Notes vs. Jacksonville State

• This was the 18th meeting between the two schools, Austin Peay now trails the series 6-9-3.
• Sophomore QB Gary Orr made his first start of his career, completing his first pass, but his second pass of the day was intercepted.
• The Governor's first score of the game came on a 30-yard field goal by freshman K Issac Ziolkowski.
• The first Governor's touchdown of the game came on a six yard touchdown run by senior RB Chris Fletcher with two seconds left in the first.
• After the Governors took the lead at 9-7, Jacksonville State scored 35 unanswered points to win the game 42-9.
• Austin Peay RB Chris Fletcher was held under 100 yards rushing for the second time this season.
• Jacksonville State's QB, Cedric Johnson, rushed for a game high 105 yards with four touchdowns, breaking the previous Jacksonville State record (3) for rushing touchdowns in a game.  Johnson also threw for a game high 139 yards.
• The Governors were outgained on the ground 119 to 281, as well as through the air 98 to 206.
• Austin Peay P Ryan Key had a season high punting average with 45.5 yards per punt, with a long of 54.
• Jacksonville State controlled the clock, holding the ball for 37:09, while the Governors had the ball for 22:51.
• The Governors were 3 of 11 on third down conversions, while Jacksonville State was 11 for 16.
• The Governors were led defensively by sophomore linebackers Chris Haynes and Kit Hartsfield with 10 and 12 tackles respectively.  Hartsfield now leads the Governors in tackles with 62 tackles.
• Jacksonville State completed a 99 yard drive with 3:49 to go in the fourth, running 7:58 off the clock.
• Jacksonville State was led defensively by John Scott with seven tackles and Devin Phillips with six tackles. 
  Phillips leads Jacksonville State on the season with 42 tackles.
• This was the first time in four games that Austin Peay freshman WR Adrian Mines did not have a touchdown reception.
  

Quotes from Austin Peay Head Coach Rick Christophel

On tonight's effort and gameplan
“We played three or four games tough games now but that's no excuse, tonight we got our butts kicked. I told our kids that at the end of the game. We played with effort, but we got beat in all three phases of the game. We couldn't get any rhythm on offense at all from the start of the game and that hurts you as a football team.”

On not stopping Jacksonville State on third down
“I think they (Jacksonville State) took advantage of some of things they saw us doing. And when you look at the first half and take away a couple of big plays by their quarterback it's a different ballgame at halftime. We never made anything happen after the first quarter and that's how you get in trouble on defense.”

On the Jacksonville State quarterback
“We talked about all week containing (Cedric) Johnson. Our defense didn't maintain our lanes and overplayed everything and you can't do that against a kid that athletic. I didn't think we executed our gameplan. Overall I think this is our worst performance as a defense we have had this season.”

Quarterback situation and Gary Orr
“I thought Gary made some bad decisions at critical times. I think he's going to be a good quarterback in the future and has done a good job overall this season. Tonight he tried to make the hard play when he could have just thrown to a check down receiver and get the first down. That's something that comes with experience and time.”

On not controlling the line of scrimmage
“Lets face it we had a lot of short-yard situations and we didn't knock anyone back. When you can't control the line of scrimmage you don't win many football games. Our goal every football game is to have a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. We didn't do that tonight and that started from the opening kickoff. The biggest thing is when you go three-and-out it puts pressure on our defense. Give credit to Jacksonville State and its coaches. They did a great job running the football and we didn't. Which made it harder for our defense to get off the field as the game went on.”

Final Thoughts
“We have a long ways to go, but we have to wipe the slate clean and lineup and play every down next game. I told our team to take a couple of days off and come back being ready to play against Samford. As bad as we played tonight we have to make our next team pay for our mistakes. Sanford is a good football team and will see how they do against Tennessee Martin this weekend. We have to get back to the drawing board Sunday and I think our kids will bounce back. I think they understand and it helps that we have lots of leaders on this team.”