Austin Peay holds first spring scrimmage

I-AA.org has posted an update on Austin Peay's first scrimmage of the spring.

The scrimmage was marred by inconsistency, including penalties and turnovers, but some good individual performances give the Governors' fan base plenty of reason for hope as they move toward their 2007 re-entry into OVC football play.

Junior QB Mark Cunningham started slowly but had a solid finish, completing seven-of-nine passes for 128 yards and two TDs.

Redshirt freshman QB Gary Orr, in his first scrimmage behind center, led a run-dominated drive that culminated in a 1-yard bootleg for a score.

Redshirt freshman FB Wes Osborne, junior RB Chris Fletcher and sophomore RB Tom Mix all had solid days running the ball for the Governors.

OVC football fans will have to wait until Nov. 12 to see how competitive Peay will really be when they rejoin the conference. That's the day they travel to Murray, Ky., to face the Racers.

New special teams coach at EIU

Eastern Illinois announced today that Justin Lustig, former assistant football coach at Christopher Newport and Villanova, will be the Panthers' new special teams coordinator.

Lustig comes to EIU from 2005 D-3 playoff team Christopher Newport. The release says the special teams units there blocked 11 kicks and scored six touchdowns while ranking either first or second in every special teams category in the USA South Athletic Conference.

Lustig replaces Jeff Choate, who spent one year at EIU before heading home to Idaho to coach special teams and running backs at Boise State.

Welcome back, Govs

The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle had this item today on Austin Peay State beginning spring practice. I imagine there's a lot of folks who've been waiting 10 long years to read it.

"I hope we will grow so much faster," (Head Coach Carroll) McCray said. "In the previous situation it wasn't until the middle of August when you put on the pads. As a result, you lose a lot of that teaching time when you can't really turn it lose. The biggest thing for us as coaches is that come fall we will be able to get off the field and put them in game-like situations and let them play without the coaches standing behind them."

A paragraph near the end of the story notes that McCray's contract has expired, and that he doesn't have a new one yet. McCray's Governors played to a 2-9 record in the non-scholly Pioneer League in 2005, with some incredibly one-sided losses (46-0 at Dayton, 54-0 at Drake, 44-6 at Davidson, 45-3 at UM-Rolla, and 42-6 at Murray State). Will APSU keep him around to coach scholarship ball in the OVC?

JSU FB assaulted in J'ville nightclub

The Anniston Star reports this morning (sorry - subscribers only, but they do have a link for a "day pass") That JSU fullback Raynodd Zeine had his ear split and his throat slashed in a fight at the Cock Diesel Dance Club in Jacksonville Friday night.

According to the story, Zeine seems to be OK. The cut to his neck - made with a broken beer bottle - is six inches long, and stopped a centimeter short of his jugular vein.

The story says Zeine was attacked, and he doesn't seem to be in any trouble with the cops. JSU head coach Jack Crowe said Zeine would miss Saturday's scrimmage, but is expected to play in the fall.

Zeine was the Gamecocks' second-leading rusher in 2005 behind Clay Green, with 408 total yards, for 37.1 per game. He was also the second-leading receiver, with 22 catches for an average of 15 yards.

Crowe said the Cock Diesel is now off-limits to his players, along with Brother's Bar, the scene of an altercation involving players a couple of years ago.

EKU hires secondary coach

There's a new officer on the Colonels' staff. EKU announced today that Orlando Mitjans will be the team's new secondary coach. Read EKU's official release here. Mitjans isn't new to the OVC - he's served as the defensive coordinator at Tennessee State since 2002. Prior to that he coached the Tigers' running backs for two years, and the secondary for four years.

Under Mitjans last year, TSU's defense finished third in total defense at 338.9 yards per game, and third in pass defense at 173.4 yards per game.

Last but not least

Couldn't wait until tomrrow and it was pretty easy to find.

Murray State is the first opponent of the season for the Missouri Tigers on Sept. 2, according to the 2006 schedule at Mizzou's Web site. No confirmation yet at the Murray Site.

That buttons up the 2006 I-A games for OVC teams. Everybody's playing one, and the defending champs EIU play two. That seems appropriate.

The full OVC vs. I-A schedule, for those of you keeping track of such things:

Sept. 2 - EKU @ Cincinnati, UT-Martin @ Ohio, EIU @ Illinois, Murray State @ Missouri
Sept. 9 - Samford @ Georgia Tech
Sept. 16 - Tennessee Tech @ Middle Tennessee
Sept. 23 - Tennessee State @ Vanderbilt
Sept. 30 - EIU @ Hawai'i
Oct. 14 - Jax State @ Mississippi State, SEMO @ Arkansas

Three SEC teams, a Big Ten. a Big 12, an ACC, a Big East, a WAC, a MAC and Sun Belt. Five consecutive weeks of "playing up" to start the season, against teams who were a combined 44-67 in 2005. It's starting to look like the OVC is playing the soft underbelly of the I-A ranks this year, but of course anytime you're taking 63 scholarships up against 85 you're at a disadvantage. All in all, I like the OVC's chances here. It'll be good experience, good exposure and a few good shots at upsets.

And another ...

Are they coming fast and furious today, or what?

Another commenter, golden eagle, notes that Middle Tennessee's schedule, released a month ago, includes a date with Tennessee Tech on Sept. 16.

That leaves Murray, unless a I-A team somewhere on the Web already has them listed. I'll have to scour the Internet for that tomorrow. Enough posting for today!

Doublin' up

Man, is the Connection connected or what? FL knows whereof he speaks, and he speaks in a timely fashion.

Eastern Illinois today posted its 2006 schedule, which includes games with Illinois on Sept. 2, and indeed, a visit to Hawai'i on Sept. 30. That's gotta make their schedule among the toughest in the OVC (and I-AA?), and by far gives the Panthers the coolest friggin' road trip in the conference, by a long shot. I know what you're thinking, but I've been to Starkville, and it just doesn't compare.

EIU also gets a second date with the Illini in 2008 and will visit Purdue (head coach Bob Spoo's alma mater) in 2007.

JSU's Botkin leaves for La.-Monroe

The Anniston Star reports today (subscription required but they do have a "day pass") that JSU outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinater Kirk Botkin has accepted a similar position on the staff of the Sun Belt Conference's Louisiana-Monroe Indians.

JSU, currently in the middle of spring drills, will have to replace both Botkin and former defensive line coach Roland Houston, who left Feb. 1 to become head coach at Jacksonville High.

Panthers stepping up

Time to update the OVC vs. I-A schedule. FL Connection informs us in a comment below that Eastern Illinois will take on in-state heavyweight Illinois to open the 2006 season. That's confirmed with a look at the schedule on the Fighting Illini's Web site, though EIU hasn't posted a schedule on their site yet.

Is there a chance for an upset here? The Panthers, of course, are the defending OVC champs, while Illinois finished 2-9 in 2005. OK, so five of the teams they lost to were in the top 25 at the time, but still - they were lousy.

Thanks to FL Connection for the news. He says there's also a chance the Panthers will pick up a second I-A opponent in 2006. Hawai'i? The Warriors released their schedule on Feb. 23, with a hole on Sept. 9 they're trying to fill. FLC mentioned Sept. 30, so we'll have to see what shakes out.

Murray State and Tennessee Tech are the only ones we're still waiting to hear from.

Samford snubbed by the B'ham News?

The Birmingham News on Thursday had this story about the NCAA's Academic Progress Rates and their impact on programs in Alabama. Predictably, Auburn and Alabama were highlighted, with the obligatory bone thrown to UAB. What's a little suprising is that Samford, which had the highest football APR of any Division I school in the state, wasn't mentioned in the story. Anywhere. Interestingly, the News chose to lead with Auburn's supposed academic preminence. The Tigers finished third in the nation academically, we're told. Well, among BCS teams that is.

Misleading? Phillip Poole, Samford's head PR man, thought so. He ripped the News a new one in this letter printed in Sunday's paper. Here's an excerpt:

Even more disheartening, however, was that Samford University, Alabama's largest private higher education institution, was not mentioned. We have the highest APR scores in the state in both football and men's basketball - not to mention that both are among the highest in the nation - and yet that was not even acknowledged unless the reader takes the time to look at the alphabetical listing on Page 6A and does a comparison of the numbers.

Oh, and the story does take note of Jax State's loss of scholarships under the APR rules. They even talked to Jack Crowe about it. So they do know that I-AA teams exist. Why ignore Samford's impressive achievement?

Oh, and for the record, Google Maps says it's 5.2 miles from the News' office to Samford's campus. It's 110 miles to Auburn. Just thought that was worth noting.

Off-the-field stats

The NCAA's second year of Academic Progress Rates (APR) are in, and the numbers are not good for some OVC football teams, but great for a couple others.

UT-Martin, Murray State and Jacksonville State each will have to give up 6.3 scholarship equivalencies because their APR numbers were below the NCAA standard of 925. That's 10 percent of their I-AA maximum of 63.

Samford's and Eastern Kentucky's scores each were among the top 10 percent among all Division I football teams. Good on ya, Bulldogs & Colonels.

The NCAA Web site describes APR as a "picture of the current academic 'culture' in each sport, and includes eligibility, retention, and graduation as factors in the rate calculation."

APR results for all NCAA schools are available at the NCAA Web site's academic reform section.

APR numbers for each OVC football school (including Austin Peay State, which re-joins the league in 2007), are pasted below. Tennessee Tech and Southeast Missouri fell below the 925 mark, but will not be penalized -- if I understand the NCAA explanation correctly -- because neither team had 30 of the same players on its squad for the two years of data measured. Austin Peay will not be penalized because its football team's APR is higher than that of its student body.

School          APR    Scholarship penalty
Samford         992
EKU             979
EIU             930
Tenn State      927
Tenn Tech       914
SE Missouri     910
Austin Peay     896
UT-Martin       880     6.3
Murray State    850     6.3
Jax State       849     6.3