Troy Defense Erupts in Second Half to Power Fourth Straight Win

Saturday, October 18

Monroe, La.

2 p.m.

Troy University

5-2 , 3-0

ULM

3-4 , 1-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Troy

ULM

Troy Defense Erupts in Second Half to Power Fourth Straight Win

10/18/2025 7:25:00 PM | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Game Notes (PDF)Gerad Parker Press Conference Highlights

By: Troy Athletics Communications

MONROE, La. – Joe Lott's second interception of the night turned into a 53-yard touchdown return as Troy forced four second-half turnovers to pull away from ULM, 37–14, on Saturday at Malone Stadium in Sun Belt Conference action.

The Trojans (5-2, 3-0 SBC) extended their winning streak to four, their longest since 2023, and continued a dominant conference stretch with victories in six of their last seven Sun Belt games and eight of their last 11 overall. It was ULM's first home loss of the season and just Troy's third in the last eight trips to Monroe.

Lott's pick-six early in the fourth quarter punctuated a defensive surge that saw Troy turn a 17-14 halftime lead into a comfortable road win. The junior safety intercepted two passes and became the first Trojan since Reddy Steward in 2022 to record multiple interceptions and return one for a touchdown in the same game.

Troy's defense, which entered the weekend ranked among the national leaders in takeaways since 2016, forced four turnovers after going three straight games without one.

The Trojans turned three of those into 17 points, with forced fumbles from Jah-Mal Williams and Jordan Perry helping set up short fields for the offense.

Quarterback Tucker Kilcrease completed 13-of-21 passes for 223 yards and a touchdown, connecting with Tray Taylor on a 60-yard strike in the second quarter. Taylor also added an 11-yard rushing score, becoming the first Troy receiver to score by air and ground in the same game since 2019.

Tae Meadows opened the scoring with a 20-yard touchdown run, and Scott Taylor Renfroe was perfect on three field-goal attempts (29, 41, 26 yards) while scoring 13 total points. Renfroe's performance pushed him into the program's top five for career field goals made and top 10 for scoring.

Troy's defense limited ULM (3-4, 1-2) to 98 rushing yards and sacked the Warhawks four times. Jaquez White broke up four passes, matching a Troy single-game high dating back nearly 30 years.

The win kept Troy unbeaten in Sun Belt play for the first time since 2018 and continued its strong run away from home; the Trojans are now 47–29 on the road in league games since joining the conference.

Troy returns home next week to play host to Louisiana at The Vet; kickoff is set for 6 p.m.

Quotable – Troy Head Coach Gerad Parker
"These guys don't flinch. They just keep on playing through stuff, they play hard. I'm really proud of us. Our defense, what a huge step they took in the second half in how they found the football. Guys stepped up again with a bunch of injuries everywhere, and we just kept on playing for each other. Couldn't be happier for our staff and players."

Notable
• Troy improved to 13-9-1 all-time against ULM.

• Troy has won two in a row in Malone Stadium; the Trojans had lost five of the previous six games in Monroe prior to the two-game winning streak (2023, 2025).

• Troy has won five of the last seven games against ULM after the Warhawks had won four in a row and five of six.

• Troy has won three straight games, the Trojans' longest winning streak since winning 10 straight games in 2023.

• The Trojans have won three straight games against teams that beat them last year -- South Alabama, Texas State and ULM. Troy's next two games (Louisiana, Arkansas State) complete the five-game run of teams Troy played that beat them last year.

• Troy has won six of its last seven Sun Belt Conference games dating back to last season.

• Troy has won eight of their last 11 games dating back to last season.

• Troy is 3-0 in Sun Belt play for the first time since the 2018 season, the Trojans opened that season 7-0 before losing at App State in the season finale.

• Troy's offensive line featured just one player (Matt Henry) who started the season on the offensive line.

• Troy scored a touchdown on its opening possession for the third time this season (second time in the last three games) ... Troy has scored in two of the last three games it has received the opening kickoff. It marked Troy's seventh straight drive that resulted in points dating back to the Texas State game; the second time this season that the Trojans had scored on seven straight possessions (Nicholls & Clemson).

• Scott Taylor Renfroe added a field goal on Troy's second drive to extend Troy's scoring streak to eight straight drives, the most since Troy also had eight straight scoring drives against Arkansas State and Coastal Carolina in 2022.
• Tae Meadows recorded his fourth rushing touchdown of the season and fifth of his career as he put Troy on the board with a 20-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the game; it was his third touchdown in the last four games.

• Tray Taylor's 60-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter was Troy's longest play this season, the longest reception of Taylor's career and the longest pass of Tucker Kilcrease's career. It was Taylor's third touchdown catch of the season and fourth of his career; Taylor had TD receptions in each of the first two games this year (Nicholls, Clemson).

• Tray Taylor added an 11-yard rushing touchdown at the end of the third quarter, the first rushing touchdown of his career.

• Tray Taylor is the first Troy receiver to rush for a touchdown and catch a touchdown pass since Kaylon Geiger against Arkansas State on Sept. 28, 2019.

• Troy finished with 13 first downs in the game, it was the Trojans' fewest first downs in a victory since defeating Marshall, 16-7, on Sept. 24, 2022; the Trojans also had 13 first downs in that game.

• Peyton Higgins' three catches all came on third down, all resulted in first downs and all were 3rd-and-long (10 yards, 8 yards, 9 yards).

• With 10 points scored in the fourth quarter, the Trojans have scored 76 points in the fourth quarter through seven games this season.

• Troy won for the third straight time while being outrushed (98-91) ... prior to this three-game stretch, Troy was 9-11 since 2022 when being outrushed by its opponents.

• Troy forced four turnovers -- all in the second half -- after not forcing a turnover in its last three games.

• The first three turnovers came within a 5-play span for the Warhawks and in nine total plays.

• Joe Lott intercepted two passes and returned the second one 53 yards for a touchdown. He is just the ninth Trojan since at least 1995 and the first since Reddy Steward did so at Arkansas State on Nov. 26, 2022, to intercept multiple passes and return one for a touchdown.

• Joe Lott's interception return for a touchdown is Troy's third defensive touchdown this season, the most since the 2023 squad also had three in a season. The last time Troy had four defensive scores in a game was 2020.

• Troy scored 17 points off the four ULM turnovers; Troy has scored 41 points off eight opponent turnovers this season. The Trojans failed to score following ULM's third turnover of the game, the first time this year that the Trojans didn't score following an opponents' turnover.

• Troy held ULM to just 98 rushing yards in the game, the first time since the opener against Nicholls that the Trojans have held an opponent to fewer than 100 yards. • Troy improved 41-3 since 2015 and 67-6 since 2004 (when Troy joined the Sun Belt) when holding its opponent to fewer than 100 rushing yards.

• Jaquez White broke up a career-high four passes in the game, tied for the most by a Trojan defender since at least 1995 -- Reddy Steward (vs. UTSA, 2022), Bryan Willis (at FIU, 2009) and Sherrod Martin (vs. UAB, 2005).

• Troy recorded four sacks for the third time this season; the Trojans have three or more sacks in 4-of-7 games.

• Troy had eight tackles for loss, tying a season-high (Nicholls) ... the Trojans have six or more TFLs in 6-of-7 games.

• Scott Taylor Renfroe was 3-for-3 on field goals to improve to 37-of-45 in his career ... his 37 makes are the fifth most in program history.

• Scott Taylor Renfroe scored 13 points to push his career total to 217 points, the ninth most in program history.

• Evan Crenshaw punted three times for a 48.7 per kick average and all three landed inside the 20-yard line, including a 57-yard punt, his 15th this season of 50-plus yards this season.