Troy Dismantles Arkansas State on Homecoming at The Vet

Saturday, October 7

Troy, Ala.

3 p.m.

Troy University

4-2 , 2-1

Arkansas State

3-3 , 1-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Arkansas State

Troy

Troy Dismantles Arkansas State on Homecoming at The Vet

10/7/2023 8:09:00 PM | Football

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Kimani Vidal rushed for 245 yards and three touchdowns as Troy rolled past Arkansas State, 37-3, Saturday afternoon on Troy's Homecoming at The Vet. The Trojans ended the Red Wolves' three-game winning streak as they outgained their Sun Belt Conference opponent by 384 yards in the game.

Vidal topped the 200-yard mark for the fourth time in his career and is responsible for 40 percent of Troy's 200-yard games in program history. The junior from Marietta, Ga., rushed for 248 yards in Troy's season opener to establish the program's single-game record and now has games of 248, 245, 242 and 208 in his career.

Troy (4-2, 2-1 SBC) has won three straight games and held Arkansas State (3-3, 1-1) scoreless for the first 56:09 before a 45-yard field goal ended the Trojans' shutout bid. The victory was Troy's first over Arkansas State at home since 2010, snapping a three-game losing streak at The Vet. The Trojans have now won three straight overall in the series and four of the last five.

The Trojans' defense stymied the Red Wolves, holding them to just 47 rushing yards and 156 yards through the air. Quarterback Jaylen Raynor had thrown for 616 yards and nine touchdowns in the past two games; today, he completed 15-of-27 passes for 156 yards with no scores.

Dell Pettus, who played his 3,000^th career snap during the game, was one of five Trojans with five tackles in the game, while Javon Solomon led a four-sack effort with two on the night.

Vidal had four rushes of 20-plus yards in the game, with three topping the 30-yard mark, including a 69-yard exclamation point to cap Troy's scoring with 8:13 to play in the game.

Arkansas State will be glad to leave Vidal in their rearview mirror, as the Troy back has combined for 453 yards and seven touchdowns the last two years. He is now just 258 yards shy of becoming Troy's all-time leading rusher following his 10^th career 100-yard rushing game, the second-most in program history.

Troy led 20-0 at the break following a pair of Scott Taylor Renfroe field goals after Vidal punched it in from 1 yard out twice to open the scoring. Renfroe connected again from 39 yards out midway through the third quarter before Gunnar Watson connected with Chris Lewis for a 64-yard touchdown pass down the near sideline to push the Troy lead out to 30-0, which was the longest scoring play of the year for about four minutes before Vidal's 69-yard burst.

The Trojans held the Red Wolves to just 92 yards in the opening half, 111 yards in the second half and 3.4 yards per play. Arkansas State came into the weekend averaging 490.5 yards per game since making the switch to Raynor at quarterback.

Watson completed 12-of-21 passes for 236 yards in the game, his 20^th career 200-yard game and fourth this season. The Trojans finished with 587 yards of total offense, their most since burning Georgia Southern for 603 yards on Nov. 9, 2019.

Combined with Troy's 28-7 win at Georgia State last week, Troy's 10 combined points allowed the last two games are its fewest over a two-period since 2007 – North Texas (45-7), Arkansas State (27-0). The Trojans have now held 38 opponents to fewer than 250 yards since moving to the FBS level in 2001 and are 33-5 in those games.

Quotable – Troy Head Coach Jon Sumrall

"I appreciate all of you covering our guys, our program. I'm grateful for the turnout, fans, students and cheerleaders. I thought they did a phenomenal job creating a great Homecoming environment for our team. I'm just happy for our guys to win in many areas. There are still a lot of things we can improve upon. I was frustrated with some stuff early in the game, and I don't think we did particularly well finishing a drive or two. There are just some things to get better at.

Kimani had a great individual game. Gunnar played efficiently and was smart with the football. The o-line is getting better. I don't know that we've arrived, but we've taken steps forward. Defensively, we did some good things, but there were some things that I was displeased with. One in the third quarter where we gave up on a double move. It's just not very good football. Then, in the end, we gave up. We had some of young guys in, and we had some guys that I want to see step up and make plays. They have to get ready to make plays because Dell Pettus isn't going to be around forever, even though I wish he would be."

Notable
• Troy lost the coin toss and kicked off to start the game; the Trojans are 0-6 on coin tosses this season and 5-15 under head coach Jon Sumrall.

• Troy extended its non-shutout streak to 113 games and 208 games against Non-Power Five teams; the last time Troy was shutout was a 66-0 loss at Georgia in 2014.

• Troy has won 93 Sun Belt games since joining the league in 2004, 13 more than Arkansas State over the same period. Troy's 93 SBC wins are five more than Arkansas State's all-time SBC win total of 88.

• Troy finished the game with 587 yards of total offense, its second straight game topping the 400-yard mark and third this season. It was Troy's most yards since racking up 603 yards against Georgia Southern on Nov. 9, 2019.

• Troy rushed for 351 yards in the game, the most rushing yards since 383 against Austin Peay in 2016. Troy has rushed for 300-plus yards twice the season, the first time since 2014 that the Trojans have rushed for 300 yards or more in multiple games and the fourth time since 2000.

• Kimani Vidal found the end zone three times in the game, including Troy's first two touchdowns of the game. He moved into sole possession of sixth place, passing DeWhitt Betterson, with 25 career rushing touchdowns. Next up on the list is DuJuan Harris' 27 career touchdowns.

• Kimani Vidal rushed for three touchdowns for his fifth career multi-touchdown game in his career; he has now rushed for seven touchdowns in the last two games against the Red Wolves. His four touchdowns last season tied the Troy single-game record.

• Kimani Vidal rushed for 245 yards on 28 carries for his 10th career 100-yard rushing game, the second most in program history. Vidal has rushed for 453 in the last two games against the Red Wolves.

• Kimani Vidal is responsible for 40 percent of Troy's 200-yard rushing games in program history; he now has games of 248, 245, 242 and 208 in his career.
• Kimani Vidal has rushed for 835 yards through the first six games of the season, the most by a Trojan since at least 2000. The previous high was Jordan Chunn's 673 yards in 2016. Troy's single-season rushing leader, Arrid Gregory, rushed for 424 yards through the first six games of the 1996 season.

• Troy has now won 13 straight games and 15 of the last 17 when rushing for 100-plus yards. Troy is 58-15 when it rushes for 100 yards or more in a game.

• Gunnar Watson's 16-yard run in the first quarter was the longest of his career; his previous long was 11 at Georgia State in the 2021 season finale. His 16 overall rushing yards is a career-high, with his previous high being 11 against South Alabama in 2021.

• The Trojans rushed for 351 yards on Saturday, marking the second time this season they have rushed for over 300 yards as a team (342 vs Stephen F. Austin, 2023).

• Troy entered the weekend 19th in the country with 29 plays of 20-plus yards; the Trojans added nine to that total on Saturday.

• Troy scored on 7-of-11 drives on Saturday and has now scored on 51.5 percent of its drives in the last three games; in its two losses the Trojans scored on just 20 percent of their drives.

• Troy has topped the 500-yard mark of total offense for the third time this season; it is tied for the most since at least 2000 in program history through the first six games of the season.

• On the 20th defensive play of the game, Dell Pettus played his 3,000th career defensive snap for the Trojans. He entered the weekend fifth nationally among active players in defensive snaps played.

• Troy stopped Arkansas State on fourth-and-1 on two different occasions during the game, one in the second quarter and another in the third.

• Troy held Arkansas State to just 47 yards rushing in the game; the Trojans have held three of their last four opponents to less than 100 yards on the ground.

• Troy held Arkansas State to 203 yards of total offense; the Trojans have now held 5-of-6 opponents this season to 300 yards or fewer … Troy ended the weekend tied for the lead in the country in this category. Troy has held 14 of its last 15 opponents to 400 yards or fewer.

• Troy held Arkansas State to 156 passing yards, its fourth opponent to be held under 200 yards passing this season. Troy entered the weekend ranked 12th nationally in the category.

• Troy held Arkansas State to just three points; Troy has now held 13-of-20 opponents under Jon Sumrall to fewer than 19 points. The Trojans entered the weekend sixth nationally in the category.

• The Trojan defense has given up 10 combined points over the last two games against Georgia State and Arkansas State, which is the lowest over a two-game stretch since 2007 when they beat North Texas 45-7 and Arkansas State 27-0.

• Scott Taylor Renfroe booted three field goals in the game, a new career-high for the sophomore kicker. He has now made 11 field goals in Troy's first six games of the season, tied for the most by a Troy kicker since at least 2000.

• Scott Taylor Renfore's 39-yard field goal in the third quarter established a new career-long, he booted a 38-yard kick last week at Georgia State.

• Scott Taylor Renfore's three field goals are the most since Brooks Buce made three in Troy's victory over Marshall last season.