Troy Hosts Arkansas State on Homecoming at The Vet

TROY, Ala. – One week after knocking a conference rival from the ranks of the unbeatens, Troy returns to The Vet looking to end another foe's winning streak as the Trojans host Arkansas State, winners of three straight, on Saturday at 3 p.m. Homecoming festivities will rule the day on campus in Troy's 96^th installment of the annual celebration.

Troy (3-2, 1-1 SBC) handed Georgia State its first loss last week, 28-7, in a game dominated by the Trojans. The high-powered Panthers' offense was limited to 298 yards, and their point total was its lowest in almost four seasons.

"Our kids on defense take a lot of pride in their work," head coach Jon Sumrall said. "One thing that I love about the culture of our team is that those guys come in and watch extra tape and do every little thing they can to give us an advantage. They are students of the game."

The Trojans enter the weekend with the Sun Belt's top-rated defense, holding opponents to just 302.6 yards per game, the 24^th-best total in the country. Troy is tied with four other teams – Michigan, Texas A&M, Oregon, Ohio – for the nation's lead, having held four of its five opponents under the 300-yard threshold this season.

Javon Solomon enters the weekend sixth in the Sun Belt in sacks, is ninth in the league with 15 pressures and ranks second (min. 200 snaps) with an 81.7 pressure grade from Pro Football Focus.

On the scoring front, Troy has allowed just 10 scoring drives of more than 60 yards this season, two of which were field goals. Conversely, Troy's offense has 15 scoring drives that have topped the 60-yard mark.

Troy's defense will get a test this weekend against the reigning Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week, true freshman quarterback Jaylen Raynor. Inserted into the Arkansas State (3-2, 1-0) starting lineup two weeks ago, Raynor combined for 616 yards and nine touchdowns in victories over Southern Miss (44-37) and UMass (52-28), in addition to rushing for 97 yards and two touchdowns against the Golden Eagles.

Speaking of offense, Troy's unit has clicked the last two weeks, combining for 931 yards of total offense and scoring on 46 percent of its drives; in the previous two games – both losses – Troy totaled 607 yards and scored on just 20 percent of its drives.

Junior running back Kimani Vidal enters the weekend sixth nationally, averaging 118 yards per game on the ground, while quarterback Gunnar Watson is third in the Sun Belt, averaging 260.6 yards per game through the air, and Chris Lewis is second in the league averaging 20.8 yards per catch.

Notable
• Gunnar Watson rushed for nine yards on three carries at Georgia State, just his fourth career game with positive rushing yards ... Troy is 3-1 in those games.

• Troy is 8-1 when Kimani Vidal rushes for 100-plus yards and 19-3 when he rushes for 50-plus yards. The Trojans are 6-11 when Vidal rushes for fewer than 50 yards.

• Troy finished 6-0 in close games at the half last season (score differential is five points or less) ... the Trojans are 2-1 this season.

• From 2005-21, Troy was 11-73 when trailing at the half and 5-52 when scoring less than 21 points ... under Jon Sumrall, Troy is 6-3 when trailing at the half and 5-3 when scoring less than 21 points.

• Troy is 6-2 when Gunnar Watson throws for 315 yards or more and 9-2 when he throws multiple touchdown passes.

• Kimani Vidal's 590 rushing yards are the most by a Trojan through the first five games of a season since at least 2000.

• Troy has won 12 straight games and 14 of the last 16 games when it rushes for 100-plus yards. Troy is 57-15 since 2015 when rushing for 100 yards or more in a game.

• Troy leads the country (tied with Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Texas A&M), holding four opponents to 300 or fewer yards of total offense this season. The Trojans are tied for sixth since the start of the 2022 season with 10 such games.

• Troy has gone three-and-out just 16 times this season, or 27.6 percent of its drives. Remove the Kansas State game and that percentage drops to 21.7 percent.

Troy Hosts Arkansas State on Homecoming at The Vet

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Players Mentioned

Chris Lewis

Javon Solomon

Kimani Vidal

Gunnar Watson

Troy University Athletics