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The Troy Trojans picked up their second win in a row on Saturday afternoon when they defeated Texas State 31-28.

For the second week in a row the Trojans were able to clinch a win thanks to a late interception by the Trojan defense.

With the Trojans leading by three, Elijah Culp, whose deflected pass led to last week’s game winning interception, picked off a Texas State pass in the red zone with 6:26 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Bobcats threw three interceptions in their final three drives on Saturday, part of four turnovers forced by the Trojan defense. Troy has had at least three interceptions in a game three times this season.

Keyshawn Swanson picked off a pass and returned it for a 44-yard touchdown for Troy’s final touchdown. Taiyon Palmer also had an interception in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans burned off the final 6:26 off the clock and secured the win. The Trojans improved to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in Sun Belt Conference play.

With the win the Trojans stretch their winning streak against the Bobcats to 10-straight games and they are now 11-1 against Texas State. Texas State’s last win came in 1997.

Quarterback Gunnar Watson got his second consecutive start. Watson finished 22-of-29 for 182 yards and he had one touchdown.

Watson 33-yard touchdown to Tez Johnson was Watson’s longest pass of the season and Johnson’s second-longest reception. It was Johnson’s longest touchdown reception of the season.

Johnson finished the game with nine catches for 81 yards including his touchdown reception. Johnson’s nine receptions brings his season total to 45, third most by a Trojan since at least 2000 through the first seven games of a season.

Reggie Todd had three catches for 26 yards. AJ lewis and Vidal also had three catches.

Freshman Kimani Vidal finished with a career high 162 yards on 25 carries against the Bobcats. It’s Vidal’s third 100-yard game of his career. Two of them have come against Texas State. Vidal finished with two rushing touchdowns marking the first time in his career with multiple rushing touchdowns in a game.

Defensively, Carlton Martial led the way with 18 tackles on Saturday. It marks the 15th time in his career that he had double-digit tackle totals in a game. He now has 380 career tackles, good enough for fourth most, passing Naazir Yamini. His 18 tackles was the second most in his career.

Richard Jibunor had two sacks in the game and now has at least one sack in five-straight games. Jibunor has eight sacks in the team’s first seven games of the season. He is just the fourth player in league history to have at least eight sacks in the first seven games of the season, joining Alex Carrington (Arkansas State), Jamari Lattimore (MTSU) and Ja’Von Rolland-Jones (Arkansas State).

TJ Harris also had two sacks against the Bobcats. He now has multiple sacks in two-straight games.

The Trojans are off this week. They will return to action next Thursday when they hit the road to take on nationally ranked Costal Carolina.

*Notes courtesy of Troy University Athletics