OXFORD, Miss.—Squaring off against an SEC foe is always a daunting task, but one that can do things great and small for a program, win or lose. The scoreboard read Ole Miss 54, Austin Peay 17 at the end of the game, but that doesn't tell the entire story either.

It doesn't mention the part where Draylen Ellis, facing a near-constant rush, remained poised throughout the contest and didn't throw an interception. Or that one of his favorite targets, Drae McCray, hauled in six catches for 87 yards against some of the nation's best defensive backs in just his second collegiate game.

The scoreboard serves its purpose, it tells you who won. It doesn't mention the impact Shamari Simmons and Kordell Jackson had on disrupting Ole Miss, or Koby Perry's nose for the ball and consistency in bringing down its carrier. Yeah, we lost. And losing sucks. But the Govs will be a better football team next weekend because of what went down this weekend. 

The Governors got good if sporadic movement during the first quarter, with Ahmaad Tanner picking up 32 yards on five carries and Ellis hitting Tanner for an 14-yard gainer to kick-start Austin Peay's second drive which eventually got into Ole Miss territory. However, a second fourth-down attempt on that drive was denied and the Rebels took over to keep the Govs off the board.

Ole Miss, meanwhile, scored on its first drive—a one-yard toss from Matt Corral to Dontario Drummond—and then scored again on a Sam Williams strip-sack the lineman picked up and carried 33 yards for a touchdown.

Early in the second quarter, the Govs again made a foray into Ole Miss territory on another steady diet of Tanner carries and a timely pass interference call against the Rebels on fourth down, which put the Govs on the Ole Miss 23-yard line. But a loss, a penalty and an incomplete pass put the Govs in a difficult fourth-and-20 position, which ended with Ellis being sacked to snuff out the drive.

Ole Miss scored on the ensuing drive (Corral to Jonathan Mingo for 15 yards), and Austin Peay followed that with a safety on a punt snap which went over Matt Rigney's head and was wisely kicked out of the back of the end zone by the Austin Peay punter over risking a Rebel defender falling on it in the end zone. Corral found Drummond again for a 49-yard score and the Rebels finished their first-half flurry not even two minutes later with another Corral touchdown pass, this one on fourth down to Braylon Sanders.

The Govs closed out the half on a high note, quickly marching into Ole Miss territory on the ensuing drive helped by an Ellis-to-McCray 12-yard hook-up that also earned a roughing the passer penalty to take on 15 extra yards. McCray drew a pass interference penalty two plays later to put the Govs on the Ole Miss 30, and Ellis lofted a high arcing pass to Baniko Harley, who kept his focus and his feet to haul in the pass for his second score in as many games.

After Ole Miss scored on a Corral-to-Mingo 40-yarder, the Govs answered with a march of their own, highlighted by McCray fighting through defensive pass interference to haul in a 51-yard toss from Ellis at the Ole Miss 10-yard line. The Govs would settle for a 30-yard field from Maddux Trujillo to end the drive.

Ole Miss would tack on another score via three-yard Snoop Conner plunge and were marching again before Simmons came up with a big play to snuff out the drive. On a Conner rush, Simmons poked the ball loose near the end zone, then recovered it in the ensuing scrum to give the ball back to the Govs.

Ole Miss tacked on a late field goal, and the Govs closed out the scoring with a nice six-play, 81-yard march that CJ Evans Jr. took the final 40 yards by himself on a winding, weaving run through through and past the second level of Ole Miss' defense. Evans turned in a tidy 105-yard all-purpose performance (74 rushing, 31 receiving) in his own right.

Ellis finished with 226 yards through the air on 22-of-41 passing, while Tanner (18 carries, 70 yards) formed a tidy thunder-and-lightning tandem with Evans on the ground. DJ Render (8 catches, 37 yards) joined McCray and Harley (3 catches, 57 yards) as leading receivers, with the passing game spreading the ball around to seven different targets. Perry and Simmons finished with 11 tackles each, while Jackson recorded the first multi-sack game of his Austin Peay career.

The Govs make their return to Stacheville next week, when they host Morehead State at Fortera Stadium. Kickoff against the Eagles is scheduled for 2 p.m.