CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – In what has become the marquee rivalry game on the schedule for both sides, the No. 17 Austin Peay State University football team will duke it out with Eastern Kentucky at 4 p.m. (CT), Saturday with first place in the United Athletic Conference on the line at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond, Kentucky.

Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky once again find themselves in the middle of the race for a conference title, with both teams entering Saturday's game with a league-leading 3-0 record in UAC play. The Governors are 6-2 overall and 3-2 on the road and enter Saturday's game on a league-best six-game winning streak. After starting the season 0-3, Eastern Kentucky is 4-4 overall and 2-1 at home this season with wins in four of their last five contests.

The winner of Saturday's game takes control of the UAC title race. However, both Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky have a game against third-place Central Arkansas – who is 2-1 in the UAC – still on the schedule. EKU will travel to Conway, Arkansas next week before hosting Stephen F. Austin, Nov. 18, in their regular-season finale. The Govs close the regular season with two straight home games, hosting Utah Tech, Nov. 11, and Central Arkansas, Nov. 18.

During its six-game winning streak, Austin Peay has outscored its opponents by 144 points, 275-131, while outgaining teams by an average of 507.2-381.8 yards. The Governors also have scored 40 or more points in four straight games for the first time in program history, topping a streak of three straight games by the 1968 squad. With a win on Saturday, the Governors would match the 2019 team for the longest winning streak in a single season in Austin Peay history.

Offensively, reigning FCS National Offensive Player of the Week Mike DiLiello leads the Governors with 21 touchdown passes and 2,279 passing yards, marks that rank third and fifth in the FCS, respectively. DiLiello eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark through the air against North Alabama, making him the first quarterback in Austin Peay history to throw for 2,000-plus yards in multiple seasons.

Jevon Jackson also is on pace to be the Governors first 1,000-yard rusher in over a decade with 807 yards – 11th most in the FCS – entering Saturday's game. Jackson has averaged 143.0 yards per game and 5.96 yards per carry in the five games since CJ Evans Jr. suffered a season-ending injury. Trey Goodman and Tre Shackelford also rank first and second in the UAC with 75.9 and 71.0 receiving yards per game this season. Goodman also ranks 11th in the FCS and leads the league with six touchdown catches, while Shackelford's three touchdown grabs are tied for 13th in the league.  

On defense, Tyler Long and Sam Howard rank 21st and 39th in the FCS with 9.5 and 8.5 tackles per game, respectively this season. Howard also leads the Governors with 9.5 tackles for loss per game, he has a tackle for loss in seven straight games, and ranks third in the UAC with 1.19 tackles for loss per game this season.

Austin Peay's defense ranks fifth in the FCS and leads the UAC in third-down defense this season. The Governors have held opponent's to a 28.5 percent (35-123) conversion rate this season and have forced three-and-outs on 24.3 percent (27-111) of their opponents drives this season.

On special teams, Maddux Trujillo ranks 26th in the FCS with 7.6 points per game this season and Riley Stephens ranks tenth in the country with a 43.8-yard punting average. Kam Thomas also leads the FCS in punt return average (24.3) and punt return touchdowns (2) while ranking seventh in the country in combined kick return yards (538) this season.

Saturday's game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Spencer McLaughlin and Ryan Steineckert on the call. Fans also can tune into the Governors Sports Network on ESPN Clarksville (104.1 FM/540 AM) or via the TuneIn app to hear Brian Rives and Van Stokes call all the action. ESPN Clarksville will kick off its coverage with a re-airing of the Austin Peay Football Coaches Show at 5 p.m. (CT), followed by pregame coverage which begins an hour before kickoff.

NOTABLY

GOOD DIRECTIONS

Dating back to 2017, Austin Peay's 47 victories are tied for 11th most in the FCS and are the most in any seven-year stretch in program history. The Govs' 47 wins are the most among United Athletic Conference members since 2017 with Central Arkansas (45, t-17th) and Eastern Kentucky (39, t-31) being the only other UAC programs to crack the Top 45 in the FCS. The Governors' 47 victories in the past seven seasons are eight more wins than the 39 victories they had in 15 seasons from 2002-16.

ALL THE ABOVE

After Garrett Hawkins was named the United Athletic Conference's Freshman of the Week, Oct. 2, Austin Peay became the first team in the conference to have a player earn each of the league's four weekly awards this season. Mike DiLiello, Sept. 18 and Oct. 30, and Kam Thomas, Sept. 18 and Oct. 23, have been named Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Week twice each, respectively, while Cedarius Doss was the league's defensive player of the week, Sept. 25. Austin Peay's six weekly awards lead the UAC this season and the Governors were the only team to have won all four awards until they were joined by Utah Tech following Week 9.

BREAKING THE STONE

For just the 30th week in the program's DI history, Austin Peay is ranked in one of the FCS national polls. After being ranked twice in the 1970s, the Govs have appeared in the Stats FCS or AFCA FCS Coaches Polls 28 times since the start of the 2018 season. Since 2018, the Governors are 15-12 in games in which they are ranked and are 15-8 against FCS opponents in games where they are ranked. With Scotty Walden at the helm, Austin Peay is 6-5 overall and 6-4 against FCS opponents in games where it is ranked in the FCS national polls.

NOVEMBER AIR

Head coach Scotty Walden is 5-1 overall and 5-0 against FCS opponents in the month of November at Austin Peay. Last season, the Govs beat North Alabama and Kennesaw State before falling to No. 8 Alabama for their first loss in the 11th month under Walden. Austin Peay has won 11-straight FCS games in November – with five wins on the road – and last dropped a game in the month when they lost at Eastern Illinois in 2018.

WALDEN; OR, LIFE AT AUSTIN PEAY

After just 36 games at Austin Peay, Scotty Walden's 23 wins are the fourth most by a head coach in program history. Walden is just the fifth coach in program history to win 20 games and by doing so in his first 33 games, he is tied with Dave Aaron – who won a program-record 44 games – as the fastest coach in program history to 20 wins. Walden is now seven wins away from becoming the fourth APSU coach to win 30 games and is 10 wins away from matching Emory Hale for the third most wins by a head coach in program history. With a 23-13 record at Austin Peay, Walden also joins Aaron (44-35-6) as the only coach that ranks in the top five in APSU history in wins while having a winning record.

SCOUTING THE COLONELS

• Saturday is the 55th meeting between long-time Ohio Valley Conference rivals Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky, the Colonels lead the all-time series, 47-7.
• Austin Peay has won three of the last five meetings with EKU, including two of the last three contests at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond, Kentucky.
• Coming off a 52-41 loss at home to Gardner-Webb in the first round of the 2022 FCS Playoffs, Eastern Kentucky was tabbed to win the United Athletic Conference in the league's preseason coaches poll, despite having three fewer first-place votes than second-place Central Arkansas.
• Anchored by a pair of Preseason All-UAC tackles in Payton Collins and Josiah Ezirim, EKU averages 432.1 yards of total offense per game, which ranks 17th in the FCS and third in the UAC. The Colonels rank 24th in the FCS in rushing offense (181.8) and 27th in passing offense (250.4). Braedon Sloan has rushed for seven touchdowns this season, which is tied with APSU's Jevon Jackson for 24th in the FCS and the UAC lead. However, Joshua Carter leads EKU with 605 rushing yards this season.
• EKU's defense ranks seventh in the UAC in scoring defense (35.1), total defense (498.4), and pass defense (313.5) while ranking fifth in rushing defense (184.9). The Colonels do lead the UAC with 15 turnovers gained, thanks to eight fumble recoveries, which leads the UAC and ranks 9th in the FCS. Logan Blake leads the EKU defense with 68 tackles, 4.5 TFLs, 2 INTs, one forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. Blake leads the UAC and ranks fifth in the FCS with 12.0 tackles per game.
• The reigning ASUN Co-Offensive Player of the Year, Parker McKinney was a Walter Payton Award finalist and a Third Team Stats Perform All-American in 2022 before being named the Preseason UAC Offensive Player of the Year. McKinney is the active FCS leader in passing completions (985), yards (11,730), TDs (88), and total offense (13,426). Now in his sixth season at EKU, McKinney ranks 17th in the FCS in passing yards (2,003), 24th in TDs (14), and 12th in total offense (281.6) this season.

UP NEXT

After Saturday's game at Eastern Kentucky, Austin Peay returns to Fortera Stadium for a pair of UAC contests to close out the regular season. First, the Govs play their annual Military Appreciation game at 1 p.m., Nov. 11 when they host Utah Tech before closing the regular season with a 1 p.m., Nov. 18 battle with Central Arkansas on Senior Day.

Single-game and group tickets are available online at LetsGoPeay.com/BuyTickets, through TicketMaster, or by calling the Austin Peay Athletics ticket office at 931-221-PEAY (7329).

For news and updates throughout the 2023 season, follow Govs football on X (@GovsFB) and Instagram (@GovsFootball) or stay tuned here at LetsGoPeay.com.