Troy Stuns James Madison 24-21 in Overtime as Justin Powe's Three Interceptions Spark Comeback

Five days earlier, Troy had let a win slip away in the most painful way possible. On Thursday night in Harrisonburg, the Trojans found out what it feels like to be on the other end of a collapse.

Troy trailed James Madison 21-7 at halftime, was starting a quarterback who had not opened a game all season, and looked every bit like the team that had just given up three touchdowns in the final 2:34 to ULM. Then the defense took over. Safety Justin Powe intercepted three passes, Troy forced five turnovers, the Dukes did not score again for the final 38:41 of the game, and Hayden Wolfe kicked a 27-yard field goal in overtime to finish a 24-21 upset at Bridgeforth Stadium.

Troy improved to 4-4 and 2-2 in the Sun Belt. JMU fell to 7-2 and 4-2, and lost in overtime for the second straight week. The win also snapped the Dukes' 11-game home winning streak, which Troy's recap (opens in a new tab) noted was the sixth-longest active run in the country, and gave the Trojans a measure of payback for last December's Sun Belt Championship Game, a 31-14 JMU win in this same building.

The Dukes built it fast

Nothing about the first quarter suggested a comeback was coming. Troy's opening drive died on downs at the JMU 41, and the Dukes answered with a nine-play, 59-yard march that ended with Camden Coleman finding Corey Scott for a 2-yard touchdown on fourth down. A few minutes later Coleman hit Braeden Wisloski on a 31-yard strike, and it was 14-0 with 4:55 still left in the opening quarter.

Troy, playing with Tucker Kilcrease under center in place of the injured Goose Crowder, needed something to stop the bleeding. Kilcrease, making his first start of the season and the 10th of his career, got it with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that Gavin Griffin finished with a 1-yard run on the first snap of the second quarter.

JMU had an answer for that too. The Dukes went to JC Evans, who was splitting snaps with Coleman, and Evans steered a 12-play, 75-yard drive capped by Seth Cromwell's 14-yard touchdown run. It was 21-7 at the break, JMU had 236 first-half yards, and a program that had been averaging 50.3 points and 491.8 yards per home game looked like it was cruising.

There were warning signs, though. Powe had already picked off a pass in the second quarter, his first interception of the season, and Doug Nelson had forced a fumble that linebacker Keno Jones recovered. JMU was moving the ball. It just was not holding on to it.

The turning point: two plays into the second half

The game changed on the second snap of the third quarter. Powe picked off Evans and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown. It was Troy's first defensive score of the season, and it cut the lead to 21-14 before the JMU offense had a chance to settle back in.

The next blow came off a play that looked harmless. Evans hit Jeremiah Harrison for a 14-yard gain, but Jordan Perry punched the ball loose and defensive tackle Miquon Merriweather fell on it at the JMU 42. Three plays later running back Jaheim Merriweather broke a 28-yard touchdown run, and the game was tied at 21 midway through the third quarter.

Troy scored 14 points off those two turnovers in a span of minutes. JMU had built its lead with three straight scoring drives. After that, according to the Associated Press, the Dukes had four three-and-outs and five turnovers on their next nine possessions.

A defense that would not break

The second half belonged to the Troy front and the back end in equal measure. Keno Jones finished with a game-high 13 tackles, his second straight game in double figures. Donnie Smith recorded his seventh sack of the season, and Delvin Whitaker added another. Powe added a third interception before the night was over, tying the Troy single-game record that has stood since Ronnie Shelley set it in 1968. Per Troy, Powe is the first Trojan with three picks in a game since Montres Kitchens at Idaho in 2014.

Cromwell was the best player on the field for JMU, and it is not close. The running back carried 23 times for 135 yards, both season highs, for a first 100-yard game as a Duke. The problem was everything around him. Coleman finished 14 of 25 for 175 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, and Evans went 8 of 10 for 72 yards with the pick-six. Even when JMU forced a turnover of its own, Kells Bush stripping a Troy ball carrier and Turner Schmidt recovering, the ensuing drive ended in a punt.

Billy Napier did not dress it up. "Tonight was turnovers," Napier said, per the Daily News-Record. "I mean, I think we moved the ball up and down the field and shot ourselves in the foot and turned the ball over."

Regulation ends in a near miss for both sides

Troy had a chance to win it in regulation. Wolfe lined up for a 49-yard field goal with 3:21 left, and it missed. JMU got the ball back with a shot to steal it and moved into Troy territory, but it stalled just short of field goal range. Napier explained afterward that the Dukes were trying to set up a kick. "The kick line was the 33. We were on the 37, and the two runs on first and second down weren't efficient," Napier said. A final heave toward tight end Cole Keller went uncaught as the clock hit zero.

Overtime: fourth-and-1 at the 5

JMU got the ball first in overtime and worked down to the Troy 5, where it faced fourth-and-1. Napier passed on a short field goal and kept the offense on the field. The ball went to Cromwell, the Dukes' most reliable weapon all night, and Jones met him short of the line.

"We felt like we could get a yard," Napier said.

Troy needed only a field goal after that, and it played the possession like it. Griffin converted a third-and-6 with an 8-yard run, and Wolfe trotted out for a 27-yarder. The kicker had missed both career field goal tries at Troy before Thursday, including the 49-yarder minutes earlier. This one went through, giving Troy its first winning field goal in the final minute or overtime since Evan Legassey beat Eastern Kentucky in 2020.

The numbers that mattered

JMU outgained Troy 408 to 349 and matched the Trojans with 17 first downs. It still lost, because the turnover column read five to one. The Dukes also piled up 71 penalty yards to Troy's 44, a point Napier came back to. "We have a handful of penalties in key moments," Napier said. "It's just not good enough to win."

Troy's offense was functional rather than flashy. Kilcrease completed 15 passes for 179 yards and ran 17 times for 40 more. Merriweather led the ground game with 84 yards on 13 carries, and the Trojans finished with 170 rushing yards and a 32:35 to 27:25 edge in possession. The full line is in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For Troy, this might be the game that saves the season. A team that was 3-4 and reeling from the ULM meltdown now has a road win over a team that came into the week with one loss, and it did it with its backup quarterback. Gerad Parker summed it up neatly: "We're still Troy; it just took us a half to get there." The Trojans have now won three straight overtime games. Next up is Homecoming against Louisiana Tech on Nov. 7 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

For JMU, the problem is no longer one bad night. A week after losing 34-31 in overtime at App State, the Dukes dropped another coin flip, and this one they mostly flipped themselves. Two straight conference losses have taken the shine off a perfect start, and the margin for error in the Sun Belt East is gone. The JMU recap (opens in a new tab) lists a Thursday night trip to Southern Miss on Nov. 5 as the next stop.

The last word

There is a version of this game JMU wins by three touchdowns. It had the better yardage, the better running back and a two-score lead with the ball in its hands. But football keeps score with the ball, not the stat sheet, and Troy took it away five times. "What a moment for our football team, for Troy, and for all the people back home," Parker said. After the week the Trojans had, they earned the right to enjoy it.

Sources: Troy Athletics recap, James Madison Athletics recap and box score data, The Associated Press, Daily News-Record, Rocktown Now and Fox Sports. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Troy Athletics.