MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University was unable to cash in on some early scoring opportunities and then watched Memphis rip off 20 straight points as the Governors fell, 27-6, Saturday night in a non-conference game played at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

The loss drops the Govs to 0-2 on the season extended their losing streak to 10 games. Memphis snapped an 11-game losing streak to push its record to 1-2. It also was the Governors  10^th straight loss to Football Bowl Subdivision teams. APSU's last win came in 1987 when it defeated Kansas State.

"I thought the effort was great, it was an absolute great effort," APSU coach Rick Christophel said. "Defensively, I thought we tackled better, we got after the ball carriers better.

"Offensively, I thought we executed better in the passing game. There are a lot of things, though, we can improve. But we are getting closer and closer."

At times, though, it was a frustrating night for the Govs, especially in the first half. In the first quarter and into the second quarter's early stages the Govs moved the ball with regularity but came away empty on two occasions deep into the red zone.  On the game's first drive the Governors moved the ball from their own 30 to the Memphis 16, but junior placekicker Stephen Stansell shanked a 33-yard field goal attempt.

Later in the half with the game still scoreless, the Governors drove from their own 17 to the Memphis 26-yard, only to see another Stansell field goal go wide on the second quarter's initial possession.

Memphis took advantage of the opportunity to drive 74 yards, the last 42 coming on a Taylor Reed pass to Tannar Rehrer for a 7-0 advantage with 8:14 left in the half.

The Tigers then took advantage of a Jake Ryan interception to boot a 30-yard field with 25 seconds remaining in the half to take a 10-0 lead heading into halftime.  That margin quickly increased early in the second half.

In fact, the Tigers good fortune continued on their first possession of the third quarter when Kevin Wright picked up a fumble of a completed pass to Andrew Ene-Ita and ran it the final 22 yards for a 17-0 lead.

The Tigers benefitted from another kicking game issue when they were able to take advantage of a 21-yard APSU and turned into another Paulo Henriques field goal, this one from 44 yards out to make it a 20-0 contest.

The Govs finally responded, going 80 yards on 12 plays, with Devin Stark's 25-yard and Darryl Clack's five-yard catches being key-Clack's being a third-down reception that gained a first down by inches, only after APSU asked for a measurement. After a penalty, Ryan hooked up with Ryan White with a pass near the eight yard line and the preseason All-OVC selection picked his way to the goal line. But the kicking game woes continued when Ryan was unable to handle the extra-point snap, leaving the game at 20-6 with 4:55 left in the third quarter.

The Governors threatened to make a game of it in the fourth period, driving down to the Memphis one-yard line with just under four minutes left. But the Govs were unable to push the ball across with a trio of passes and one run, the last incomplete all but snuffing out the Govs' bid to win its first game against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent in 24 years.

A short pass from Taylor Reed to Billy Foster turned into a 93-yard catch and run for the game's final score.

The Governors finished with 368 yards total offense, including a career-best 245 passing yards from quarterback Jake Ryan, who completed 24 of 44 passes.  Fellow junior Devin Stark led the receiving corps with a career-best nine catches for 107 yards-his first career 100-yard receiving contest.

White, the Governors senior back, finished with 87 yards rushing on 16 carries and added another 37 in receptions, including his first career TD catch.

Meanwhile, the freshman Reed for Memphis, in just his second start, threw for 332 yards, completing 20 of 30 passes. The Tigers ended the night with 445 yards in total offense.

-AP-

Post-game notes 

• This was Austin Peay's seventh meeting with Memphis, but the first played in the Liberty Bowl. The previous meeting between the two was in 1957.
• Austin  Peay sponsored a packed student fan bus to the game.
• Austin Peay's band, the Governors Own, also made the trip, performing at halftime, along with the cheer and pom squads.
• This was the second straight Football Bowl Subdivision team the Govs played, opening the season with Cincinnati, Sept. 3. In addition, this was the fourth FBS club APSU played in the last two seasons.
• Austin Peay entered the game with a 2-13 record all-time against FBS schools, the last win coming in 1987.They entered the game with 10 straight losses to FBS foes.
• Kicker Stephen Stansell missed both 33- and 43-yard field goals in the first half.
• Freshman Ben Campbell made his APSU debut as Austin Peay's punter.
• Senior tailback Ryan White entered the game with 10 100-yard-plus rushing efforts. He fell short of No. 11 by just 13 yards, finishing with 87 yards.  However, those 87 yards allowed White to move into fourth place all-time in rushing with 2,601 yards, passing Mike Lewis (2,563), who played from 1985-87, 1989).
• When Ryan White caught a 13-yard scoring pass from Jake Ryan with 4:55 left in the third quarter, it made it 64 straight games the Governors had scored at least one point. It also was White's first TD reception in his four-year career.
• Jake Ryan set a career-best with his 245 yard passing effort against Memphis. He also set a personal best with 23 completions.
• Fellow junior Devin Stark, who tied a personal best with five catches against Cincinnati, shattered it with a nine-catch, 109-yard effort against Memphis. It was his first career 100-yard receiving effort.
• Jake Ryan also moved past his coach, Rick Christophel, in two career passing categories. He is now eighth all time in pass completions with 193, passing Christophel's 175. He also is now 10^th in passing yards with 2,108. Christophel (1971-74) had  2073 yards passing.

APSU Coach Rick Christophel Quotes:

"We talked about it before the game. There were three things we wanted to do this week. We wanted to improve from the first game and I think we did on both sides of the football. We didn't want to give them easy scoring opportunities, they had two. And we had to win the turnover battle, we had three and they had two. When you go on the road, you cannot have turnovers and I think that was the difference in the game.

"We have to do a better job offensively of finishing off our scoring opportunities."