College Football has returned with a bang! It wasn’t a usual marquee kickoff game; however, it was football, and that was enough after five months of speculation on if a kickoff would even happen this season.
The showcase was Austin Peay and Central Arkansas, two FCS opponents, representing two of the 15 teams that will play in FCS this fall out of the 127 total teams.
Things started with a bang as the Governors of Austin Peay opened up the game with a quarterback option. Jeremiah Oatsvall took the first snap of the game rolled out to his left and drew in the defense and then pitch the ball to C.J. Evans Jr., who made his way 75 yards downfield, making two cuts through the defense picking up blocks each time before making his way into the endzone.
The long touchdown made it 7-0 and showcased in an empathic way that football was back! Most of the rest of the 1st half was a defensive battle, with the Governors taking a 10-6 lead into the locker room at the half.
In the 2nd half, the Bears of Central Arkansas replicated in a way the first half start of Austin Peay. Though it wasn’t on the first snap of the half, it took them just three plays to find the endzone for the first time in the night, as Kierre Crossley took charge on three straight runs, of 17, 5 and 34 yards, finishing the latter in the endzone to give the Bears their first lead of the game at 13-10.
The action then died down until the 4th quarter, as the Bears kicker Ray Hayden added a 32-yard field goal to put them up 16-10 with 7:44 left to play. Then following three-and-outs by both teams, things kicked into high gear.
Trailing 16-10 with 4:10 left to play, Oatsvall went to work, leading the Governors on a seven-play 60-yard scoring drive. The biggest play of the drive came first, with Oatsvall finding Jay Parker on a 43-yard connection. This made it 1st and ten at the 17-yard line, where the Bears would hold steady and force a 4th down.
However, after an incomplete pass from Oatsvall intended for Geordon Pollard, flags flew. A pass interference call against Steven Mackey kept the drive alive and gave the Governors a 1st and goal at the two-yard line. Three plays later, Oatsvall took it in himself from one yard out to put Austin Peay back on top 17-16 with 1:40 left to play.
The fireworks were just getting started, though, as the Bears had a few last tricks up their sleeves. Quarterback Breylin Smith put together a near-perfect drive that saw him go 6 of 7 passing for 73 yards. He capped it off with a 10-yard pass to the back left of the endzone that fell right into the breadbasket of Lujuan Winningham.
The Bears then elected to go for two, and Smith rolled out to his right and found a trailing Sam Camargo, who dove into the endzone inside the pylon to make it 24-17 with just 34 seconds left to play.
Austin Peay had fight left in them though and would get a final shot with 2 seconds left after Oatsvall set them up 1st and ten at the Bears 27 yard line. However, Oatsvall’s last heave floated like a duck and was picked off by Central Arkansas’ Tamaurian Wilson, sealing the game and ending what a successful first college football game of the 2020 season was.
Now, we transition into the rest of the season, where success is possible, though many unknowns remain.
(Image Courtesy of Central Arkansas Athletic Communications)
