NORMAL, Ill. - Cliffton Gordon ran for four touchdowns to lead Illinois State to a 38-7 win against Austin Peay State University, Saturday night, in non-conference football action at Hancock Stadium.

It was the second straight week the Governors lost on the road to a Missouri Valley Football Conference opponent. Last week APSU dropped a 38-21 decision at Youngstown State.

Illinois State limited the Govs to 109 yards of total offense, while forcing six Austin Peay turnovers.

Gordon scored a TD in each quarter in rolling up 96 yards on 17 carries against the Governors, who open Ohio Valley Conference play, 6 p.m., Saturday by playing host to Eastern Illinois, a team that opened the season by defeating Illinois State, 31-6.

However, the Redbirds bounced back from its 0-2 start to make life difficult for APSU.

In the first half, Illinois State completely bottled up the Governors until midway through the second quarter. In fact, in the first quarter the Govs were held to minus-six yards on a pair of three-and-outs while Illinois State rolled up 104.

APSU forced ISU to punt after its first possession but after the Govs failed to generate any offense, the Redbirds took over at their own 40 after a punt.  That led to a 16-play drive that culminated in quarterback Matt Brown tossing an eight-yard TD pass to Tyrone Walker. Twice during the drive the Redbirds eschewed a field in favor of going for the first down on fourth-down plays.

After forcing APSU into a second straight three-and-out, Illinois State began another drive, this one a 10-play, 46-yard drive that saw Gordon carry it in from two yards out to make it a 14-0 contest.

APSU opened the second quarter with a third straight series without recording a first down before the Govs' defense forced only ISU's second punt. The ball was downed at the APSU one-yard line.

APSU head coach Rick Christophel elected to switch quarterbacks, bringing in senior Gary Orr, APSU's starter a year ago before thumb surgery ended his season. On his third play, Orr connected with Darryl Miller for 25 yards to not only get APSU out of a hole but also record the Govs' first first-down of the game.

Led by the senior, the Govs marched it all the way down field, culminating in Ryan White's 24-yard TD run-his season's first score.  With the extra point, the Govs cut the lead in half, 14-7, with 3:18 left..

But the momentum change didn't last long. Brown and ISU took over at their own 16 and methodically marched down field. The nine-play 84-yard drive ended with Gordon scoring on a nine-yard run. As a result, Illinois State was able to take a 21-7 lead into halftime.  

APSU had an opportunity to get back into it in the third quarter but could not muster enough consistent offense. In fact, the two teams traded three possessions each without scoring, all three Govs possessions ending in interceptions. Finally, with 4:43 left in the period Gordon culminated a 29-yard drive-set up by an interception-by scoring his third TD, this one from eight yards out to all but put game out of reach.

Game Notes:

• Redshirt Zac Burkhart intercepted pass in the third quarter to end APSU's interception drought. The Govs failed to intercept a pass in the first two games. In fact, the Govs failed to intercept a ball in the 2008 season finale against Southeast Missouri. It also was Burkhart's first career pick.
• Austin Peay failed to record a first down until nearly the eight minute mark of the second quarter. They finished with six first-half first downs and just nine for the game.  
• The 107 yards were the fewest gained by an Austin Peay team it was held to 91 by North Dakota State in the season opener last season.
• With Ryan White running for a 24-yard second-quarter TD it was the sixth straight game APSU has recorded at least on rushing TD.  
• Ryan Key's 43.6 yards per punt is the best single-game punting performance when Key averaged 46.0 against Samford, Oct. 20, 2007.
• Safeties Amius Smith and Spencer Gulmire along with linebacker Daniel Becker led the Governors with nine tackles against the Redbirds.

Rick Christophel comments about the Illinois State game:
"I'm going to shoulder this one. The big thing is, you can't win a football game when you don't prepare. It's my job to get them prepared and it is obvious tonight that we weren't. We're going to go back to the drawing board and get it corrected. Hopefully, you'll see a different team come next Saturday night."

"We made some mistakes. To be honest with you, it was one of the most embarrassing displays we've had since I've been at Austin Peay. It all falls back on me. We made it way too easy for them."

"We've got to make some decisions on what we're going to do (on offense), and get it done. We certainly didn't do what we had planned tonight. Our preparation has got to get better. If it doesn't get better, it's going to be a long season. I'm not going to let that happen."

"I thought we played a little better in the second half (defensively). It was hard to tell because we had six turnovers in the second half. They only scored 17 points off our six turnovers, so that's not too bad for our defense. To put them in that kind of situation when you're trying to win a football game, you can't do it."

In Gary (Orr's) defense, there were a couple of routes that weren't broken off and a couple of drops that made it look a little worse than it really was. He also had two interceptions off of tipped balls. We have to go back and do better preparation-wise. We didn't have enough quick-hitters. Again, we have to go back and look at what we're doing and spread them out a little more. When we get in tight, we have to do a better job of throwing the ball off of our play-action stuff."

"Something's got to be done (at the quarterback position). We've got to be consistent. We haven't had that at quarterback this season. Even against Newberry, it wasn't consistent. The question is, do you take the guy with more experience or do you go with youth. I have to make the decision. I'm not going to divulge that information today. I've got to figure out the guy who is going to be right for us."