First place in the Sun Belt Conference West Division — perhaps sole possession thereof — will be on the line when Troy travels to Texas State on Saturday night.

The Trojans and Bobcats are both 5-2 overall and currently part of a three-way tie atop the West standings at 2-1 in Sun Belt play. Should South Alabama (also 2-1 in the league) lose at home to Louisiana earlier in the day, the Troy-Texas State winner would be alone in the division lead at the midway point of the conference schedule.

“It’s kind of the same situation as last year,” Troy quarterback Gunnar Watson said. “We were going into any game and we’d already lost a conference game last year. We’ve already lost one this year. We’re going to treat every game the same from here on out. They’re conference games, we call them ‘ring’ games. If we want to get to the championship, we have to win every one of them. We control our own destiny and we can do it.”

Troy comes out of its bye week on a four game-winning streak, its last loss 16-14 to unbeaten James Madison on Sept. 16. Since then, the Trojans have beaten Western Kentucky, Georgia State, Arkansas State and Army in succession by a combined 111-34.

Troy boasts the nation’s leading rusher in Kimani Vidal, who has 951 yards this season and needs 143 more to become the school’s all-time leader. The Trojans also lead the Sun Belt in total defense, scoring defense and passing defense and are second in rushing defense.

“First of all, they’re really well-coached,” Texas State coach G.J. Kinne said. “They play extremely hard. You can just feel their energy and their toughness and physicality on film. You kind of know exactly what it’s going to feel like pregame and on the field on Saturday just because of the way they’re coached and the way they play. I have a lot of respect for those guys.”

Troy was the preseason Sun Belt West favorite, and appears to be reversing its fortunes after a 1-2 start for the second straight season. The 2022 Trojans also lost two of their first three games, then won 11 straight to finish the season as Sun Belt champions and nationally ranked for the first time in program history.

Texas State, though, has been one of the league’s surprise teams, and is one win from being bowl-eligible for the first time since 2014. Kinne took over the Bobcats after a successful tenure on the FCS level at Incarnate Word, and brought his up-tempo spread offense — along with nine transfer players — with him to San Marcos.

“They’re better on offense, they’re better on defense, the return game’s better — I think they’re better everywhere,” Troy coach Jon Sumrall said. “I’m not trying to be sarcastic when I say that. … I look at every part of their game and they’re just a lot better football team across the board and they’re a deeper team and they’re a more-confident team.

“I think maybe the most impressive thing is, they really took a lot of transfers but they seem to be a cohesive, connected team. I think that’s probably the thing when you go heavy transfer-wise, it can be scary. What’s the culture of the locker room? I think they’ve done a nice job of making sure they get relationships. So I’m very impressed with their team as a whole.”

Among several prominent non-Incarnate Word transfers on the Texas State roster is former Auburn and LSU quarterback T.J. Finley. The 6-foot-7, 255-pound Louisiana native ranks second in the Sun Belt in passing yards (1,941), touchdowns (14) and completion percentage (68.9) and has been intercepted just three times all year.

Troy will look to get after Finley with one of the better pass-rushing duos in the Sun Belt, if not the entire country. Richard Jibunor and Javon Solomon have combined for 46.5 sacks in their careers, including 9.5 this season — six by Solomon.

“Our D-line, we take that very serious when it comes to getting the quarterback on the ground, because it absolutely disrupts an offense,” Solomon said. “We want to be able to be that thing for the defense where they can rely on us to get there. We’re definitely going to get some things planned up to get back there. … Getting the quarterback on the ground is probably one of the biggest things you could do for a defense, just to how much it sets (an offense) back. Me and my guys, we’re definitely going to work hard at that this week.”

Kickoff Saturday is set for 6 p.m. at Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos, Texas. The game will stream live via ESPN+.