VIDEO: Highlights from Tech's win at Austin Peay
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – 493 yards of offense. One thing was sure as Tennessee Tech opened its Ohio Valley Conference slate with a dominating win over Austin Peay -- the Golden Eagles came out to play,
The victory marked the first in the career of head coach Marcus Satterfield and also put the Golden Eagles in an early lead in both the conference and the Sergeant York Trophy race.
"It feels good to get that first conference win," Satterfield said. "I'm sure I'll look back on this sometime as my first win as a head coach. I pressed our staff all week demanded a lot of the players and I thought at one point they were going to walk out on us.
"We made great strides from the Wofford game. We focused on the details, didn't look at the scoreboard, and just took it one play at a time. It was really awesome to see our guys get rewarded for doing what was demanded of them."
The offensive total was the largest for the Golden Eagles in two seasons.
"That's what we could do," Satterfield said. "I can't say we'd do that every game, but it showed our kids on tape that we can do this, so that's going to be the new standard to beat."
It was also a record-breaking night for several Tech players. Josh Poplar had another strong game, forcing two fumbles, tying the school record with seven other players. Quarterback Michael Birdsong threw four touchdowns, tying with Tre Lamb and Robert Craft for the second-most in a game.
Birdsong lit up the Governor defense, throwing for 280 yards on 19-for-27 passing.
"We've got to protect him better," Satterfield said. "We've got to stay in the pocket better. He's got quickness in his legs and unbelievable accuracy with the balls he was throwing to Dontez (Byrd) and Brock (McCoin) and Jordan (Smith) and Austin (Hicks). He was incredibly accurate. That's what we expect of him."
The Tech defense also held Austin Peay to 86 rushing yards – the lowest total in two seasons by the Golden Eagle defense – and 157 yards passing.
Yeedee Thaenrat opened up the scoring for Tech (1-1, 1-0 OVC) with a 25-yard run, then Birdsong threw three touchdown passes – an eight-yard strike to Andrew Goldsmith, a 23-yarder to Austin Hicks and a 39-yard bomb to Jordan Smith – to give the Golden Eagles a commanding 28-0 advantage at the intermission.
The one defensive blemish of the night was a 72-yard touchdown pass from Marvin Franklin to Timarious Mitchell for a Governors' score.
"I even knew the play was coming," Satterfield said. "I couldn't get it out of my mouth to help them out. It was a bad third down. We can't keep giving up 3rd-and-nine and let quarterbacks run around and get a first down. That got frustrating, but the kids kept on grinding, we created turnovers tonight and we only gave up the one score."
McCoin caught Birdsong's final TD of the night on a 10-yard pass, then Nick Madonia added to his his 5-for-5 night on PATs with a 27- and a 22-yard field goal.
Thaenrat led the Golden Eagles on the ground with 84 yards and a score on 14 carries, while Roderick Napper ended the game with 63 yards on eight carries, averaging 7.9 yards a carry. McCoin led Tech in receptions with seven for 52 yards, while Kip Patton led in yardage with five catches for 102 yards.
"Kip's a different animal," Satterfield said. "We've got to continue to bring him along and put him in the position to make plays. Yeedee's only going to get better. He's a freshman, but he's going to get stronger each week. He's doing a great job of protecting the ball and playing physical."
Timarious Mitchell led APSU (0-2, 0-1 OVC) with 54 yards rushing on nine carries and 128 yards passing on a 4-for-13 night.
The Golden Eagles return to the road next week for a non-conference bout at Mercer. Kickoff on Saturday is at 3 p.m. CT.
