Clarksville, TN – Decided to take a U-turn north after our Saturday afternoon game to attend the 6 pm game at Fortera Stadium featuring Morehead State at Austin Peay. Originally, as planned in our previous preview, we planned to attend Stetson at UT Chattanooga after our venture to Sewanee. After further review, the game between the Hatters and the Moccasin doesn’t look competitive. That’s what we generally look for. If anything, that match-up provided us primarily with convenience to see two games in one day.
Last season, we saw the Hatters for the first time in a 70-48 loss at Davidson. Overall, they finished 2-9 and 0-7 in the Pioneer League. The Pioneer League plays as the only Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conference without athletic scholarships. Hatter wins came over two NAIA teams, and they open with two more this season. UTC (7-5, 5-3 in 2024) competes as a solid program in the competitive Southern Conference. For our purposes, attending this game no longer interests us.
Good experiences at Austin Peay
Collegefootballfan.com has visited Fortera Stadium several times since relocating to Tennessee on 2021. Leaving Sewanee to get to Clarksville by 6 pm will be a challenge, but it should result in us seeing a more competitive game. Former HC Scotty Walden brought intensity. spirit and energy to the APSU program before taking over as Head Coach at UTEP in 2024. Under Walden, we saw the Governors go 3-2.
New HC Jeff Faris comes into his second year with the Governors following a 4-8 season, 3-5 in the new United Athletic Conference (UAC). Walden took a lot of Austin Peay talent with him to El Paso. Faris gleaned much of his coaching experience at Duke under David Cutcliffe as OC and QB coach.
Governors of preseason distinction
Unlike Stetson, Austin Peay opens against FBS programs at Middle Tennessee followed by Georgia. So, we expect them to have at least one loss before meeting Morehead. A preseason UAC Coaches Poll predicts they will finish sixth in conference play this season. Three Governors earned placement on the UAC Coaches Preseason All-Conference Team. DB Ellis Ellis, Jr. (that’s not a typo) made 26 tackles, three INTs and six pass break-ups to gain recognition. OL Chandler Kirton logged three solid seasons to be noticed at APSU. PK Carson Smith impressed on 13 of 20 FGs including his longest from 56 yards in 2024.
Building around his quarterback
Coach Faris developed QBs at Duke. He continues a work-in-progress here. QB Austin Smith led all Governor rushers last season in addition to stellar performances in the passing game. He picked up 480 yards and four TDs rushing. He threw for 2,354 yards, 15 TDs and seven INTs. WR Jaden Barnes returns as his favorite target snagging 58 passes for 1,083 yards and nine TDs. Defensively, DB Jarden Lyles led the team in 96 tackles and an INT. Austin Peay will be looking for more aggressive play from its defensive front.
Morehead moving ahead
Like Stetson, the Morehead Eagles play in the Pioneer League. In 2024 under first-year HC Jason Woodman, they finished 7-5,5-3. Woodman cut his coaching teeth at LSU under Nick Saban and Les Miles. He coached successfully for ten seasons at Fairmount State (WV), a D-2 program in the Mountain East Conference. Morehead appears on our schedule here for the first time. Like Austin Peay, though in an 11-team conference, PL coaches select Morehead to finish sixth. Also, like the Governors, the Morehead offense will be built around their returning QB, Carter Cravens.
Cravens career thus far totals 4,013 passing yards and 24 TDs. The Pioneer League Coaches selected him as preseason All-Conference QB. Among other All-Conference selections, they named WR Ryan Upp with his 42 grabs for 573 yards and five TDs. On defense, LB Luke Bauer garnered 50 tackles in 2024 including 12 for losses and 4.5 sacks. Among other returnees, Issac Stopke leads RBs with his 290 yards and three TDs. Defensively, Matthew McClelland recorded 109 stops, four INTs, and four pass break-ups.
Austin Peay vs. Morehead State looks entertaining
Under second-year head coaches at the FCS level, both squads look to develop their rosters before their respective conference slates begin. Both teams seek improvement from returning players and seek to find talent to move up to step in where needed. This game should be a fight late into the game. We’re glad we found this opportunity to find a much more competitive game than we initially planned.
Morehead to honor Alumnus QB Phil Simms
Morehead pays tribute to one of its greatest players of all-time on October 18. Prior to the game against the Marist (NY) Red Foxes, MSU will rename its Jayne Stadium in honor of Phil Simms. The New York Giant Super Bowl-winning QB and long-time television game analyst will be on-hand for the fitting ceremony. As we’ve witnessed many times before, you never know when you’ll see such great players make their marks early in their illustrious careers.
Collegefootballfan.com slate starts moving on up!
As stated in previous previews, we started the early season with cash flow in mind while seeking mostly interesting, “small school” match-ups on our docket. Late September, we start making our moves with two critical and exciting Big Ten clashes. Before noting the preseason rankings in parenthesis below, we always refuse to consider coaches polls. Coaches have interest in their own team only and the next team they will play. They should anyway. Voting for future opponents only bolsters their own team’s ranking. Not that we agree with the media either, but here we’ll utilize the traditional rankings of The Associated Press (AP) Poll.
Our next preview takes us to see Illinois (16) at Indiana (10). Our first game in Bloomington because, to be honest, they never played any games of significance there until HC Curt Cignetti arrived. Next, Oregon (3) at Penn State (5). The pundits just put too much emphasis on previous season results in their polling methodology as far as we’re concerned. However, they should have more time to analyze many teams than do head football coaches focused on developing, recruiting, analyzing transfer portals, game-planning, fundraising, media interacting and their upcoming opponent.
And a friendly and informative reminder
Click on the title of buy my book about this life-long adventure: Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun, and the Ugly on Amazon.com. Read the reviews on the page and get your copy today! If you’re trying to follow NILs and transfer portals, read what we predicted in 2023 and more. In addition, we offered solutions to issues occurring that we anticipated when we wrote this book. Also, based on what you read above, this fun, unique life-long Journey continues. Catch up on the last 45 years, and then please submit a review. We hope you will get a kick out of our great adventure having seen every FBS team play over the years!
Edited by and photos taken by Steve Koreivo – Member of Football Writers Association of America and Author of Fifty Years of Tailgate Tales: The Good, the Fun and the Ugly.
