Scott Shelton
Staff Writer
The Southern Miss Golden Eagles defeated the Troy Trojans 47-42 in a game where the offenses combined for over 1,000 yards of offense in a battle of quarterbacks.
Troy’s Kaleb Barker and Southern Miss’ Jack Abraham combined to throw for 967 yards and five touchdowns as both signal callers had career nights.
Troy had four receivers reach the 100-yard mark, led by Kaylon Geiger with 118 yards and a touchdown.
The game marks the first time in Troy history that four different receivers each put up 100 receiving yards.
Barker’s 504 set a career high and also is the most for a Troy quarterback ever in program history.
Tray Eafford had 110 yards and a touchdown, Luke Whittemore had 110 receiving yards. Khalil McClain had 104 yards receiving and two late touchdowns.
The Golden Eagles scored two touchdowns in the first quarter. The first touchdown drive of the game took 7:52 off the game clock.
Troy responded with touchdowns by Geiger and Billingsley. The score was 17-14 at halftime.
The second half started, and the fireworks began.
Southern Miss scored 17 straight points in the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth.
The Trojans picked up momentum in the fourth quarter with a 69-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Reggie Todd.
Southern Miss return man Jaylond Adams, one of the best specialists in the nation, stopped all Trojan momentum with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to give the Golden Eagles the lead for good.
Adams had 321 all-purpose yards for the game.
The Trojans fought back with a touchdown pass from Barker to McClain.
Less than two minutes later, Abraham and receiver Quez Watkins put the Golden Eagles’ final score on the board with a 64-yard touchdown pass.
With just 2:51 remaining, Barker and McClain connected on a 35-yard touchdown pass to put the Trojans within five points.
Southern Miss recovered the ensuing onside kick and got a first down to seal the game since Troy had no timeouts.
The Southern Miss offense finished with 626 yards on offense—514 passing and 112 rushing.
Troy’s offense put up 504 yards passing but was limited in the rushing game to just 24 yards, 20 of which came in the second half.
On defense, Carlton Martial put up 16 tackles, including seven solo tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss.
Will Choloh, KJ Robertson and Jaquez Dunmore combined for 23 tackles on the night.
The Trojans hit the road for the first time when they head to Akron, Ohio, to play the Akron Zips in the first of two away non-conference games this season.
