It’s a pretty simple formula for Troy on Saturday at Southern Miss — win and get another home game.

The Trojans (9-2, 6-1 Sun Belt Conference) are better-than-two-touchdown favorites to beat the Golden Eagles (3-8, 2-5) in what would we be their ninth straight victory. Doing so would mean Troy would host the Sun Belt Conference championship game at Veterans Memorial Stadium for the second straight year on Dec. 2.

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“I want to win every game; there’s no extra motivation one week or the next to me,” Troy coach Jon Sumrall said. “I know it may sound coach-speak, but it’s true. I treat them all with the same importance. They all count the same on the record.

“I’d love for our program to be able to experience one more game at The Vet this year with this team. I would love to have that happen, but we have to go out and handle our business to know it’s going to happen. … It would be nice to do it again, but we can’t worry about that to get what we want. We have to just kind of worry about right where we are.”

Troy clinched the Sun Belt West title two weeks ago, then beat Louisiana 31-24 last Saturday to run its record to 11-0 the last two seasons vs. divisional competition. The Trojans’ only losses in conference play came last season at Appalachian State and earlier this year vs. James Madison, both East teams.

James Madison is also 6-1 in Sun Belt play and has the best overall record in the league at 10-1, but the NCAA denied the Dukes’ appeal for postseason eligibility last week. The Sun Belt office has honored that ban for its championship game, meaning either Coastal Carolina or App State (both 7-4 overall and 5-2 in the league) will win the East title.

Coastal Carolina holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over App State based on a 27-24 win on Oct. 10, and would win the division if both win or both lose on Saturday. The Chanticleers host James Madison, while the Mountaineers welcome Georgia Southern.

Troy battered Coastal in last year’s Sun Belt title game 45-26, but hasn’t played App since losing in Boone, N.C., last September. That game famously ended on a Hail Mary touchdown by the Mountaineers, the Trojan’s last loss before finishing the season 11-2.

Troy has been on a similar run since losing to JMU earlier this year, a series of defensively dominant efforts in conference play. Edge rushers Javon Solomon and Richard Jibunor have been on a quarterback-terrorizing tear of late, with Solomon totaling seven sacks in his last two games to give him 13 for the year.

“It’s unexplainable man,” Troy defensive end Zach Edwards said. “We’re doing what we love to do. We want to make plays, we want to get to the quarterback, we don’t want them to score points. It’s just the mentality that we carry throughout the whole room.”

Southern Miss lost seven consecutive games at one stretch this season, prompting head coach Will Hall to give up play-calling duties following a 55-3 loss at South Alabama on Oct. 17. The Golden Eagles have played better since, beating Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana and at least looking competitive in a loss last week to Mississippi State.

Southern Miss’ offense continues to revolve around running back Frank Gore Jr., who is winding up an illustrious career in Hattiesburg. Despite having little help from the Golden Eagles’ passing game, Gore has rushed for 1,036 yards and nine touchdowns this season.

“It’s a tough venue, a tough place to play,” Sumrall said. “It’s never easy to go on the road and get a win. These guys are extremely talented. You may look at their record and think one thing, but when I look at the tap, there’s a lot of players back from last year’s team that won seven games.”

Troy has its own 1,000-yard rusher in Kimani Vidal, but the offensive revelation this season has been the play of quarterback Gunnar Watson. The Georgia native is a strong candidate to be Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year in his sixth season, fourth as the Trojans’ starter.

Watson has thrown for 2,858 yards and 24 touchdowns with just four interceptions this season. He has gone 194 consecutive attempts without being picked off, dating back to the Sept. 30 game vs. Georgia State.

“I’m just watching film every day and knowing the looks I’m gonna get in the game,” Watson said. “Really studying the opponent and knowing what they’re gonna give me is a big deal. I think it’s helped me out a lot for this offense.”

With Troy’s continued success, Sumrall’s name has begun to surface in connection with Power 5 openings that already exist — including Mississippi State — or might by season’s end. The second-year coach has said all the right things when the subject has come up publicly, though it’s fair to surmise that his future with the Trojans beyond 2023 is at least in question.

Though there is a slight chance Troy could sneak in and take the Group of 5 spot in the New Year’s Six bowl rotation, it’s more likely they will once again go into the ESPN postseason “pool” for a matchup against another conference champion. Last season, the Trojans beat Conference USA champion UT-San Antonio 18-12 in the Cure Bowl in Orlando last December.

“I think probably the most impressive thing about our team culture and kind of what our guys have become about is starting 1-2,” Sumrall said. “It’s not gone good all the time. Everybody thinks just because we’ve been on a win streak, it’s just been great the whole year. We were 1-2 and 0-1 in the conference the last two years.

“That’s what says so much to me about the character of our team and the individuals on it, is that when you start off a little bit bumpy or a little shaky and you just stay the course. You trust the process of where we’re going and how we’re doing things. That says a ton about what our guys are about.”

Kickoff for Troy-Southern Miss is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Miss. The game will air live on ESPNU.