By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
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MOREHEAD, Ky. -- It's been more than 20 years since a top-25 ranked opponent played at Jayne Stadium, but Saturday that will be the occurrence as the Morehead State Football team hosts No. 23 Austin Peay at 6:05 p.m. ET.
The game will be shown live on ESPN+ and can be heard live on the Eagle Sports Network (WIVY-96.3 FM, WMST 106.9 FM and 1150 AM). It's Family Weekend and a gold rush game with fans encouraged to wear gold to Saturday's contest.
The Governors, who play in the Ohio Valley Conference and hosted the Eagles last season after an 11-year hiatus in the series, are ranked 23rd in the AFCA FCS coaches poll. They are 1-1 after a 45-0 setback at No. 3 Georgia and a 24-0 blanking of future Pioneer League school Presbyterian last weekend.
The Eagles are 1-1 following a 48-19 beating of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio) last weekend.
QUOTING COACH TENYER
On playing OVC team Austin Peay
"No. 1 we have to embrace the challenge. We are playing a very good football team in Austin Peay. No. 2 is our goal to win all our home games. We have had a great week of preparation, and we'll be ready to play come Saturday night."
On his team's improvement in the rushing game on offense
"It's been an objective of ours to be better in the rushing game, and we know to win a conference championship here we've got to be a little more balanced. We have improved up front. On the offensive line we have guys who have grown and matured. It's a major emphasis for us."
On what he liked from week one to week two
"We got better on our rush defense and overall tackling was much better. The one area was still lack in is takeaways. They (Mount St. Joseph) had a lot of passing attempts last week, and we've got to find a way to create turnovers."
GAME NOTES
HELLO GOV'NOR
Morehead State and Austin Peay will battle for the 46th time in program histories with the Eagles leading the series 28-17. APSU has won the last two in the series (2017 and 2006). MSU's last win, and coincidentally its last home win, over the Governors was a 44-12 victory in 2005. While the two were in the PFL together, the Eagles were 5-1 against AP.
AGAINST THE TOP 25
With Austin Peay being ranked 23rd in this week's AFCA poll, it marks the sixth consecutive season Morehead State faces a top-25 ranked program. The last time Morehead State hosted a top-25 ranked team was in 1995 against Middle Tennessee.
RUNNING WILD
Morehead State's 422 rushing yards last week against Mount St. Joseph were the most team rushing yards since setting the school record with 478 against Austin Peay in 2000. Below is a look at recent top-five team rushing efforts.
Year     Opponent             Yards
2000     Austin Peay       478
2018    Mount St. Joseph  422
2005    Austin Peay       417
2004Â Â Â Â Charleston (W.Va.)Â 363
2012     Valparaiso              348
TWO OVER 100 - AGAIN!
When senior quarterback
Lawson Page (146) and freshman ball carrierÂ
Jovan Smith (104) both eclipsed 100 rushing yards last week against Mount St. Joseph, it marked the second consecutive season the Eagles posted two backs with at least 100 yards in a game - and both instances occurred in the home opener.
TURNING A PAGE
Lawson Page needs just seven more yards to reach 3,000 passing yards for his career. He owns three career games with at least 300 yards through the air.
RED HOT ZONE
In the opening two games, Morehead State has reached the red zone on offense 10 times and scored nine times, all touchdowns. The Eagles are at 90 percent in the red zone after averaging a 68-percent showing in 2017.
NOT UP IN HERE
In the season opener at EKU, the Eagle defense made two goal line stands. In the second quarter with the score 18-7, defensive lineman
Jamil Butler stopped an EKU running back for a four-yard loss on fourth and goal. In the third quarter, cornerback
Brandyn Duncan tackled a would-be touchdown scorer at the one-yard line on fourth down.
IT'S A GROUP EFFORT
The Eagle defense boasts six players with at least 10 total tackles so far, including team leader
Kalen Carson. The sophomore cornerback has 13 stops, highlighted by a career-best eight terminations last weekend. Eleven of his tackles have been solos.
BACKFIELD IN MOTION
MSU has piled up 14 tackles for loss in the first two games. No player has more than 2.5 though, spreading the TFL wealth around. Junior endÂ
Jeremiah Draper has 2.5, while senior end
Jamil Butler has two.
BOOMING THE BALL
Sophomore punter/kicker
Andrew Foster crushed a 71-yard punt, his only punt of the game, against Mount St. Joseph. According to research it's the longest Morehead State punt since Greg Burke nailed a 73-yarder in 1987. Foster's boomer is also the third longest punt in program history, behind Burke's and Don Rardin's school-record 78-yard blast in 1975.