Final Stats (PDF)
TROY, Ala. – Troy successfully defended its crown and collected a 49-23 victory over App State in the 2023 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship Game at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Troy (11-2) earned its 10th-straight victory, marking the second consecutive season the Trojans have compiled a double-digit winning streak. Troy also earned its eighth Sun Belt Football Championship all-time, extending its record for the most by any program in league history.
“If you look at our league top to bottom, I don’t think there is a Group of Five league like our league,” Troy head coach Jon Sumrall said. “We’ve been challenged and tested every week. To win in this league is hard. There is no week off in this league. The coaching is elite. The talent is elite. The administrations support football the right way.”
Junior running back and 2023 Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Year Kimani Vidal rushed 26 times for 233 yards and five touchdowns en route to being named the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship Game Most Valuable Player. His yardage and touchdown totals established new standards in the Sun Belt’s football title game.
Troy senior quarterback and All-Sun Belt Third Team selection Gunnar Watson completed 16 of 24 passes for 192 yards and one touchdown, while sophomore wide receiver and fellow third-team choice Chris Lewis posted three receptions for 98 yards and a score.
The Trojans’ junior defensive end and All-Sun Belt First Team choice Javon Solomon added eight tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss including a pair of sacks, while senior safety and All-Sun Belt Second Team pick Dell Pettus led all players with 11 tackles.
The first 15 minutes of action featured just 83 total yards and six first downs combined between both offenses resulting in the first scoreless quarter in Sun Belt Championship Game history.
Troy posted the first score of the game with 5:33 remaining in the second quarter when Vidal capped an eight-play, 61-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown run. After the Trojans’ defense forced a three-and-out on the Mountaineers next possession, Vidal broke free along the near sideline on the fourth play of Troy’s drive for a 36-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 14-0 with 3:15 remaining in the first half.
“I’ve felt like in our time here, we’ve worn some people down and got the run game going," Sumrall said. "The run game got going a little faster today.”
App State (8-5) was able to assemble a scoring drive over the next two-and-a-half minutes behind a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown rush by 2023 All-Sun Belt Conference Honorable Mention and redshirt freshman running back Kanye Roberts to cut the deficit to 14-7 just before halftime.
The Mountaineers got right back to business on the second half’s first possession by using the first five minutes to march down the field with an 11-play, 82-yard drive to tie the game at 14 on a six-yard touchdown run by Roberts.
Troy wasted little time reclaiming the lead, 21-14, when Watson connected with Lewis for a 51-yard touchdown strike just four plays later.
App State recovered a fumbled punt return by Troy at the Trojans’ 24 yard-line, but a stop by the defense limited the damage to just a 41-yard field goal by the Mountaineers with under four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
The Trojans started a drive at the beginning of the fourth quarter and imposed their will on the ground with 10-consecutive running plays covering 81 yards. Vidal’s final rush on the drive – a two-yard scamper – put him into the endzone for the third time while building Troy’s advantage to 28-17.
On the first play of the Mountaineers’ ensuing possession, a strip sack and fumble recovered by Troy senior cornerback Don Callis was returned for a touchdown to extend the Trojans’ lead to 35-17 with 10:57 left in the game.
App State pieced together a 10-play touchdown drive of its own over the subsequent five-plus minutes but failed a two-point conversion attempt that left Troy ahead by a dozen.
Vidal added touchdown runs of six and 49 yards, respectively, inside the final five minutes to put exclamation points on the 26-point victory.
“People probably get tired of me saying it, but better people make better players," Sumrall said. "He is a really good football player, and he is a better person. He’s one of the best I’ve been around.”
NOTABLES
- Troy broke the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game record for points scored (49).
- Troy’s margin of victory (26 points) broke its own Sun Belt Conference Championship Game record set in 2022 (19 points).
- The Trojans’ offense compiled the second-most total yards (463) in Sun Belt Conference Championship Game history.
- Troy broke the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game record for net team rushing yards (271).
- Kimani Vidal set the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game record for rushing yards (233) and touchdowns (5).
- Vidal’s five touchdowns are tied for the second most in a single game in Sun Belt Conference history.
- Troy’s defense recorded 10 tackles for loss to match the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game record (Coastal Carolina 2022; App State 2021).
- App State ran the second-most total plays (80) in Sun Belt Conference Championship Game history.