Football Closes Regular Season at Southern Miss

TROY, Ala. – The math is simple for Troy heading into Saturday's regular season finale at Southern Miss, win and host the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game next week. The Trojans take their eight-game winning streak to Hattiesburg, Miss., for the 11 a.m. kickoff on ESPNU at M.M. Roberts Stadium.

Troy (9-2, 6-1 SBC) will secure hosting rights for the title game for a second straight season with a victory over the Golden Eagles or losses by both Coastal Carolina and App State. It gets more complicated if Troy loses and either App State or Coastal Carolina wins. At that point, it will come down to composite computer rankings between Troy and its East Division opponent, which will be released Sunday morning.

The Trojans have been dominant during their eight-game winning streak, with six of the eight victories coming by 18 or more points. Troy has allowed just one rushing touchdown in its last six games, and the Trojans have turned the ball over one or fewer times in their last seven games, the second most in the country.

History watch will once again be on as junior running back Kimani Vidal, a Doak Walker Award semifinalist, enters the game just 58 yards shy of becoming Troy's single-season rushing leader. Additionally, another 100-yard game from Vidal would set Troy's single-season record with seven and tie him for the career mark with 14.

Gunnar Watson, who has three-plus touchdown passes in four straight games, is just 148 yards away from eclipsing the 3,000-yard mark for the season. It would mark just the third time in Troy's history with a 3,000-yard passer and 1,000-yard rusher in the same season.

Javon Solomon returns to the field where he recorded 3.5 sacks two years ago, with seven sacks over the last two weeks. He tied the Troy single-game record with four sacks at ULM and followed that with three against Louisiana last week.

Southern Miss (3-8, 2-5) has won two of its last three games, including an overtime victory at Louisiana two weeks ago, following an eight-game losing streak. The Golden Eagles are led by the nation's active career rushing leader in Frank Gore, and an offense that is averaging 29.0 points in its last four games.

Notable
• Troy is 21-4 since the start of the 2022 season and has done so against the 10th-most difficult G5 schedule (SportsSource Analytics).

• Troy clinched the Sun Belt West Division title with its win at ULM; the Trojans have won the West in both of their seasons in the division. Troy will host the SBC Championship Game for a second straight season with a win at Southern Miss.

• Troy is 12-1 when Kimani Vidal rushes for 100-plus yards and 24-3 when he rushes for 50-plus yards. The Trojans are 7-11 when Vidal rushes for fewer than 50 yards.

• Troy's seven conference titles since 2006 are the sixth most in the country; an eighth would tie Boise State, Alabama and Clemson for the third most.

• Gunnar Watson is one of 43 sixth-year quarterbacks at the FBS level; he is the only one who hasn't transferred.

• In Troy's last seven games, the Trojans have allowed a combined 71 points and just eight touchdowns. It is the third-fewest points allowed nationally this season, starting with a team's fifth game and third-fewest touchdowns.

• Troy has two of the nation's top two active leaders in career sacks -- Richard Jibunor (1st, 31.5.) and Javon Solomon (2nd, 30.0).

• Javon Solomon enters the weekend with six multi-sack games in his career, the most in Troy's DI history, second most in Sun Belt history and 38^th most at the FBS level since 2000.

• Gunnar Watson's 11 career games with three-plus touchdown passes are tied with Corey Robinson for the most in Troy's DI era; his five this season are one shy of tying the single-season record.

• Troy is 11-0 against Sun Belt West Division opponents the last two seasons.

Football Closes Regular Season at Southern Miss

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Players Mentioned

Richard Jibunor

Javon Solomon

Kimani Vidal

Gunnar Watson

Troy University Athletics