SIU looks to bounce back from their loss at BYU on the road in Clarksville, TN on Saturday.
Meet the Governors:
The Governors have a new coach this year in Jeff Faris. Faris takes over for Scotty Walden who took the head coaching job at UTEP after a 9-3 season last year. Faris was a safety at Duke from 2008-2011 and was recently the tight ends coach at UCLA.
In the United Athletic Conference preseason poll, Austin Peay was picked to finish 5th of 9 behind Central Arkansas, Tarleton State, Southern Utah, and Eastern Kentucky. The Governors had 2 all-conference selections in OL Chandler Kirton and DL Hosea Knifley Jr. In their week 1 game at Louisville, the Governors lost 62-0.
At Quarterback, 6-5 Redshirt Senior Mason Garcia got the start for the Governors in the Louisville game but left with an injury. Garcia was a 4 star recruit out of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and spent 4 seasons at East Carolina where he played sparingly. Replacing Garcia was 6-3 Redshirt Junior Austin Smith and he went 11-16 for 53 yards and an interception. Smith was a 2 star recruit out of Ellenwood, Georgia and spent 3 years at Eastern Michigan. Last season for EMU, Smith passed for 1,775 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions and also added 134 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns.
At Running Back, Austin Peay had to replace All-UAC Jevon Jackson who followed Scotty Walden to UTEP. 5-11 Graduate Student La'Vell Wright was a 3 star recruit out of Radcliff, Kentucky and spent 3 years at Kentucky rushing for 238 yards and a touchdown in the SEC. In the opening game against Louisville, Wright rushed 7 times for 23 yards. 5-9 Graduate Student O'Shaan Allison spent 5 seasons at Ohio University and was the Bobcats 2nd leading rusher last season rushing for 452 yards and 3 touchdowns.
6-3 Graduate Student WR Malik Bowen-Sims was a 3 star recruit out of Mount Juliet, Tennessee and spent 4 seasons at Duke and looks to lead the Governors' WR unit. 5-8 Sophomore Jaden Barnes led Austin Peay in receiving yards last week with 30 on 3 catches.
On the defensive side, Austin Peay lost their top 6 tacklers from a year ago. 6-1 Graduate Student DL Hosea Knifeley Jr. led the Govs in sacks last year and returns this year as an All-Conference preseason selection.
Massey Ratings prediction:
Links:
SIU Game Notes
Austin Peay Game Notes
SIU comes in at 9.5 point favorites tonight
2 uninspiring offensive drives to start
Long touchdown pass for Peay now
Secondary continues to struggle with communication
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
Nice drive by the offense leads to a Benefield TD.
7-7 :49 1st
some good wigglin' by Benefield on that TD run - now for some D
Peay drops a TD on more blown coverage and then the QB escaped to get the 3rd and 13
Peay misses a long field goal into the wind. Defense is still looking pretty shaky
Defense is getting gashed by QB runs and screen passes
10-7 Peay 5:26 2nd
All the yard markers are minus today according to LM! Holding at the -20! LOL
Our D isn't great.
It’s a good thing Williams can run.
The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.
James Madison
