In a game that might eventually decide who wins the Sun Belt’s West Division, Troy hosts South Alabama in the Battle for the Belt Thursday night. These teams tied for the division title last year and went off as the top two favorites to win it this season.

NCAAF Betting Odds

Week 10's college football betting market opened Troy at -6.5 for Thursday night, with an over/under of right around 46.5. Early betting action dipped both that spread to -5.5 and that total to 45.5.

South Alabama-Troy Betting Preview

The Jaguars are trying to bounce back this week after getting upset at home by Louisiana-Lafayette last Saturday 33-20. South Alabama, favored by 11 points, trailed 17-0 at the half, pulled to within 20-14 midway through the third quarter but gave up a couple of big plays for Cajuns scores, and that was it.

USA actually out-gained Louisiana 498-348 but turned the ball over five times, which cost them at least 10 points when the game was still up for grabs.

South Alabama started 2-3 this season, then beat Louisiana-Monroe and Southern Miss by a combined score of 110-10. Then they botched last week’s game.

At 2-2 in conference play, the Jags are basically do-or-die from here, as far as winning the West goes.

Meanwhile, the Trojans ride a five-game winning streak into Thursday night after topping Texas State last Saturday 31-13. But that game was a lot closer than that final score might indicate. Troy trailed 10-7 at the half and only led 14-13 through three quarters, then tacked on the last 17 points of the game and covered at -7.

The Trojans actually got out-gained by the Bobcats 437-420 but won the turnover battle 4-0, creating about a +17 points differential.

Troy opened this season 1-2, with losses to two pretty good teams in Kansas State and James Madison. Since then, the Trojans are 5-0 SU, 4-1 ATS, winning by an average score of 28-9.

At 3-1 in conference play Troy leads the West Division by one game over four teams, including 2-2 USA.

South Alabama-Troy Recent History

The Trojans own a five-game winning streak on the Jaguars, going 5-0 ATS along the way. But the last couple of games came out close. Two years ago, Troy jumped out to a big early lead, let the Jags get within 31-24 with time left, but held on and covered at -3.5. Then, last year the Trojans, as three-point dogs, won 10-6.

Totals Report

The overs are 5-3 in Jaguars games this season, which are averaging 55 total points.

The Unders are 6-2 in Trojans games, which are averaging 44 points.

The Unders are 3-1 over the last four meetings between these teams, which averaged 38 points.