Troy Knocks Out South Alabama for Sixth Straight Year, Vidal Becomes Trojans’ All-Time Leading Rusher

 
TROY, Ala. – On a record-breaking night at The Vet, Kimani Vidal and Chris Lewis stole the show, while the Troy defense once again flexed its muscles as the Trojans defeated South Alabama, 28-10, Thursday night in the annual "Battle for the Belt." The win was Troy's sixth straight win over its in-state rival and sixth straight win this season.
 
Vidal rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the season and push his career total to 3,468 yards, the most in program history. The junior from Marietta, Ga., became just the second player in program history to rush for 1,000 yards in multiple seasons, joining the man he passed for the career record, DeWhitt Betterson, as the only players in Troy history to rush for 1,000 yards in multiple seasons. Betterson presented Vidal with the game ball in the locker room following the win.  
 
Lewis became the first Trojan since Eric Thomas in 2013 to haul in three touchdown receptions in a game, and he did so with a Jaguar defender draped over him on all three. The sophomore transfer from Kentucky put the Trojans (7-2, 4-1 SBC) on the board with a 47-yard reception early in the second quarter and gave Troy the lead for good with a 26-yard score with 19 seconds left in the half.
 
Lewis finished with four catches for 120 yards, while quarterback Gunnar Watson completed 19-of-27 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns. He did not throw an interception, extending his streak to 124 straight passing attempts without a pick. Lewis has seven touchdown receptions this season, all of which have been from 20-plus yards.
 
Troy held South Alabama (4-5, 2-3) to just 252 yards of total offense, the Trojans' seventh opponent held under 300 yards this season. The Jaguars musted just 155 yards through the air, 133 yards under their season average, while their 10 points was 23.5 below their average on the year.
 
The Trojans have allowed just three touchdowns in their last five games and allowed a combined 33 points in those five contests. South Alabama was 0-for-10 on third down in the game, the fifth time in Troy's FBS history it held an opponent without a third-down conversion (first since 2017).
 
South Alabama struck first thanks to Troy's lone turnover of the game as the Jaguars needed to go just 44 yards, capped by a 6-yard touchdown run from La'Damian Webb with 10:13 to play in the opening quarter; the Jags wouldn't find the end zone again, and their only other points came on a 29-yard field goal in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
 
Irshaard Davis and Jordan Stringer were both late additions to Troy's starting lineup on defense, and the pair stole the show. Davis recorded a game-high 11 tackles, while Stringer had 10 stops and a tackle for loss. 
 
After mustering just 36 yards on its first four drives, Troy needed just four plays to cover 68 yards on its fifth drive, capped by Lewis' first score of the night. The Trojans scored on four of their final seven drives of the game. 
 
Leading 14-10, Troy delivered the knockout blow with a 16-play, 75-yard drive that chewed up more than eight-and-a-half minutes off the clock. Vidal carried the ball nine times on the drive, including his record-breaking run and a 1-yard touchdown score, his seventh of the season.
 
Following Reddy Steward's fourth interception of the season, and second in as many weeks, Watson hit Lewis for a 29-yard touchdown pass on 4^th-and-7 with 1:48 to play in the game.
 
Up Next
Troy travels to Monroe, La., for a meeting with ULM (2-6, 0-5) on Saturday, Nov. 11.
 
Quotable – Head Coach Jon Sumrall
 "Glad we won. We did not play very good football early. We tried to make it way more interesting than it needed to be. I talk a lot about how Troy doesn't beat Troy, and in the first quarter we tried to beat ourselves. I thought South Alabama had a good game plan with a young quarterback. I thought they did a nice job. Our guys were resilient. You know, 400 yards. We should have had more points. We missed a couple of opportunities to score more points and maybe put the game out of question earlier, but very happy to get the win. Hard fought game. Always a hard hard-fought game against those guys. It's a rivalry game and they can throw the records out the window. It's gonna be tough. But, really happy for our young men. Man, what a turnout. Our student section stayed. That felt like the conference championship game a little bit from last year, from the environment in the stadium. I thought our administration, [Brent Jones] and everybody, did a great job of creating in-game themes to make it a four-quarter party. So, it was a party at the end of the game, but the first part was not so much a party for us. But, great job by our fans and our student section turnout. Always a great job by the Sound of the South."
 
Notable
• Troy improved to 4-3 under Jon Sumrall when trailing at the end of the first quarter; the Jaguars led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter.
 
• Troy improved to 14-0 under Jon Sumrall when leading after the third quarter; Troy led 14-7.
 
• Since losing on a Hail Mary at App State in Week 3 last season, Troy is 18-2.
 
• With 125 yards tonight, Kimani Vidal now has 3,468 career rushing yards, which breaks Troy's all-time rushing record – previously held by DeWhitt Betterson (3,441). He also moved into eighth on Troy's single-season list with 1,119 yards.
 
• Gunnar Watson opened the scoring for Troy with a 47-yard touchdown pass to Chris Lewis. Watson has a touchdown pass in 12 straight games. 

•  Chris Lewis finished the night with three touchdown receptions, the most since Eric Thomas in 2013 (Savannah State). 
 
• Kimani Vidal rushed for 125 yards, putting him at 1,119 for the season. He is the second player in program history to have multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons (DeWitt Betterson 2003-04).
 
•  Troy is 11-1 when Kimani Vidal rushes for 100-plus yards and 22-3 when he rushes for 50-plus yards.
 
• Troy finished with 400 yards of total offense, its sixth straight game with 400-plus yards. Troy improved to 46-7 since 2015 when topping the 400-yard mark of total offense.
  
•  Gunnar Watson has thrown 124 straight attempts without an interception. Troy entered the weekend ranked 16th nationally, throwing an interception in just 1.58 percent of its passing attempts. 
 
• Troy has allowed just three touchdowns and 33 points in its last five games.
 
• Irshaad Davis recorded 11 tackles, matching his career-high set at Alabama State. It was his first double-digit tackle game in a Troy uniform. 
 
•  Jordan Stringer ended the game with 10 tackles, marking a new career high. 
 
• Troy has now held 16-of-23 opponents under Jon Sumrall to fewer than 19 points. The Trojans entered the week fourth nationally in the category.
 
• Troy held South Alabama to three points in the second half. It marked the second consecutive game that Troy has held an opponent to just three points in the second half. 
 
• Troy held South Alabama to 252 yards of total offense, marking the seventh opponent Troy has held under 300 yards of offense this season. Troy entered the week ranked second nationally in this category. The Trojans have held 16 of their last 18 opponents to 400 yards or fewer.
 
•  Troy held South Alabama without a third down conversion tonight (0-for-10). It is the fifth opponent Troy has held without a third down conversion since moving to the FBS ranks and first since 2017 (Arkansas State).
 
•  Troy has held a team to less than 100 yards rushing or 100 yards passing in six of the last seven games after holding South Alabama to 97 rushing yards. 
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
• Robert Cole matched his career long with a 60-yard punt in the second quarter.

Jon Sumrall Opening Remark 
"Glad we won. We did not play very good football early. We tried to make it way more interesting than it needed to be. I talk a lot about how Troy doesn't beat Troy, and in the first quarter we tried to beat ourselves. I thought South Alabama had a good game plan with a young quarterback. I thought they did a nice job. Our guys were resilient. You know, 400 yards. We should have had more points. We missed a couple of opportunities to score more points and maybe put the game out of question earlier, but very happy to get the win. Hard fought game. Always a hard hard-fought game against those guys. It's a rivalry game and they can throw the records out the window. It's gonna be tough. But, really happy for our young men. Man, what a turnout. Our student section stayed. That felt like the conference championship game a little bit from last year, from the environment in the stadium. I thought our administration, [Brent Jones] and everybody, did a great job of creating in-game themes to make it a four-quarter party. So, it was a party at the end of the game, but the first part was not so much a party for us. But, great job by our fans and our student section turnout. Always a great job by the Sound of the South."
 
Sumrall on Kimani Vidal Breaking the Program Rushing Record 
"Wow. Unbelievable. You know I talk a lot around, and you guys have heard me say it, better people make better players. If they were all Kimani, they would not need me. They could let anybody be the head coach, I can promise you. He's an absolute rockstar and a fantastic player. One of the best people I've ever been around in this game and just so grateful for all of his hard work. You guys don't see it, but we do the gauntlet in February, which is basically gut-check time for four straight weeks. You know if we go at 6 a.m., I'll roll into the building at about 4:30 in the morning. Kimani will already be in the weight room rolling out with his gallon jug of water. He's a pro's pro. The secret to his success is called hard work and consistency. I don't ever have to wonder who's going to show up when it comes to Kimani. I know who is going to show up." 
 
Sumrall on Chris Lewis 
"If he's not the conference player of the week, I want to see who gets the vote. I mean, he just took over. I thought they were grabbing him. On the one touchdown he had on their sideline, I mean that that was a catch and a [pass interference]. What another great kid. He's incredibly smart. Very consistent with his work ethic. Extremely low maintenance. I've had the privilege of knowing Chris since he was a sophomore in high school and recruiting him to Kentucky and when he decided to leave Kentucky, that was a pretty easy phone call. 'Hey, you want to come here and help this team and get a lot of balls thrown your way?' He's been a difference maker. He's made some catches this year that changed the game." 
 
Chris Lewis on the Environment 
"It was a crazy experience. Just looking over and seeing the student section and how packed it was and how energized it was, it was a very loud situation." 
 
Lewis on his Second Touchdown 
"Our coach was looking through his play call sheet to try and find a play to run for that situation, and I just looked at him I said, 'Coach, give me a chance.' And he said, 'You want the ball?' I said, 'Yes, sir.' So, we called the play for me, and I knew once the ball was in the air, I had to go get it." 
 
 
Lewis on his Journey to Troy 
"I would say just going from being the man at high school, and then going to Kentucky and not really planning, it just kind of humbled me. I reset my mind and told myself that I needed to work harder to get what I want. I knew once I hit the transfer portal, that I could trust one coach and that was coach Sumrall because I've known him since I was in ninth grade. I knew if there was any coach out there in the nation that I trusted, it was him. Knowing that he trusts me and that he's got my back, I give my all for him."
 
 
Jordan Stringer on the Defense Holding South Alabama to 0-10 on Third Downs 
"It goes back to coach Sumrall just talking. Our goal going into the game was the turnover battle, big plays and situation management. Third downs and fourth downs are situational matters, so it's big to keep the other team to 0-10 on third downs. It's just what coach Sumrall preaches every pregame."
 
 
Stringer on the Defense Holding South Alabama to a Field Goal Late in the Game
"That was a big turning point in the game. Anything good happens, we say good. Anything bad happens, we say good. It's just one of those moments where you've got put your big boy pants on." 
 
Kimani Vidal on Breaking the Program Rushing Record
"It feels great. I knew I was in striking distance at the beginning of the season and I did make it a goal of mine to be the leading rusher. I'm grateful that I was able to get it tonight."
 
Vidal on the Offense Controlling the Time of Possession
"It was very important, especially with the run game getting going in the second half. I mean, we almost scored in the drive coming out of halftime. We just had some flags, and you know, later on in the game, we were able to fully punch it in, and I think we did a good job of that." 
 
Vidal on Receiving the Game Ball From DeWhitt Betterson Sr. 
"It was a great moment. Probably one of my best moments. It's up there for me personally. I've been blessed to be able to be put in a position to do that, and I am grateful for that."