CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL | CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TICKETS
NEW ORLEANS — Troy (10-2, 7-1 SBC) is seeking its conference-best eighth all-time Sun Belt football title in Saturday’s Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship Game on its home turf at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Troy, Ala. The game is set for 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT and will be broadcast nationwide on ESPN.
This will be the Trojans second-straight appearance in the championship game since moving to the Sun Belt West Division ahead of the 2022 campaign. The Trojans are 12-0 against Sun Belt West Division foes over the past two seasons.
A Troy win over App State (8-4, 6-2 SBC) would continue the home team’s unbeaten streak in the championship game and would make the Trojans the third back-to-back champion in the championship game era, joining App State (2018 & 2019) and Louisiana (2020 & 2021). The Trojans have already secured back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since 1999 and 2000, when Troy was an FCS program.
Since joining the Sun Belt in 2004, Troy is 98-55 in conference games—boasting 15 more wins than any other conference program over the span. The Trojans will also be bowl bound for the second-straight season and the 10th time overall. Troy owns a 6-3 all-time record in Bowl Season and has won five-straight bowl games dating back to 2010.
Troy opened its season with a 48-30 win over Stephen F. Austin in front of a crowd of 28,179 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium—and junior running back Kimani Vidal erupted for a single-game program-record 248 rushing yards on 25 carries.
Troy then fell at No. 15/15 Kansas State, 42-13, snapping its 12-game winning streak that dated back to its 32-28 Hail Mary loss to App State on Sept. 17, 2022. Eerily similar to that App State loss a season ago, the Trojans dropped their conference-opener to James Madison, 16-14, after a 49-yard field goal missed left and an intentional grounding penalty thwarted another opportunity at a game-winning field goal with less than a minute remaining in the game.
Troy has not lost since, rattling off nine-straight wins to carry the nation’s ninth-longest winning streak into Saturday’s championship game.
The run began with a 27-24 non-conference win over Western Kentucky and a dominant three-game stretch with a 28-7 win at Georgia State, a 37-3 victory over Arkansas State and a 19-0 win at Army to close out the non-conference slate.
Troy then used a second-half comeback on the road en route to its 12th-straight win over Texas State, 31-13, and upended in-state rival South Alabama, 28-10, for its sixth-straight victory in the Battle for the Belt rivalry game. Vidal became the Trojans career rushing yards leader and just the second Trojan to rush for 1,000 yards in multiple seasons in the rivalry win.
The Trojans clinched the Sun Belt West Division for the second-straight year with a 45-14 win at ULM and earned hosting rights for the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship Game in back-to-back years after closing the regular season with a 31-24 victory over Louisiana and a 35-17 win at Southern Miss.
Since losing on a Hail Mary at App State on Sept. 17, 2022, Troy is 21-2—and just like last season enters the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship Game riding a nine-game winning streak after dropping its conference-opener in a one-possession game in Week 3.
Vidal broke Troy’s single-season record for rushing yards in the regular-season finale. The junior rushed for 1,349 yards and nine touchdowns, pairing with senior quarterback Gunnar Watson to become the third duo to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season. Watson completed 231-of-379 passes for 3,147 yards and 26 touchdowns, ranking among the Top 25 nationally in both categories. Watson’s top targets have been junior wide receiver Jabre Barber—with 60 catches for 855 yards and five touchdowns; sophomore wide receiver Chris Lewis—with 29 catches for 637 yards and nine touchdowns; and senior wide receiver Deshon Stoudemire—with 39 catches for 534 yards and a score.
On the defensive side of the ball, senior linebacker Jaylen McDonald has compiled a team-high 70 tackles, senior defensive lineman Richard Jibunor has tallied a team-high 16 tackles for loss and junior defensive lineman Javon Solomon has accumulated a team-best 14 sacks. Senior cornerback Reddy Steward (4) and senior safety Irshaad Davis (2) each boast multiple interceptions on the year.
A win Saturday would secure the conference-record eighth all-time Sun Belt title for the Trojans—who would become the third-straight back-to-back champions in the championship game era. A Troy victory would also keep the home team undefeated in the championship game and avenge the 32-28 Hail Mary loss to App State in the most recent meeting during the 2022 regular-season. Troy is 3-8 in the all-time series against App State, with its last victory over the Mountaineers coming in 2016 in Troy.