Troy Runs for 437 Yards and Buries Southern Miss
Fifty-nine carries, 437 rushing yards. Troy ran it about seven and a half yards a try, and Southern Miss spent the night throwing for 391 yards that only bought it a 55-34 loss. When one side has the ball on the ground that well, the other side's passing numbers are mostly decoration.
Troy came out fast: a 15-yard Jordan Lovett run, a 34-yard Ethan Head field goal and a 9-yard Crowder run made it 17-0 before the first quarter ended. Southern Miss never got within 10, and that was at 17-7 after a 2-yard Landry Lyddy pass to Mario Sanders. Troy answered with a 1-yard score, then a 5-yard pass just before halftime to take a 31-7 lead into the break. Southern Miss kept swinging in the second half, with a 75-yard pass from Sanders (yes, the receiver threw it), a 27-yard touchdown, a 44-yard Robert Briggs run and a 1-yard Jamarice Wilder score, and every time Troy had an answer. Five rushing touchdowns and two more through the air will do that.
The turnover column was lopsided too. Troy gave it away zero times. Southern Miss threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. Troy finished with 662 total yards to Southern Miss's 512, which means the team that lost the yardage battle by 150 still lost by 21. Take away those three giveaways and I suppose you get a closer game. I would not bet on it.
Troy moves to 3-2. Southern Miss drops to 1-4 and has now allowed 55 points in a game while scoring 34 of its own.
For fantasy, this was a shootout and the points were everywhere: Will Crowder had 47.5, Sanders 39.2 and Lovett 33.5.