https://letsgopeay.com/news/2022/10/1/football-postgame-notes-and-quotes-no-16-govs-at-central-arkansas.aspx{Note-Bears now lead FCS in one category.....see below...}
{Note - Diliello ranked as Top8 FCS QB....Mo State Shelley is 6th...
https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2022-09-27/fcs-quarterback-rankings-fordhams-tim-demorat-takes-over-top-spot-week-5?j=84998293&sfmc_sub=1190807947&l=7822357_HTML&u=741866055&mid=10892397&jb=10006 }
GOVS-BEARS POSTGAME NOTES
Notes following No. 16 Austin Peay's 49-20 loss to Central Arkansas at Estes Stadium in Conway, Arkansas.
FROM THE TOP
Kam Thomas' 92-yard punt return touchdown is the longest in program history, topping a 71-yard touchdown return by Terrence Holt against Tennessee State (11/14/09).
Thomas' 92-yard return is tied for the longest in the FCS this season entering the day on Saturday.Josh Samuel scored his first touchdown as a Governor; it was 18th of his collegiate career.
CAPTAINS/COIN TOSS
Captains Trey Goodman, Brodie Williams, Tre Williams, and Ray Horton took the coin toss for Austin Peay. Sam Howard, Josh Rudolph, Drae McCray, Mike DiLiello, and Ethan Caselberry served as alternate captains.
Central Arkansas won the toss and deferred until the second half. Austin Peay elected to receive the opening toss.
Toss record
Weather in Conway at kickoff: 81, clear, winds northeast at 6 mph with gusts to 16 mph.
SERIES UPDATE
Austin Peay falls to 0-4 all-time against Central Arkansas and 0-1 in Conway, Arkansas.
THOSE ARE THE BREAKS
Austin Peay falls to 1-2 this season and 2-5 under Walden when trailing at halftime.
The Governors are now 1-2 this season and 2-6 under Walden when trailing after three quarters.
OFFENSIVE SPARKS
Trey Goodman led the Governors with a career-high 10 catches, he is the first Gov to make 10 grabs since Drae McCray against Mississippi Valley State, Sept. 10.
Goodman also led the Govs with a career-best 84 receiving yards.
Drae McCray recorded seven catches for 73 yards.
Mike DiLiello completed a career-high 29 passes, which is the most by an APSU quarterback during the Scotty Walden era.
DiLiello's 45 pass attempts are the most by a Governor since Draylen Ellis attempted 53 passes against Southeast Missouri (10/9/21).
Samuel's first rushing touchdown of the season makes him the fourth Governor to run for a score this season.
DEFENSIVE STANDS
Austin Peay held Central Arkansas to just 50 yards on the ground, that is the best performance by the defense since it held Tennessee Tech (2/21/21) to 50 rushing yards in Scotty Walden's debut.
Kory Chapman intercepted a pass in the second quarter and
the Govs have now intercepted a pass in 11 of their last 12 games with 22 picks during that stretch.Josh Rudolph led the defense with seven tackles and a career-best 1.5 tackles for loss.
Shamari Simmons also racked up a team-leading seven tackles.
Chapman's interception was his first of the season and the second of his career.
Darryl Rogan made a season-best six tackles to go along with a 0.5 sack and a tackle for loss.
Antoine Williams recorded six tackles and a tackle for loss.
Dee Ford made a season-best five tackles to go along with two pass breakups.
Cedarius Doss picked up his second sack of the season from the cornerback position to go along with three tackles.
SPECIAL TEAMS SYNOPSIS
Thomas' punt return for a touchdown was the first by a Governor since Tee Howell against Central State (11/5/11).Maddux Trujillo went 2-for-3 on field goals, connecting from 45 and 23 yards.
Trujillo improved to 7-for-10 from 40-plus yards in his career and is 14-for-17 from inside 40 yards.
Matt Rigney punted three times for an average of 43.0 yards with a long of 49 yards.
Riley Stephens kicked off four times and averaged 64.0 yards with three touchbacks.
Kellen Stewart returned two kicks for 47 yards with a long of 27 yards.
GOVS-BEARS POSTGAME QUOTESAustin Peay head coach Scotty Walden
· Opening statement… "First off, give UCA a lot of credit. I think they played a phenomenal game.
They played really stingy and physical on defense. I think they just played harder than us, and that's on me. I've got to have our guys prepared to play. We had a great week of practice, and I'm really just trying to recall and go back and pinpoint because this is a very uncharacteristic game. I think that the emotions of last week's game, and those factors, I think kind of showed up today. I think last week's game was a real physical one, and we just looked a step slow today. I don't know necessarily where that came from. Overall just give UCA credit. I think UCA played a phenomenal game.
I think their quarterback played really well. They did a great job of winning their one-on-ones, and we didn't. Their defensive line played really hard. They out-physicalled us, and we weren't able to run the ball, and when you can't run the ball, you become one-dimensional. Especially when we have a third-quarter like we had, where things really went south, kind of put us in a passing situation where we had to drop back pass Mike. They were teeing off and double-covering our guys. So, anyway, just have to give them credit."
On the third quarter… "That thing was like a blur. I felt like anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. We talk about winning the middle eight, which for us is the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. We won the last four minutes. Our offensive finally got a drive going. We ran 40 plays in the first half, but we've got to execute in the red zone better. We got the ball down there, we kick the field goal, and it's 7-6, a one-point game. We feel confident our defense is going to get a stop, but we didn't. They hit a
Give UCA credit. They came out and executed.big-time ball, an explosive pass on us down the field, and that led to a touchdown. After that, we got the ball back, but we gave our defense a short field, and we can't do that."
On changing his mind whether or not to go for it on fourth and short… "Yeah, I probably would, to be honest. Not because of the outcome of the game. I just felt very confident in our offense and defense. I felt like we had the look we wanted. They didn't bring a blitz there. They went double edge, which they've shown the whole time. We had a hat on a hat, but those four down linemen played their tails off, and I give those guys credit. I probably would punt the ball there and give our defense better field position. That was kind of one I wanted back."
Austin Peay quarterback Mike DiLielloOn the inability to get the offense going… "
We really didn't get into a rhythm tonight. We have to get going, and when we did get going, we got stuffed in the red zone a couple of times. You're not going to win football games doing that. You have to score touchdowns in the red zone.
You have to give those guys credit, especially up front. They were big, physical dudes. They pressured us and stuffed our run game pretty good early on and continued to do so throughout the rest of the game. At the end of the day, it's a tough loss for us, but the good thing for us is we're going into the bye week. We can regroup, get some guys healthy, and get ready for Murray State.
On the difficulty running the ball… "
They're a smart football team, and they knew we were going to try and run the football with all our backs and myself included. They did a good job. They mixed up coverages, nothing we weren't expecting, but like I said, it's all about getting into a rhythm for us and finding that tempo, and we really couldn't do that. When that doesn't happen for our offense, we struggle a little bit, but needless to say, they made some good plays on defense."
On needing to sustain drives… "That could some up the entire game. We didn't convert on third down a lot. When you look at previous games, we've had a lot of success, over 45, 50 percent completions on third down. We have to keep drives alive. We have to keep the chains moving and keep the opponent's defense on the field. That's when we're at our best on offense, but we didn't do that tonight. That just goes to miscommunication up front, me not completing balls, and not making the right checks on certain things. We just have to get back to the drawing board and figure it all out."
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