Arkansas State defense dominates Troy

The Arkansas State defense came into Troy on Saturday afternoon and dominated for a wire-to-wire 23-10 victory over the Trojans, snapping Troy’s five-game win streak. This was a Troy offense that had averaged 37.8 points per game over the last four contests, scoring over 30 in all of them. Troy couldn’t drive the ball down the field all night, and Tucker Kilcrease was under immense pressure all game.

Conquered Victory. #WolvesUp🐺 I #PoundTheRock🪨🔨 pic.twitter.com/MYUNpcMp6k

— Arkansas State Football (@AStateFB) November 2, 2025

Kilcrease had completed 68.6% of his passes over his previous four games for 1,021 yards, with eight touchdowns and two interceptions. Tonight was a different story for Kilcrease as he completed 19-of-34 passes for 166 yards and one interception. The Red Wolves’ defense was all over Kilcrease, sacking the quarterback nine times.

Arkansas State jumped on Troy early in this one, taking a 14-0 lead with 8:18 left in the first quarter and leading 17-0 at the end of the first. Arkansas State was led by quarterback Jaylen Raynor’s hot start. Raynor connected with Chauncy Cobb for a 51-yard gain, which played a big role in setting up a touchdown pass to Tyler Fortenberry for an easy score. After Kilcrease fumbled on the next possession, Raynor found Hunter Summers for the 19-yard connection. Clune Van Andel added a field goal to make it 17-0.

Arkansas State outgained Troy 177-67 in total yards on offense in that quarter, truly showing their dominance on both sides of the ball.

Scott Taylor Renfroe drilled a 43-yard field goal for Troy to cut it to 17-3 at halftime, but Arkansas had outgained them 201 to 91 in total yards that half. Kilcrease was sacked four times in the first half and completed only 8-of-17 passes for 69 yards, while Raynor was 11-for-16 for 170 yards and two touchdowns.

There was a point in the second half where Troy looked like they could make a second-half comeback, something they did against Buffalo and Texas State during their five-game win streak.

Van Andel made a field goal early in the third quarter to make it 20-3. Neither team scored the rest of the quarter, but Troy scored early in the fourth with Kilcrease scrambling to his left and running untouched in the end zone to cut the lead to 20-10. After Cobb fumbled the ball due to getting kneed in the head, Kilcrease was intercepted by AG McGhee with 6:11 left in the game. A 52-yard Van Andes field goal, tying his career-long mark, was the game sealer.

4Q – 13:02 | 🐺 20 – ⚔️ 10

Kilcrease keeper to pay dirt 🎉

Tucker Kilcrease tricks the defense, rolls left and punches it into the endzone for his fifth rushing touchdown of 2025 to trim the margin to 10.#BattleReady | #OneTROY ⚔️🏈 pic.twitter.com/GYhv605K7s

— Troy Trojans Football 8x⚔️ (@TroyTrojansFB) November 2, 2025

With this loss, Troy drops down to third place in the Sun Belt West Division while Arkansas State moves into second place. Both are behind first-place Southern Miss, who are 4-0 against the Sun Belt. Arkansas improved to 5-4, now on a four-game winning streak, and became the first Sun Belt team to defeat Troy this year.

While Arkansas State’s offense struggled after the first quarter, unable to get into the end zone, the defense was so good that despite not seeing the end zone again. They were able to keep the two-score lead they built within the first seven minutes of this one.

Raynor completed 21-of-29 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns. Multiple Arkansas State receivers had good showings. Corey Rucker caught four balls for 64 yards, Summers hauled in four passes for 70 yards and Cobb had four receptions for 53 yards.

Arkansas State will return home for a matchup against Southern Miss Golden Eagles, while Troy will head into the bye looking to regroup after a tough defeat.