Troy did not just beat Southern Miss on Tuesday night. The Trojans steamrolled the Golden Eagles behind a breakout performance from Goose Crowder and one of the most explosive offensive nights in program history, rolling to a 55-34 win to open Sun Belt play.
Crowder was the engine from the start. The sixth-year senior quarterback, who had never rushed for more than 48 yards in a game before Tuesday, ripped off 94 rushing yards and a touchdown on just five carries in the first quarter alone.
By halftime, he was already up to 136 yards on the ground with two scores, and he finished with 145 rushing yards - nearly tripling his previous career best. He added 225 passing yards and two more touchdowns while going 18-of-21 through the air.
That kind of production changed everything for Troy. The offense played faster, hit harder and kept Southern Miss on its heels all night.
Jordan Lovett matched the tone with a huge all-around outing of his own, finishing with 142 rushing yards, a team-high 53 receiving yards and two total touchdowns. Gavin Griffin and Jaheim Merriweather also each topped 70 rushing yards, and Troy piled up 437 rushing yards as a team.
Crowder and Lovett made a little history in the process, becoming the first pair of 140-yard rushers in Troy history. The Trojans also crossed 400 rushing yards for the first time since 2002.
For a team that had not cracked 34 points in non-conference play or topped 24 against FBS opponents this season, 55 points was a major leap. It was Troy’s highest scoring game against an FBS team since Nov. 16, 2019, when it put 63 on Texas State. The offense was so efficient that First Team All-American punter Evan Crenshaw only got on the field once.
Southern Miss, meanwhile, dug itself too deep early and then kept giving the ball away when it finally found some rhythm. The Golden Eagles opened with consecutive three-and-outs and trailed 17-0 entering the second quarter. From there, they moved the ball well enough to finish with 512 total yards, but three red zone turnovers wrecked any chance of making it count.
Two of those mistakes came on trick plays. Troy defensive end Kavion Henderson picked off one pass at the line of scrimmage, and cornerback Jabari Strait grabbed another on a late throw across the field. Later, with Southern Miss down 14 in the early fourth quarter, Donnie Smith delivered the strip sack that slammed the door on the comeback push.
The Golden Eagles did flash some life after halftime. They scored 20 points in the third quarter, helped by a double pass on the second snap of the half that turned into a 75-yard completion from Mario Sanders to AJ Little. Quarterback Landry Lyddy did most of his damage in that stretch and finished his seventh career start with 316 passing yards and two touchdowns.
But Troy’s offense was simply on another level. The Trojans produced 662 yards in the Sun Belt opener, far outpacing Southern Miss and ending a two-game skid in style.
Southern Miss dropped to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the Sun Belt, with four straight losses now on the ledger. The Golden Eagles will wait until Week 7 to try again, when they return to Hattiesburg for an Oct. 17 game against Arkansas State, where Blake Anderson coached from 2014-20.
Troy improved to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in league play, and the schedule only gets bigger from here. The Trojans are back on Oct. 17 for a trip to Louisiana in a matchup between the only two programs that have won the Sun Belt West since the Sun Belt Championship Game began in 2018.
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Dylan Raiola would be next up if Moore cannot go, and that possibility alone gives the Trojans a rooting interest in how the week unfolds. USC already saw Moore leave that game hurt, and now it gets one more layer of intrigue in Oregons preparation, with the conference report likely to provide the clearest answer before kickoff. [Read more 🡒]