When Sac State’s opponent arrives for FCS playoffs, expect to hear ‘Let’s go Peay!’
Mark Hudspeth sized up his opponent the other day, taking in images on a screen, and then exhaled.
The first-year football coach at Austin Peay in Tennessee had but a few days to prepare his bunch for fourth-seeded Sacramento State in Saturday night’s Division I FCS playoff game at Hornet Stadium, and he’s wondering how his offense that averages 35.8 points a game will even move the ball.
That’s typical coach speak, to be sure. Hudspeth heaped praise on Sac State’s defensive team speed and ferocity under Hornets coordinator Andy Thompson.
“I turned on the game film of Sac State and then wanted to turn the film off,” Hudspeth said earlier this week. “That might be the best 11 defensive players in the FCS. I don’t know if we’ve seen a better defense. It’ll be an incredible challenge for us, their athleticism on the defensive line, how they don’t give up big plays, how they fly to the football.
“I don’t know if the goal is to win the game or to just get a first down.”
That the Governors (10-3) are even here is testament to Hudspeth and his group. It’s similar to that of what Sac State (9-3) has experienced, misery to championship in one year, only Austin Peay really suffered and endured.
For a stretch there, the Governors were the worst team in the land. They went 1-45 from 2013-16, including 22 consecutive losses. The school never went away from its motto that appears on its football Twitter account and athletics web address: Let’s go Peay!
Sac State went from 2-8 a year ago to this sudden turn under its own first-year coach in Troy Taylor.
Like Taylor, Hudspeth was the right fit for Austin Peay. The Governors won the Ohio Valley Conference championship for the first time since 1977 while Sac State won the Big Sky Conference for the first time – its first conference crown since 1995 and just the fourth since starting football in 1954.
Hudspeth was named the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year and Taylor earned the Big Sky Coach of the Year honors. Both coaches finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award for the top FCS coach.
Both coaches are 51 years old and big on team unity and making a violent sport a fun one. And both played quarterback in college in the late 1980s, Taylor at Cal and Hudspeth at Delta State.
Taylor was drawn to his hometown Hornets, certain that he could tap into the potential of the program and the recruiting base within the valley. Expectations were modest – improve every day. Hudspeth? More of the same.
“I like this part of the country,” Hudspeth said of why he was drawn to Austin Peay. “I knew this would be a great quality of life, 40 miles from Nashville. I felt like we could attract a good coaching staff and good student-athletes here. And I like to build programs. When we got here, expectations weren’t high. We didn’t see Austin Peay banners or flags or helmets in bars. Now we do.”
More similarities
Sac State is led by duel-threat quarterback Kevin Thomson, the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year. The junior has 3,442 yards of total offense with 35 touchdowns while playing hurt and inspired.
“After a week off (from a first-round bye), we’re ready to play,” Thomson said.
JaVaughn Craig of Austin Peay has 3,114 yards of total offense and 30 scores. He saw the program rise from dust.
Both teams have standout receivers: DeAngelo Wilson for Austin Peay with 1,246 yards and 12 touchdowns, and Pierre Williams with 931 and seven. And Sac State has a running back to behold in Elijah Dotson, who has 1,438 yards from scrimmage and 11 total scores for an offense that averages 469 yards and 36.3 points, nearly identical to Austin Peay’s 430.2 and 35.8.
“We’re ready and we’re excited to play,” Dotson said.
Austin Peay has allowed only eight sacks this season, and Sac State hasn’t allowed a sack in five games. Sac State’s defense is led by linebacker Marcus Hawkins, defensive back Marcus Bruce and defensive linemen George Obinna and Dariyn Choates.
Obinna and Choates have combined for 33 1/2 tackles for loss and 20 1/2 sacks.