Let's do a quick thought experiment.

Let's think about what we saw Saturday night in Austin Peay's season-opening loss to Southern Illinois and appraise the defense with the following context in place.

Operating in its first game with a new defensive coordinator and acclimating a half-dozen new starters to the scheme, the Govs found themselves against not just a quality Saluki unit – and it should be noted that SIU's offense was pretty good a year ago in keeping the ball, converting on third and fourth down, and moving the ball through the air, ranking in the FCS' top-30 in all categories – but fighting circumstances seemingly designed to thwart any Austin Peay success.

Short fields, periods of time on the sidelines far too brief for recovery or making any schematic tweaks before the next defensive possession, and perhaps most significantly a first quarter that saw SIU possess the ball for nearly 13 minutes put the Govs at a decided disadvantage early and kept them there defensively.

"Our defense was on the field for a long time to start the game, and I felt like they never really recovered from that," said head coach Scotty Walden. "They just looked gassed, and they should be, because they shouldn't have to be on the field that long."
It's the last point that offers the most hope. Because there was a lot of individual brilliance if you look closely at what those newcomers offered on Saturday.

Take Tyler Long. The Norfolk State transfer, who was a two-time All-MEAC selection, announced himself with authority thanks to a 17-tackle debut for Austin Peay that was the most by a Gov since Koby Perry racked up 16 tackles at UT Martin in 2021 and is believed to be the most ever by any Austin Peay player making their Governor debut. Long was all over the place against SIU, sharing a pair of tackles for loss and recovering a third-quarter fumble to set up Austin Peay's first score of the game. Another standout find from the transfer portal was Xavier Smith, a former Colorado Buffalo who laid the hit that forced out the ball recovered by Long.

Similarly pedigreed in performance and lineage to Long, whose brother is former Titan and current Miami Dolphin David Long, is fellow newcomer Michael Ruttlen Jr. The Princeton transfer and former All-Ivy League stud – whose cousin is Super Bowl champion Carlton Davis III from the Tampa Bay Bucs – was heavily involved in Saturday's affairs, recording eight tackles and sharing one of Long's stops behind the line.

"We do have a lot of guys playing their first snaps for Austin Peay," Walden conceded postgame. "But they're here because they're very talented and I believe they have all the potential in the world. But it can be hard to evaluate when you have a defense playing that many snaps; we're looking to see who pushed through and didn't use it as an excuse. We don't make excuses for not playing tough or not playing physical."

Just to prove it wasn't all new faces contributing defensively for the Govs Saturday night, Sam Howard and Hosea Knifeley Jr. combined for 19 tackles on the evening. Knifeley's nine stops were a career-high, and he forced a crucial pass break-up near the goal line on a first-quarter SIU drive, while Howard also totaled a career-best 10 stops.

Walden, ever-candid in his postgame interview, laid all the blame on himself for Saturday's outcome. And look – 49 points is 49 points on the scoreboard, and someone is responsible for those points at the end of the day. There will be changes, adjustments and tweaks before the Govs head to Knoxville next weekend for a date with an explosive Tennessee offense. And make no mistake – Tennessee is going to score. Tennessee scores against everyone; ask Virginia.

Nobody was happy with this outcome. Nobody is satisfied. But as the transfers acclimate to the system, as the defense is able to catch its breath, as the short fields and quick possessions give way to a more even balance, don't be shocked if perusing stats later in the year this game looks like more of an outlier for the Austin Peay defense that proved, even in defeat, that it has pieces in place to give opponents problems.

"We're close," Walden said. "One block, one play, one missed tackle, one gap… I think we're close on a lot of things. We've got to stay positive and be ready to attack. We have to get back to our roots and play Austin Peay football."