CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – For Austin Peay State University football team, Saturday’s visit to Eastern Kentucky doesn’t just herald the beginning of Ohio Valley Conference play, although the 5 p.m. (CT) contest will be the first OVC game on APSU’s 2015 slate.

It also signals something of a reprieve for Austin Peay after back-to-back contests against FBS schools, although in facing the Colonels, ranked 21st in the latest FCS Coaches poll and 18th by the media, the Governors see a foe interested not only in maintaining its ranking but improving its postseason chances and mounting a challenge to prohibitive OVC favorite Jacksonville State.

Austin Peay’s offensive woes continued last week at Vanderbilt, falling 47-7 on a day when its longest play from scrimmage was an 18-yard pass from Trey Taylor to Wesley Thomas. The Governor’s ground game has yet to find any holes, averaging 62.0 yards per contest and failing to crack the century mark in any game, the first such streak since 2009.

Much of the rushing-game woes can be traced to a painfully young offensive line that has played two high-quality defenses in the last two weeks. The Vanderbilt game saw a young line become even younger, with sophomore Darryl Johnson unavailable due to a family emergency. The offensive line was manned by a junior (Tyler Miles), a redshirt freshman (Franklin Green) and three true freshmen (Byron Glass, Ethan Self and Jaylen Flye-Sadler) for much of the contest against the Commodores.

A young Governors secondary grew measurably against the Commodores. Despite allowing a Vanderbilt-record 240 receiving yards to Trent Sherfield, freshman James Bond posted his first career interception and junior college transfer Donovan Jackson led the defense with eight tackles and a pass break-up.

Eastern Kentucky had the advantage of a bye last week, and is coming off a 35-0 loss at North Carolina State, Sept. 12. The Colonels, who played Indiana State in the opening round of the FCS playoffs last season, are looking to make it back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since 2007-08.