Despite an electric atmosphere at sold-out Hancock Whitney Stadium and a national television audience, Thursday night’s “Battle for the Belt” was decidedly lacking in fireworks.

Troy’s 10-6 victory over South Alabama was more of an old-school grind-it-out affair, as neither team got a whole lot going offensively. Jon Sumrall’s Trojans score the game’s only touchdown in the first half, and held the Jaguars to their lowest point total of the Kane Wommack era in winning for the fifth straight time against their in-state rivals.

RELATED: Troy grinds out 10-6 victory over South Alabama, wins 5th straight ‘Battle for the Belt’

Troy (6-2, 4-1 Sun Belt) took over first place in the West Division, and gets a well-earned bye week before heading to Louisiana on Nov. 5. South Alabama (5-2, 2-1) must regroup quickly with back-to-back road games vs. Arkansas State and Georgia Southern.

Before both teams move on, here are five things we learned from South Alabama’s 10-6 loss to Troy:

1. Trojans still own this rivalry until further notice

Troy has won the “Battle for the Belt” five straight years, in six of the last seven and eight of 11 overall since the teams began playing in 2012. That dominant streak has encompassed four Trojans coaching staffs, though Sumrall appears to have re-established them as a defense-first team. South Alabama has closed the athleticism gap somewhat on Troy under Wommack, as the Jaguars can typically match the Trojans in speed and explosiveness in ways they couldn’t a few years ago. But Troy simply outmuscled South Alabama on this night, controlling both lines of scrimmage making the Jaguars play a field-position game.

2. Troy’s defensive front can stop just about any offense

The Trojans’ front line of T.J. Jackson, Richard Jibunor, Buddha Jones, Will Choloh and others were the story of this game, limiting South Alabama to just 31 yards rushing, sacking Carter Bradley three times and harassing him on numerous other occasions. Jackson in particular spent a huge portion of the night in the Jaguars’ backfield, winning one-on-one battles and keeping South Alabama from getting to the edge. Not that that should have been a surprise. Troy has limited some legitimately explosive offenses such as Ole Miss and Western Kentucky to well below their season averages in production this year.

3. South Alabama’s offense lacking in power

The Jaguars ran for just nine yards after their opening possession of the game, which included runs of 15 and 7 yards. Omni Wells’ 11-yard run late in the first half set up Diego Guajardo’s 41-yard field goal, but South Alabama’s didn’t run the ball well at all in the second half. La’Damian Webb still appeared limited by injury, and the Jaguars’ second-half runs went for 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 1, 3, 3 and 4 yards. Made one-dimensional, Troy could sit back in its zone and take away South Alabama’s deep-passing game. The Trojans’ secondary also did a great job of tackling, keeping the Jaguars’ receivers from breaking away for big gains.

4. Sun Belt West championship now runs through Troy

The Trojans are sitting pretty heading into their bye week, a full game up on the Jaguars in the standings and owning the head-to-head tiebreaker. Troy closes out the Sun Belt portion of its schedule at Louisiana (Nov. 5), at home vs. ULM (Nov. 19) and at Arkansas State (Nov. 26), with a non-conference game vs. Army on Nov. 11. A win in Lafayette in two weeks would go a long way toward clinching the division championship for the Trojans, and possibly put them in position to host the Sun Belt title game at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Only South Alabama and Southern Miss also have just one conference loss among the West teams, and Troy has beaten both of them.

5. Jaguars cannot win the division without some help

On the flip side, South Alabama just about needs to win out and have Louisiana beat Troy to win the division title. The Jaguars play at Arkansas State (Oct. 29), at Georgia Southern (Nov. 5), host Texas State (Nov. 11), travel to Southern Miss (Nov. 19) and host Old Dominion (Nov. 26). South Alabama holds the tiebreaker over the Ragin’ Cajuns and would have it on everyone else in the West as well with victories. One slip-up, however, and it will be time to re-set team goals. South Alabama can still make a bowl game with one more victory (though probably needs two to clinch a postseason spot) and enjoy the best season in program history, but Thursday’s loss was detrimental to larger aspirations.

Next up: South Alabama is back in action Oct. 29 at Arkansas State. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. in a game to be televised by ESPNU.