MOBILE, Ala. – Gunnar Watson recorded all three of his touchdown passes in a 24-point second quarter to help lead Troy to a 29-0 Sun Belt Conference football victory over the University of South Alabama Saturday in the annual "Battle For The Belt" at Hancock Whitney Stadium.

Watson finished the contest 34-of-41 passing for 297 yards, with Kaylon Geiger catching a game-high seven balls for 51 yards and a score for the Trojans (5-5, 3-3 Sun Belt).  Reggie Todd had six catches for 49 yards, Kimani Vidal added five for 29 and Tray Eafford recorded four receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown, with Vidal leading all players with 76 rushing yards as well, as Troy finished with 414 yards of total offense.

Riley Cole and A.J. DeShazor were credited with 10 stops apiece to pace the Jaguars (4-7, 3-5 SBC), while Davyn Flenord chipped in with seven tackles.  Jalen Tolbert paced South offensively with a game-best 92 yards on five catches.

Troy 29, South Alabama 0 (game stats)
South Alabama/Troy photo gallery

GAME FACTS
-Evan Legassey supplied the only points of the opening quarter with a 22-yard field goal as Troy jumped in front first.
-The Trojans would go on to score on five straight possessions as Watson found three different receivers — Khalil McClain, Geiger and Eafford — for touchdowns and a 27-0 lead at the break.
-USA outgained Troy, 103-73, in a scoreless third quarter.
-The only points of the final quarter came when Geiger blocked a punt out of the back of the end zone.
-Troy limited the Jags to 239 yards of total offense, including 57 on the ground.
-The Trojans converted 10-of-15 attempts on third down, while the Jaguars were successful 5-of-15 times moving the chains and were also 1-of-6 on fourth-down conversions.

NOTES
-South Alabama recognized 13 seniors on the field prior to the start of the game.
-During the ceremony, Cole received an official invitation to play in the Reese's Senior Bowl in January.
-The Trojans have claimed each of the last three match-ups in the series.
-After entering the year with one game in which he was credited with 10 or more tackles, Cole accomplished the feat five times this fall including in three of his last four appearances.
-It was the fourth occasion this fall that he has led South in stops.
-With his first catch of the game midway through the second quarter, Tolbert became the first individual in school history to record a 1,000-yard receiving season.
-He also set a new program season record with 64 catches this fall.
-In accounting for the lone takeaway by the Jag defense Dewayne Betts Jr. picked off the first pass of his career.
-It was the first time in his career that DeShazor has posted a double-figure tackle total.
-Flenord, Gi'Narious Johnson (five) and Doug Sullivan (four) all also recorded the most stops of their career.
-Johnson was credited with his first pass break up as a Jag as well.
-It was the second week in a row that Caullin Lacy posted a career-high all-purpose yardage total after he paced South with 100.
-Tight ends Cameron Hatcher-Owens and Jacob Hopper recorded the first catches of their careers.

THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell
On the second quarter: "We didn't play well.  I thought we had some opportunities, but I don't think we coached or played very well.  We had a couple of opportunities and didn't do anything with it.  It got away from us in the second quarter; they got on a little run and we had a hard time stopping them.  We didn't generate what we needed to offensively at all."
On ending the season with a loss: "I'm very disappointed in the way it wound up.  I thought we had gotten over a little bit of a hump, but we didn't play very well at all today.  We didn't play the way that we needed to to finish up.  We had a chance to finish strong, but I give Troy a ton of respect; they are a good football team.  I thought we practiced well this week, and the guys worked hard though a bunch of stuff.  I thought we would come out and play better than we did today, and we didn't."
On Riley Cole's Senior Bowl invitation: "That was a big moment, and we're very happy for Riley.  He deserves it, and no one has worked harder than him to make themselves and their team as good as they can possibly be.  He is a very talented guy, but he puts in the time and effort, so we are really proud for him to get that honor to go play in the Senior Bowl.  It is very well deserving."

Senior LB Riley Cole
On the loss: "It just got away from us.  We weren't seeing things as quickly as we needed to see them.  They just beat us.  Losing is never fun, but you always try to take lessons from it.  I think we came in with a few guys beat up; I was beat up, but we came out here and pushed through it."
On his Senior Bowl invitation: "That is one of my biggest accomplishments.  It was huge to get that, it is what I have worked for since I got here."

Junior WR Jalen Tolbert
On the loss: "It was real disappointing.  I expected us to come out and play better, and I think everyone did.  That is a bad way to end the season.  We couldn't get anything going today, so we are just going to have to work in the offseason and figure out what we need to do to not allow that to happen again."
On the offense: "It's an ongoing problem, but it can be either side of the ball.  We should be able to pick each other up when one side is playing off, and today neither side was able to pick it up; neither the offense nor defense was doing well.  It was just a poor performance by us today, so we have to get that fixed."
On his season: "I, personally, had a good year and it has been a blessing.  I'm thankful for that and for being the first to do many things here, and set a standard for the guys coming in here.  It was a blessing to be able to have the season I did this year and be able to compete at the level I competed at, and I'm going to take it into the offseason and push guys around the program and guys coming in to use that energy."

Up next: This was South's final contest of the 2020 regular season.

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