By Danielle Percival

It took another late comeback Saturday, but a 54-yard touchdown pass to Chris Williams with 3:17 left in the game gave the Troy Trojans the edge against Georgia State 35-28.

For Williams, a senior wide receiver from Birmingham, Ala., the touchdown reception was his first in his career but it was a play that took diving into the end zone for the score.

“I wasn’t sure [I’d make it] but I didn’t want to take any chances,” Williams said. “I just laid out.”

Williams finished the game with four receptions for a team-high 152 yards.

The hero from the South Alabama game, Eric Thomas, had a key block on the play that helped Williams beat the Panthers’ secondary and take it to the house.

“I looked back and saw the safety, so I just tried to wall him off and give Chris a chance to score,” Thomas said.

“Eric had made a great block for me, took two out, so I just laid out for it,” Williams said.

Thomas added to his Sun Belt conference record with another touchdown grab, giving him 27 in his career.

He has also scored a touchdown in eight straight games, which is the longest streak in the nation.

Thomas isn’t the only Trojan on this year’s roster in the Sun Belt career record books either.

On the game-winning touchdown, quarterback Corey Robinson tied the Sun Belt conference career touchdown record, tossing his 76th touchdown pass of his career.

Safety Chris Pickett lived up to his name as he picked off Georgia State’s quarterback Ronnie Bell to set up the game-winning drive.

“It felt like the quarterback was throwing the ball to me the way he threw it,” Pickett said. “I just had to make a play.”

The interception was the first the senior has made at Troy.

The Trojans were able to establish the running game with 249 yards on the ground and had another impressive performance by running back Brandon Burks.

Burks had his second consecutive 100-yard game going for 113 yards on 23 carries.

“I think we did a really good job up front of getting on the right people and getting some push,” offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield said. “Our backs made some good cuts and really that’s what it’s got to be about. There are going to be lanes and you’ve got to find those.”

The Trojan offense ran over 100 plays and accumulated 634 yards, both of which are the highest the team has reached in 2013.

“People still say we’re moving slow,” Robinson said. “As long as we can continue to play over 100 plays I think we’ll get defenses tired and be able to put up the amount of points we’ve been able to.”

The Trojans led the game at halftime 14-7 but gave up two touchdowns early in the third quarter to give the Panthers the lead.

Running back Jordan Chunn was twice able to give the Trojans the chance to tie the game with two second-half touchdowns of his own.

The Trojans now have a week off before preparing to face Western Kentucky on the road on October 26.

“I’d say probably the break came at a good time, especially with a little bit of positive-ness from a couple wins even though they were hard earned,” head coach Larry Blakeney said. “I think these cats we’re fixing to play are maybe the best team in the league.”