on three straight possessions, one in the first quarter and two in the second, after Troy held the Rebels on their opening possession of the game. All three scores came on 2-yard runs by three different players.

Troy got on the board as time ran out on the first half on the 31-yard field goal from Brooks Buce; the kick capped an 11-play drive that started on the Trojans' 40-yard line with just over three minutes to play in the half.

Gunnar Watson became the ninth Trojan to pass the 4,000-yard passing mark in a career after completing 34-of-47 passes for 275 yards and a 3-yard touchdown strike to RaJae' Johnson in the fourth quarter. The 34 completions rank as the eighth most by a Troy quarterback in the school history.

Kimani Vidal rushed 12 times for 48 yards and caught six passes for eight yards, while Deshon Stoudemire had six receptions for 45 yards and Jabre Barber added five receptions for 60 yards.

Zach Evans, a transfer from TCU, rushed for 130 yards on 20 carries to lead the Rebels (1-0), while USC transfer Jaxson Dart completed 18-of-27 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown.

The Trojan defense bucked up in the third quarter forcing turnovers on back-to-back drives thanks to a forced fumble from T.J. Jackson and an interception in the end zone by Markeis Colvin. The third Ole Miss turnover came on the Rebels' first play of the fourth quarter, with A.J. Pierce falling on a loose ball.

All-American linebacker Carlton Martial finished with 11 tackles in the game and now has 453 in his career and is 93 tackles shy of setting the FBS career record and eight shy of the Sun Belt record.

Notable
• Left tackle Austin Stidham started his team-leading 49th career game, while linebacker Carlton Martial started his team-leading 41st straight game.

• Gunnar Watson's 72.3 completion percentage is the sixth highest in Troy's DI history among passers with at least 45 attempts.

• Twelve different Trojan players caught a pass in the game; the most Troy had was 10 in a game last season (Southern, Georgia Southern).

• Troy has now forced 144 turnovers since the start of the 2016 season; the Trojans entered the weekend fourth over that time period in turnovers forced. The Trojans were second with 1.91 turnovers forced per game. Troy has forced a turnover in 67 of its last 81 games and multiple turnovers in 45 of those games.

• Troy held Ole Miss to 167 yards through the air; it was the fewest passing yards by a Power Five opponent since Nebraska had 160 in 2018 and the seventh-fewest all-time allowed by a Troy defense against a P5 opponent. Ole Miss averaged 274.8 passing yards last season.

• In his Troy debut, Mike Rivers averaged 49.6 yards on his five punt attempts. His average is tied for the fifth-highest by a Troy punter (min. five attempts) since 2001.

Up Next
Troy opens its home schedule next Saturday playing host to Alabama A&M; kickoff is slated for 6 p.m. at The Vet.