GOVS-TEXANS POSTGAME NOTES

Notes following #8 Austin Peay's 40-32 loss to #2 Tarleton State, Saturday, at Fortera Stadium in Clarksville.

FROM THE TOP

• With his second rushing touchdown of the game, Chris Parson broke the all-time quarterback rushing touchdowns record with his 20th in 19 games under center for the Governors.
• Austin Peay had its program-record 10-game home winning streak come to an end against the Texans.

CAPTAINS/COIN TOSS

• Captains David Portu, Chris Parson, Markell Redding, Jackson Head, and Courtland Simmons took the coin toss for the Governors.
• Austin Peay won the opening coin toss and deferred its option to the second half. Tarleton State elected to receive the opening kick.  
• Austin Peay improved to 4-3 at the coin toss this season and 15-16 under head coach Jeff Faris.
• The Governors fell to 2-2 when winning the coin toss and 6-9 under Faris.
• Weather in Clarksville at tipoff: 63 degrees, raining, winds north at 14 miles per hour.

SERIES UPDATE            

• Austin Peay fell to 0-3 all-time against Tarleton State and 0-2 against the Texans in Clarksville.

THOSE ARE THE BREAKS

• Austin Peay fell to 1-2 when trailing at the half this season.
• The Governors fell to 0-2 when training at the end of the third quarter.

RANKED GOVS

• Austin Peay fell to 27-20 all-time when ranked and 9-5 when ranked under Faris.
• The Governors fell to 18-4 when ranked at Fortera Stadium and had a seven-game winning streak end.

OFFENSIVE SPARKS

• Chris Parson's second rushing score, the 20th of his APSU career, moved him past JaVaughn Craig (2016-19) for the most rushing scores by a quarterback in program history.
• Parson finished the day with a career-high 26 carries in addition to 102 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
• Parson's multiple rushing touchdown performance was the seventh of his career.
• Parson's 26 carries are the most by a Governor since Jevon Jackson had 38 rushes against Utah Tech (11/11/23).
• After being held to 4-of-13 with 62 yards through the air in the first half, Parson went 12-for-20 with 165 yards in the second half.
• Denver Harper finished the night with a career-high five receptions for 106 yards and one touchdown through the air.
• Harper's 106 receiving yards are his third most this season and his most since having 124 yards against Morehead State, Sept. 12.
• Marvin Sims matched his season's best performance with six catches, while also recording a team-best 88 receiving yards.
• Quarterback Matthew Wilson entered for one play on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line and recorded his first-career rushing touchdown with 9:43 remaining in the second half.
• Wilson was the ninth Governor to rush for a touchdown this season, tied for the most (2017) in APSU's digital record-keeping era.

DEFENSIVE STANDS

• Tywan Royal recorded his first-career interception in the second quarter. He was the first player to intercept Tarleton State's Kaden Anderson this season.
• Royal also paced the Govs with a season-high two pass breakups.
• RJ Jackson had a season-high two tackles for loss and his season's first sack.
• Canaan Williams led APSU with seven tackles.
• The Govs held Tarleton State to 64 rushing yards in the second half and still have not allowed an FCS opponent to rush for more than 70 yards in the second half of a game this season.
• David Portu had his first solo sack of the season and forced fumble.

SPECIAL TEAMS SYNOPSIS

• Hamilton DiBoyan made his lone field goal attempt of the game from 23 yards out. With the make, DiBoyan improved to 3-for-4 on field goals this season.
• Logan Leftrick punted three times for 123 yards, while matching his season high with two punts downed within the 20-yard line.

GOVS-TEXANS POSTGAME QUOTES

Austin Peay head coach Jeff Faris 

Opening statement… "I am very disappointed in the outcome. But I will say I'm very proud of our team's fight. I love our football team. We're going to learn from this and grow. I really appreciate Clarksville, Tennessee, for coming out in these conditions and supporting us. Our team felt it and was fueled by it, and we got to grow, but there's a lot of ball left. We have five conference games guaranteed, and I think we're far from playing our best football, and I'm excited about it."

On keeping the game close… "We played more characteristic of who we are. I mean, we pulled within eight points twice. And we continued to fight. We were able to run the ball today against a very talented defense. We have a lot of resilience in our team, and just because the outcome didn't go our way by eight points, there's a lot of good going on that we need to build upon, and we have to eradicate the bad."

On Parson's run game… "Every game is a little bit different, but we knew this one was a top 10 showdown. If I told Chris, 'Hey man, we're not going to use you in the run game', he'd be upset at me because he wants to do whatever it takes for the team to win. This is the most selfless quarterback I've ever been around. But can we run him as many times as we did today? No, I don't think we can do that every week. In this type of game, he's going to run the ball regardless, because he just wants to do whatever he can to help the team. He couldn't care less what his stats look like. He's all about one stat, and that's the final score."

Austin Peay quarterback Chris Parson

On the outcome of the game… "It's hard. Losing sucks. I hate losing. We hate losing. We put in a lot of work, a lot of effort, and a lot of time to get the results we want on Saturdays, and tonight we didn't get the result we wanted. There'll be a lot of lessons to be learned from this film, and it's a great opportunity for us to grow. It's a great opportunity for us to respond. In life, things don't go your way, but I know my guys will be ready moving forward, and we'll learn from this, and we'll keep pushing."

On the execution of the Govs' offense… "We just have to be better on offense. We have to be detailed in our jobs. We have to have elite focus. And so, although we did some really good things, the penalties and just digging ourselves in a hole and setting us back, those are things that just cannot happen against a really good team like Tarleton State that we just played."

Austin Peay defensive back Tywan Royal

On the execution of the Govs' defense going forward… "I just feel like we need to continue to work hard each day in practice, and just let it loose on Saturdays. We need to have a great week of practice this week and just play freer on Saturday next week."