GOVS-PANTHERS POSTGAME NOTES

Postgame notes following Austin Peay's Ohio Valley Conference title clinching 35-7 victory against Eastern Illinois, Saturday.

FROM THE TOP

• With the win, Austin Peay clinched a share of the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Championship. It is the Governors second-ever OVC title, joining the 1977 OVC Championship.
• The Governors will be the OVC's automatic qualifier into next week's NCAA Division I Football Championship. It is Austin Peay's first-ever postseason football appearance.
• Austin Peay won its program-record ninth game, finishing the regular season with a 9-3 record. It broke the record set by five previous APSU teams (1948, 1949, 1964, 1977, 2017).
• Head coach Mark Hudspeth broke the record for most wins by an Austin Peay coach in his first season. He broke the record set by James "Boots" Donnely in 1977.
• The Govs end the regular season with a five-game win streak that is the third longest in program history. It is the longest win streak since a six-game streak in 1980. The program record is seven consecutive wins set by the 1948 team.

SERIES UPDATE                                            

• Austin Peay won its second-straight home game against Eastern Illinois.
• It was the Govs fifth victory all-time against the Panthers, EIU now holds a 15-5 advantage in the all-time series.

DEFENDING THE FORT

• Austin Peay finished its home schedule with a 5-1 record, including a 4-0 mark in home OVC games.
• The Governors are 13-3 at Fortera Stadium over the last three seasons.

RECORD BOOK REWRITE

The following single-season records have been set during the 2019 regular season. All postseason games count toward records… so these marks will keep growing:

• DeAngelo Wilson: 1,246 receiving yards and 12 touchdown receptions
• JaVaughn Craig: 3,114 total offensive yards, 30 touchdowns responsible for
• Logan Birchfield: 54 PATs made
• Josephus Smith: 19.5 tackles for loss

OFFENSIVE SPARKS

• Austin Peay finished with its first 5,000-offensive yard campaign in program history, Saturday's 390 yards pushing the Govs to 5,158 total yards in 2019. The 429.8 yards per game is 10 more than the previous record.
• Baniko Harley finished with six catches for a career-best 136 yards and two touchdowns. It was his second 100-yard receiving day this season.
• JaVaughn Craig threw for three touchdowns and ran for two, finishing with 292 total offensive yards. It was his third multi-TD outing as a runner this season and his seventh multi-TD effort as a passer (second 3 TD day).
• DeAngelo Wilson was held to a season-low 62 receiving yards, but 40 of those came on the Govs final touchdown pass-and-catch of the game.
• Kam Williams connected with Josh Alexander for a 33-yard completion in the fourth quarter. It was the longest play from scrimmage by both players in 2019.

DEFENSIVE STANDS                                         

• Austin Peay held Eastern Illinois to 46 yards passing, the fewest by an opponent since 1996.
• For the second straight game, the Governors recorded 13 tackles for loss with 12 different players recording at least half a tackle for loss.
• Kwame Sutton had two sacks as part of his six-tackle outing, the Govs had three sacks in the contest. He has two sacks in back-to-back games to end the regular season.
• Josephus Smith had 1.5 tackles for loss against the Panthers and finished the season with at least one tackle for loss in every OVC game (17.0 TFL in OVC play). He also earned half a sack, extending his streak to six games with at least half a sack.
• Pat Walker led the Govs with 11 tackles, his second double-digit tackle performance in 2019.
• Jack McDonald had 10 tackles, his fourth double-digit tackle outing this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS SPRINTS

• Logan Birchfield connected on all five of his PATs and finished the regular season an unblemished 54-of-54 on PATs. No other Govs kicker had made more than 29 PATs without a miss.