Troy’s final non-conference game of the season on Saturday carries with it a good bit of intrigue, albeit for slightly different reasons than in the past.

The Trojans (4-2) hit the road on Saturday afternoon to face Army (2-3) at Michie Stadium in West Point, N.Y. The Black Knights still run the option, but do so more out of the shotgun these days than from under center.

“Army is really good,” Troy coach Jon Sumrall said. “They’re 37-8 at home since 2016, which is something like 80 percent (actually 82.2). They’ve averaged eight or nine wins a year since 2016. They present challenges with what they do schematically; they’re very similar to us defensively.

“They’ve evolved a little bit, but they’re still a very run-heavy, option-center offense, just more out of the gun. Early in the year you could see them trying to learn maybe the flow of the system, and they’ve hit their stride a little bit more the last few weeks.”

Troy comes in carrying a three-game winning streak, having routed Sun Belt Conference opponents Georgia State and Arkansas State by a combined 65-10 the last two weeks. The Trojans thoroughly dominated the Red Wolves from the opening snap this past Saturday, leading 20-0 at halftime and holding a total-yards edge of 587-203 in a 37-3 homecoming victory at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Troy running back Kimani Vidal continued his incredible season with 245 yards and three touchdowns against Arkansas State, lifting his total to an FBS-best 835 yards in six games. Vidal has 3,184 yards in his career, and needs 258 to surpass DeWhitt Betterson Sr.’s program record of 3,441 set from 2001-04.

“He’s a really quality back,” Sumrall said of Vidal, who was named Monday as Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week. “I think he’s as good as anybody in the country, to be quite honest with you.

“I like running the football and he makes us do it. It’s about players, not plays. So I don’t care what plays we draw up. As long as we make sure 28 (Vidal) gets his touches, we’ve got a chance.”

Troy’s defense has also been playing at a high level of late, and currently leads the Sun Belt Conference in total defense (286 yards per game). The Trojans rank second in the league in scoring defense (20.3 points per game) and rushing defense (86.5 ypg) and third in passing defense (199.5 ypg).

Against Arkansas State, Troy allowed just 10 first downs and 47 rushing yards and held the Red Wolves to 4-for-16 on third down. The Trojans have improved steadily as the year has gone along, particularly at linebacker, where they had to replace program veterans Carlton Martial and K.J. Robertson.

“Football is a three-level game,” Troy linebacker Terry Thomas said. “You’ve got the D-line, you’ve got the linebackers, you’ve got the secondary, and there’s new pieces at all three levels. I think it was just about us getting used to one another, playing off one another, trusting one another and executing our job together. We’ve started to jell and do the things that we were doing last year, and we’ve got to continue to do what we’ve been doing the last few weeks.”

Army has lost back-to-back games to ACC opponents in Boston College (27-24) and Syracuse (29-16), and also lost 17-13 to Louisiana-Monroe of the Sun Belt in Week 1. Still, the Black Knights remain a dangerous team, with quarterback Bryson Daily a threat as both a runner and as a passer.

Army ranks among the national leaders in time of possession at better than 33 minutes per game, and will go to great lengths to keep the ball. The Black Knights are 13-for-14 this season on fourth down.

“They go for it on fourth down more than anybody in college football,” Sumrall said. “Third-and-3, third-and-5 is really second-and-5 to them a lot of the time — no matter where they are on the field. They’ll go for fourth-and-1 at the minus-20. They don’t care.

“So we’ve got to be really good with how we play some of those situations, and understanding sequencing within down and distance. It’s always four-down territory to them.”

The trip to Army is certainly something different for Troy, which has not played a regular-season game in what is considered “the Northeast” since a visit to Connecticut in 1994. Michie Stadium is among the most picturesque venues in the country, and West Point in general is particularly scenic during the fall.

Situated as it is some 40 miles from Fort Novosel (former Fort Rucker), Troy has a deep historical connection with the U.S. Army and the Armed Forces. In addition, the Trojans will practice Friday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the home of the NFL’s New York Giants and Jets.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Thomas said. “I really like home games, but I also like road games. So to go up there and see what their place is all about, to see the academy, I’m really excited for it.”

Kickoff for Troy-Army is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will air live on CBS Sports Network.