Southern Miss
3-9 , 2-6
Troy
10-2 , 7-1
Football Falls in Season Finale to Troy 35-17
11/25/2023 4:30:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- (AP) Gunnar Watson had two scoring throws, wide receiver Chris Lewis threw for a touchdown and Troy beat Southern Miss 35-17 on Saturday as the Golden Eagles ended their season.
The Trojans (10-2, 7-1) have won nine straight with seven of the nine victories coming by 18 or more points, and will play in next week's Sun Belt Conference championship game. Troy has allowed just two rushing touchdowns in its last seven games.
Troy's Kimani Vidal ran for a 2-yard score with 5:30 left in the first quarter for the game's first score. Southern Miss held Troy to a punt and three plays later, Frank Gore Jr. sprinted for a 57-yard touchdown for a 10-7 lead. The lead was short lived when Troy went on a five-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Watson throwing a 13-yard scoring pass to Lewis.
The Trojans sealed it in the third when Watson threw a 2-yard score to Ethan Conner with 9:23 left in the third. Four minutes later, Chris Rodgers returned a fumble 40 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-10. Troy closed the scoring when wideout Lewis took a lateral and threw to an open Clayton Ollendieck for a 30-yard score.
Freshman Ethan Crawford threw for 132 yards and a touchdown for the Eagles (3-9, 2-6). Gore ran for 95 yards and finished the season with 1,131 yards rushing as it was the 13th-best rushing season in Golden Eagle history. He also become the third Southern Miss rusher to go over 4,000 career yards.
Team Stats
TRO 7, USM 0
TRO - Vidal,Kimani 2 yd run (Renfroe,Scott Taylor kick), 8 plays, 80 yards, TOP 03:57
TRO 7, USM 3
USM - Stein,Andrew 19 yd field goal 9 plays, 47 yards, TOP 04:11
TRO 7, USM 10
USM - Gore,Frank 57 yd run (Stein,Andrew kick), 3 plays, 80 yards, TOP 01:14
TRO 14, USM 10
TRO - Lewis,Chris 13 yd pass from Watson,Gunnar (Renfroe,Scott Taylor kick) 5 plays, 75 yards, TOP 01:32
TRO 21, USM 10
TRO - Conner,Ethan 2 yd pass from Watson,Gunnar (Renfroe,Scott Taylor kick) 11 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:30
TRO 28, USM 10
TRO - Rodgers,Chris 40 yd fumble recovery (Renfroe,Scott Taylor kick)
TRO 28, USM 17
USM - Mims,Tiaquelin 18 yd pass from Crawford,Ethan (Stein,Andrew kick) 11 plays, 63 yards, TOP 04:32
TRO 35, USM 17
TRO - Ollendieck,Clayton 30 yd pass from Lewis,Chris (Renfroe,Scott Taylor kick) 2 plays, 53 yards, TOP 00:47
