Week 4 of the college football slate brings us a non-conference matchup of Group of Five programs when the Sun Belt travels to face a member of Conference USA in the Bluegrass State. The Troy Trojans are on the road as they make the trip up the east coast to battle the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Saturday afternoon. Troy won outright as they downed Marshall 16-7 at home as a 3.5-point underdog in their most recent game last Saturday. Western Kentucky obliterated FIU by a one-sided 73-0 blowout at home, easily covering the 31-point line, in their previous contest last Saturday. In the all-time series between the teams, the Trojans own a 5-2 advantage, including a 32-26 road victory in the most recent matchup back on October 26, 2013.
Troy put together a stellar defensive showing as they took down a good Marshall squad at home to win outright as an underdog last week. The Trojans improved to 2-2 overall on the season and evened their conference mark at 1-1 with the triumph. Against Marshall last week, Troy took the lead for good just over four minutes into the game on a scoop-six and controlled the game from there. The Trojans dominated the total offense category, outgaining Marshall 421-174, which helped make up that they gave up more first downs (15) than they picked up (13), lost time of possession 30:56 to 29:04 and turned the ball over three times while forcing only one takeaway. Their lone touchdown in the game came on that scoop-six by Buddha Jones.
On the season, the Trojans are 10th in the country in passing offense with an average of 343.3 yards per game through the air and 126th in the country in rushing offense with 66 yards per contest on the ground. Troy is 105th in the FBS in scoring offense with 23 points per game while they are 49th in the nation in scoring defense by allowing an average of 21 points per contest. Gunnar Watson is 95 of 143 passing for 1,249 yards with five touchdowns and five interceptions on the year. Jarret Doege is six of 12 passing for 124 yards and a score in his limited action. Kimani Vidal is second on the team for Troy on the ground with 42 carries for 149 yards plus a score this season. DK Billingsley (27 carries, team-high 162 yards, TD) and Jamontez Woods (16 carries, 35 yards) have shared the backup duties this year. In the passing game, Jabre Barber (20 receptions, 308 yards, TD) and Deshon Stoudemire (18 grabs, 162 yards, TD) are the top two targets in the passing attack. RaJae’ Johnson (10 grabs, 173 yards, two TD), Tez Johnson (eight receptions, 200 yards) and Marcus Rogers (10 catches, 161 yards) have made their share of plays in the aerial game as well. Brooks Buce has hit all 10 extra point attempts and five of six field goal tries with a long of 40. Zach Long hit his lone extra point attempt without attempting a field goal this season.