A week ago, we tore down the goalposts at Fortera Stadium and ended the nation's longest (rhymes with 'snoozing creek') after beating Morehead State.
And don't get me wrong—observing the bedlam from the pressbox was a lot of fun. It was enjoyable to see the players celebrate a long-overdue moment in the sun, it was enjoyable to see longtime fans cutting loose and 'fun' doesn't even begin to describe the scene of postgame jubilation—on the field, in the locker room and all over Fortera Stadium.
But if last week felt like a closing, a coda to a long wandering in the wilderness, then Saturday night's systematic dismantling of Murray State felt like something else.
It felt like the start of something. Something substantial.
Players are tired of being overlooked, tired of being the little brother, tired of being the whipping post in the Ohio Valley Conference. And woe betide any foe foolish enough to take the Governors lightly going forward.
Senior Jule Pace has seen everything in his four seasons, from a new stadium to a new coaching staff. What he hadn't seen much of is sustained success, and after back-to-back wins, he's in no mood to revert back to the Austin Peay of old.
"We're tired of being the punching bag of the OVC," Pace said. "We're tired of being the punching bag of NCAA football, period. We're tired of going out there and every team expecting us to lay down.
"It'll go like that (teams overlooking us) for the rest of the season. People are going to judge us for what we've done in the past, but I'm telling you now, this is a totally different team."
There's no way to calibrate to what, if any, level that Murray State was overlooking Austin Peay going into Saturday night. Racer seniors had already lost once to the Governors during their playing days, after all. Surely they wouldn't suffer their teammates to come out flat, in a rivalry game no less.
But facts are facts, and the fact is that Austin Peay's dominating first quarter set the tone for everything to come. Between the 17 first-quarter points or the negative-two yards total offense allowed, the Govs either blew the doors off their espoused rival, or said rival was making the grave mistake of not taking Austin Peay's resurgence seriously.
Or both. Could be both.
Pace represents the old guard, the holdovers who went through hell and back as the Governors sought to right the ship. The young bucks, such as sophomore quarterback JaVaughn Craig, appreciate the blood, sweat and tears they put in over the years.
"To see the smiles on the veteran's faces, to get the wins and see the hard work pay off feels really good," Craig said.
Craig represents the new school of Governor—brash, confident and not ready to accept a couple of nice wins. They expect more.
"You work hard, you come in with a big recruiting class and you expect to win right away," Craig said. "You don't realize how good this conference is and how hard it is to come in and play college football. We have 105 core guys and coaches all in for each other now; that togetherness is paying off."
It paid off last week, and it paid off in the run-up to this rivalry game. The Governors could've had a letdown—in days of old, I'd even go so far as to say it was likely (this is a team that didn't have back-to-back wins since 2011). But with good leadership, good coaching and the right mindset, the Govs simply wouldn't allow that to happen—probably via multiple references to Sir-Mix-A-Lot.
"We talked about one-hit wonders," Craig said. "We didn't want to be that one-hit wonder. You break the streak and people wonder, 'Well, is this a fluke?' But we know what we're capable of and we wanted to prove that to people."
"We have a different mentality now," Pace concurred. "We're focused; we're locked in."
Success is fun, and it's there for the taking for Austin Peay. Next week against a ranked UT Martin squad will be a good litmus test for these Governors.
