Vidal Runs Wild in Troy’s Season-Opening Victory

Saturday, September 2

Troy, Ala.

6 p.m.

Troy University

1-0 , 0-0

Stephen F. Austin

0-1 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Stephen F. Austin

Troy

Vidal Runs Wild in Troy’s Season-Opening Victory

9/2/2023 11:06:00 PM | Football

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Kimani Vidal rushed for a program record 248 yards on 25 carries and Gunnar Watson threw four touchdown passes as Troy ran its winning streak to 12 games with a 48-30 victory over Stephen F. Austin on Saturday night at The Vet. Troy retired DeMarcus Ware's No. 94 in a ceremony at halftime to celebrate his legendary Troy and NFL career.

Vidal has rushed for more than 200 yards in three of his last five games, averaging 164.8 yards in those contests. The junior from Marietta, Ga., came two yards shy of the record last season against ULM; the previous record was held by Eddie Brundidge's who rushed for 244 yards against Valdosta State in 1984.

He rushed for 155 yards in the first half and carried 207 all-purpose yards into the locker room at the break. Vidal moved into fourth place in Troy history with his eighth career 100-yard rushing game and is just 845 yards shy of becoming the program's all-time leading rusher.

Watson threw a pair of touchdown strikes to tight end Ethan Conner as he became the first tight end since at least 1999 with multiple touchdown receptions in a game. Defensively, Reddy Steward moved into a tie for first in program history with his third interception return for a touchdown.

Troy (1-0) looked like they were going to blow the doors off The Vet in front of the fifth largest crowd (28,179) as it raced out to a 24-3 lead thanks to Watson touchdown passes to Conner and Jabre Barber around Stewards' 45-yard interception return for a score on SFA's (0-1) first play from scrimmage.

However, the Jacks scored 17 straight points to close the gap to 24-17 with 36 seconds remaining in the half, with 10 of the 17 points coming following Troy fumbles.

On the ensuing drive following the late SFA field goal, Vidal took the opening carry 12 yards and followed with a 44-yard reception to set the Trojans up on the Jacks' 19-yard line. From there, Watson connected with Conner for a touchdown to send the Trojans into the break with a 31-20 advantage.

It was all Troy in the second half as Scott Taylor Renfroe hit his second field goal of the game, and Devonte Ross caught his first career touchdown pass to push the Troy lead to 41-20 with just over two minutes to play in the third.

A muffed punt set up an SFA field goal, one of three in the game by Chris Campos, and a late touchdown against Troy's young guys followed a Jarris Williams touchdown for the Trojans to set the final score.

The point tally for the Jacks was misleading as Troy held SFA to just 104 rushing yards but just 66 before the final drive of the game and just 240 total yards of offense.

O'shai Fletcher had a pair of stops behind the line to lead the Trojans, while Keyshawn Swanson led Troy with six tackles.

Up Next
Troy travels to No. 16 Kansas State next week for an 11 a.m. showdown on FS1.

Quotable – Head Coach Jon Sumrall
I'm never going to apologize for a win. We need to play a whole lot cleaner if we are going to achieve our goals. What a day for Kimani Vidal for achieving the single-game rushing yards record. I'm not surprised at all. He's one of the hardest-working guys in our locker room. There were plays that should've been behind the line of scrimmage, but he fought and bounced it out for huge runs. We have a lot of things to clean up. We turned the ball over four times and didn't protect the ball well. We don't have time to make those mistakes. We got Kansas State next weekend. If we make the mistakes we made today against them, then we are going to get exposed.

Notable
• Dell Pettus extended his NCAA-best starting streak to 48 consecutive games.

• Troy extended its non-shutout streak to 109 games and 204 games against Non-Power Five teams; the last time Troy was shutout was a 66-0 loss at Georgia in 2014.

• Troy extended its winning streak to 12 games with the victory; Troy's longest winning streak is the second-longest active streak in the country (Georgia, 18). Troy's 12-game winning streak is its longest since the 1987-88 season when those teams won 12 straight games.

• The last time Troy opened the game with an offensive and defensive touchdown on back-to-back drives was against Georgia Southern on Nov. 11, 2015. The Trojans recorded a touchdown on their first offensive possession and then had a fumble recovery for a touchdown on Georgia Southern's first offensive possession.

• Kimani Vidal had both a career-long rush (59 yards) and career-long reception (44 yards) in the opening half of the game; he finished with 207 all-purpose yards in the opening 30 minutes of the game.

• Troy scored a touchdown on its opening drive of the game courtesy of a 10-yard touchdown pass from Gunnar Watson to tight end Ethan Conner; Troy did not score a touchdown on a game-opening drive last season.

• Ethan Connor became the first tight end since at least 1990 to have multiple touchdown receptions. The previous single-season tight end record was just three touchdowns (A.J. Lewis 2019; Deyunkrea Lewis 2021).

• Kimani Vidal rushed for 248 yards on 25 carries to set the single-game rushing record. He is now tied for fourth all-time in Troy history with eight career 100-yard rushing yard games

• Kimani Vidal has averaged 164.8 rushing yards in the last five games, including two 200-yard games and today's 248-yard game.

• Gunnar Watson threw three touchdown passes in the first half for his seventh career game with three touchdown strikes. He added a fourth in the waning moments of the third quarter for his third career game with four touchdown passes.

• Reddy Steward intercepted Stephen F. Austin's first play from scrimmage and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. He is tied for first in Troy history with three career interception returns for a touchdown (Rayshun Reed, 1999-03); the interception was the sixth of his career.

• With Reddy Steward's interception return for a touchdown, Troy has scored a defensive touchdown in seven straight seasons and in 12 of the last 13 seasons.

• Troy held Stephen F. Austin to 240 yards of total offense. Troy has now held an opponent to 250 yards of total offense 37 times since moving to FBS in 2001. The Trojans are 32-5 in those games.