In their second ranked win of the season, the Southern Utah University football team took down No. 22 Austin Peay State University on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Eccles Coliseum in Cedar City by a score of 33-17.
The T-Birds have won three in a row after a five-game slide. They sit at 4-5 on the year and now have a positive conference record of 3-2.
The Governors are 5-4, and have a 3-3 standing in the United Athletic Conference. All of their losses have come in away games.
First quarter
SUU jumped out to an early lead. A couple of long receptions by Shane Carr left SUU at the 1-yard line. After two failed rushes, running back Braedon Wissler went up the middle for the touchdown after just four minutes of play.
It was Wissler’s third rushing touchdown of the year and fourth overall. The redshirt senior from South Jordan, Utah hadn’t scored since recording two touchdowns on Sept. 20.
Austin Peay had two rushing plays and a catch that went out of bounds on third-and-1, failing to get a first down and opting to punt.
Quarterback Bronson Barron kept a perfect completion percentage and running back Joshua Dye had a few runs before Barron was sacked by linebacker Jake Stonebraker. The redshirt freshman from Castle Rock, Colorado had the best game of his young career, recording eight tackles and notching his second sack.
SUU drove to the 10-yard line where Jayden Rogers kicked a field goal to put SUU up 10-0 with one and a half minutes left.
Second quarter
Unlike in their first drive, the Governors had several first downs and scored two minutes into the quarter on a Jaden Robinson touchdown catch.
SUU stayed aggressive, as a combination of Barron’s accuracy, Dye’s running game and a penalty on APSU’s Charles Crews III gave Dye a rushing touchdown.
Austin Peay nearly stalled on their following drive, but hit a 48-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 17-10.
The T-Birds started at their 12-yard line after an unnecessary roughness penalty, but marched all the way to APSU’s 37-yard line despite Barron getting sacked twice. Daniel King nailed a 52-yard field goal to push the lead back to 10 as time expired in the half.
It was the second-longest field goal in SUU history. With his first two attempts of the year this game, King scored for the first and second time in his SUU tenure.
Third quarter
Austin Peay rushed for 12 yards before quarterback Chris Parson was intercepted by sophomore cornerback Mikey Allen, but an illegal substitution penalty by SUU erased the play.
The Governors squandered their opportunity after crossing into the other half of the field, as Parson was sacked by defensive end Lando Brown which forced a punt. The redshirt senior from Gardena, California is second in the Football Championship Subdivision in sacks with 11.5.
SUU drove half the length of the field before going three-and-out. On Austin Peay’s first play of the drive, SUU linebacker Josh Dunn forced a fumble that was picked up by fellow linebacker Sebastian Adamski.
SUU’s drive lasted one and a half minutes before Rogers kicked a 41-yard field goal. Austin Peay avoided a couple turnovers on downs as they went on a long drive to score their second touchdown of the game and cut the lead to six as the quarter ended.
Fourth quarter
The Governors forced SUU to punt early, but two incomplete passes and a sack by Adamski and Brown forced a punt as well.
SUU’s entire following drive consisted of rushing plays by Dye and quarterback Will Burns, who entered the game late. This resulted in a 43-yard field goal for King to put SUU up 26-17 with eight and a half minutes left.
APSU’s next drive resulted in a second-and-1 situation, but two more incomplete passes and a rushing play that went nowhere turned the ball over on downs.
SUU had a drive made up of only Dye rushing plays that ended in a punt, and Austin Peay’s next drive ended in a sack and fumble recovered by SUU. Dye again ran the ball up the field before running back Talmage Brown was given his first two rushing chances and first touchdown of the season. This sealed the game for SUU, resulting in a 33-17 win.
Top T-Birds
— Adamski recorded 0.5 sacks, nine tackles and a recovered fumble
— Barron went 15/23 for 184 passing yards and zero interceptions
— Brown had 1.5 sacks and four tackles
— Carr averaged 19.3 yards per reception
— Dye ran for 4.6 yards per carry and recorded 151 yards overall
— King nailed two field goals of 43+ yards
Up next
SUU will head to Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky at Roy Kidd Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 1 p.m.
Author: Payson Davis
Photographer: SUU Athetics
Editor: Jack Paul
