The Austin Peay Governors football program is the intercollegiate

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team for

Austin Peay State University Austin Peay State University () is a public university in Clarksville, Tennessee. Standing on a site occupied by a succession of educational institutions since 1845, the precursor of the university was established in 1927 and named for then-sitt ...

(Peay or APSU), located in the U.S. state of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. The team competes in the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

(FCS) and played the most recent 2021 season as members of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

. The school's first football team was fielded in 1930. They were previously a member of the

Pioneer Football League The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a football-only conference. It has member s ...

from 2001 through 2005. Peay plays its home games at the 10,000 seat

Fortera Stadium Fortera Stadium is a stadium located on the campus of Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. It opened in 1946 and is the home venue for the Austin Peay Governors football team. History Clarksville Municipal Stadium, as it was ...

, and moved to the

ASUN Conference The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Divisio ...

in July 2022, after being an OVC football member from 1963-1996 and again from 2007-2021.

History

Classifications

*1957–1972: NCAA College Division *1973–1977: NCAA Division II *1978–present: NCAA Division I–AA/FCS

Conference memberships

*1930–1946: Independent *1947–1962:

Volunteer State Athletic Conference The Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC) was a college athletic conference which was predominantly for smaller colleges in the U.S. state of Tennessee.Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

*1997–2000: NCAA Division I–AA Independent *2001–2005:

*2006: NCAA Division I FCS Independent *2007–2021:

*2022-Present:

Though not competing in OVC football from 1997–2006, Peay remained a full OVC member during this period.

Rivalries

Sgt. York Trophy

The trophy goes to the team in Tennessee that has the best record against the other three teams. Austin Peay has won the trophy three times, in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Battle of the Border

The battle of the border is a trophy awarded to the team with the most points based on wins between all the sporting events between Austin Peay and Murray State. Murray State leads the series 36-16.

Notable former players

Notable alumni include: *

Jeff Gooch Jeffrey Lance Gooch (born October 31, 1974) is a linebacker who played for 10 seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions in the National Football League. Gooch played at John Overton High School in Nashville, Tennessee and finished h ...

* Michael Swift * Kirk Pointer * Kyran Moore *

Bonnie Sloan Bonnie Ryan Sloan (born June 1, 1948) is an American former National Football League (NFL) player who was the first of three deaf football players in NFL history. Sloan played four games at defensive tackle for the St. Louis Cardinals in the ...

, first deaf player in NFL history *

Percy Howard Percy Lenard Howard (born January 21, 1952) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He was an unlikely star for the Cowboys in Super Bowl X. He played college basketball at Austin Peay ...

(whose only NFL TD catch came in

Super Bowl X Super Bowl X was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for t ...

, as a member of the Dallas Cowboys) * Lewis Lastik, featured actor in ''

Remember the Titans ''Remember the Titans'' is a 2000 American biographical sports film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. The screenplay, written by Gregory Allen Howard, is based on the true story of coach Herman Boone, portrayed by Denzel W ...

'', offensive lineman. (Also member of the APSU track and field teams, shot put, and javelin.)

Retired numbers

Austin Peay has retired two jersey numbers in program history.

Honored jerseys

Numbers honored, but not retired and available for future players:

Conference championships

Austin Peay has won four conference championships, two outright, and two shared with Southeast Missouri State in the OVC,

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of ...

and

Eastern Kentucky Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

in the ASUN

Postseason

FCS playoffs

The Governors have made one appearance in the FCS Playoffs, their first being in 2019; their record is 2–1.

References

External links

* American football teams established in 1930 1930 establishments in Tennessee {{Tennessee-sport-team-stub