Sept. 24, 2001

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Football Game Information
Southeast Missouri State at Tennessee State

Date: Saturday, Sept. 29, 2001
Time: 1:30 p.m. (CDT)
Location: Adelphia Coliseum, Nashville, Tenn. (67,000)
Playing Surface: Grass
Affiliations: Ohio Valley Conference
Series: Tied 5-5
Last Meeting: Tennessee State won 51-33 last season in Nashville
2000 Records: Tennessee State 3-8, Southeast Missouri 3-8
2001 Records: Southeast Missouri 2-2, Tennessee State 2-0
The Coaches: Tim Billings is 5-10 in his 2nd season at Southeast Missouri
James Reese is 5-8 in his 2nd season at Tennessee State
Radio: Southeast Radio Network anchored by K-103 FM in Cape Girardeau. Other network stations include KSIM in Sikeston and KWOC in Poplar Bluff. Erik Sean will do play-by-play with Ron Hines as the color analyst. Internet: Southeast Radio Network broadcast can be heard over the internet at www.GoSoutheast.com.

Southeast Schedule/Results

Sept. 1 - E. Mich. 16, SE 12
Sept. 8 - SE 24, SIU 5
Sept. 15 -SW Mo. 31, SE 28
Sept. 22 - SE 38, Ill. St. 33
Sept. 29 at Tenn. St., 1:30
Oct. 6 Tenn.-Martin, 6:00
Oct. 13 at Eastern Ill., 1:30
Oct. 10 Murray State, 1:00
Oct. 27 at Tenn. Tech, 2:00
Nov. 3 Eastern Ky., 6:00
Nov. 10 Quincy, 6:00

This Week in the OVC

Tenn. Tech @ Eastern Ill.
Eastern Ky. @ UTM

THE TEAMS: Southeast is 2-2 after a come from behind 38-33 road win at Illinois State. The Indians opened the season with 16-12 road loss at I-A Eastern Michigan, a 24-5 home win over SIU and a 31-28 home loss to Southwest Missouri. Tennessee State is 2-0 after wins over Alabama A & M and nationally ranked Florida A & M

THE COACHES: Tim Billings, a former assistant at Marshall, Missouri and Oklahoma, is 5-10 in his second season at Southeast Missouri. He is 0-1 vs. TSU. James Reese is 5-8 in his 2nd season at TSU, 1-0 vs. SE.

THE SERIES: The series is tied 5-5.

LAST SEASON: Southeast held a14-10 second quarter lead, but Tennessee State went up 23-14 at the half and rolled to a 51-33 season ending win. Bobby Brune was 18-28 for 213 yards and three touchdowns in the loss.

LAST WEEK: The Indians scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to post a come-from-behind 38-33 victory over Illinois State. Trailing 30-16 going into the final quarter the Indians pulled within 30-23 on a 25-yard TD pass from Brune to Adrian Sanders. The teams traded field goals before Sanders hit Willie Ponder on an end-around pass for an 80-yard touchdown with 5:47 remaining. The extra point was blocked leaving the Redbirds up 33-32. The Indian defense held Illinois State and Curtis Cooper returned a punt 70 yards for the winning touchdown. Cooper had 248 all-purpose yards in the game while Ponder had seven catches for 175 yards and Sanders had six catches for 83-yards in addition to throwing an 80-yard scoring pass. Redshirt freshman quarterback Jeromy McDowell suffered a knee injury in the first quarter and missed the rest of the game. Senior Bobby Brune replaced McDowell and completed 18-30 passes for 159 yards and one TD. He also ran for a touchdown and threw a two-point conversion pass. Tennessee State improved to 2-0 on the season with a 27-7 win over ninth ranked Florida A & M.

SOUTHEAST 2-1 VS. GATEWAY: Southeast was 2-1 vs. Gateway Conference teams this season after also going 2-1 vs. the Gateway last season.

OVC OPENER FEATURES TOP OFFENSIVE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri and Tennessee State both open OVC play on Saturday ranked as the top offensive teams in the league. Southeast leads the OVC in passing offense with 320.5 yards per game while Tennessee State is second with 231 yards per game. In total offense, Southeast leads the OVC with 413.5 yards per game while second place TSU averages 391.5 yards per game. In pass efficiency defense, TSU is tops in the OVC while Southeast is second. In net punting, Tennessee State is first while Southeast is second.

COOPER IS OVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Cooper is the OVC Offensive Player of the Week after racking up 248 all-purpose yards against Tennessee State. He had 18 rushes for 81 yards, four catches for 17 yards, three kickoff returns for 58 yards and two punt returns for 92 yards. Cooper leads the OVC in all-purpose yards with 198.25 yards per game and leads the league in punt returns with an average return of 29.2 yards. He ranks second in rushing with 109 yards per game and is fifth in receptions per game with four. Cooper ranks second nationally in punt returns, fourth nationally all-purpose running and 26th nationally in rushing.

SOUTHEAST IN NCAA STATS: The Indians rank sixth nationally in passing offense with 320.5 yards per game and rank 18th nationally in total offense with 423.5 yards per game

PONDER, SANDERS LEAD OVC: Southeast junior college transfers Willie Ponder and Adrian Sanders rank one-two in every OVC receiving category. In receptions per game, Ponder ranks first with seven catches per game while Sanders is second with 5.75 catches per game. In receiving yards per game, Ponder is first with 146.5 while Sanders is second with 98.25 and in total receiving yards, Ponder is first with 586 and Sanders is second with 393. Nationally, Ponder ranks fourth in receiving yards per game and 18th in receptions per game. He also ranks 12th nationally in all-purpose running with 173.5 yards per game.

McDOWELL INJURY: Quarterback Jeromy McDowell suffered a knee injury in the first quarter of the Illinois State game. He will have an MRI on the injured knee on Monday afternoon. He is questionable for the Tennessee State game. McDowell has 1,024 yards passing after just four games as he closes in the school record for a freshman passer. The record is 1,273 yards by Lance Brune in 1970 leaving McDowell just 338 yards from the record. The season passing record at Southeast is 2,580 yards by Jason Liley in 1990. McDowell had a sensational second half against SIU and an equally sensational first half against Southwest Missouri. In the second half against SIU, he completed 14-23 passes for 317 yards and three TD's and in the first half of the SMS game he completed 16-22 passes for 257 yards and three TD's. That gave him consecutive half totals of 30-45 completions for 567 yards and six touchdowns For the season, McDowell 62-125 for 1,024 yards and seven TD's but has been intercepted six times. In the opener at Eastern Michigan, McDowell completed 17-35 passes for 222 yards and one TD while being intercepted once. McDowell leads the OVC and ranks 27th nationally in total offense with 236 yards per game. Seniors Rashad West, who has been hampered by a knee injury, and Brune backup McDowell. Brune was 1-1 for 27 yards against SIU and was 18-30 for 159 yards against Illinois State. He now has 3,581 yards passing in his fourth season at Southeast. West has thrown for 1,828 yards and rushed for 677 yards in his two seasons at Southeast.

FRESHMAN KICKERS: Southeast kicking duties are being handled by a pair of true freshmen. Derek Kutz is kicking PAT's and field goals while Brian Emmendorfer kicks off. Kutz, who is 5-6 in field goals and 8-9 in extra points, ranks 31st nationally and fourth in the OVC with an average of one field goal per game. He holds five Missouri high school records including 52-52 PAT's last season, the best career PAT percentage with 98-99, 93 straight PAT's and 28 career field goals. He is tied for the state record for kicking points with 81 last season. His long field goal in high school was 46 yards. Emmendorfer has two of the longest field goals in Missouri high school history, 57 and 58 yards.

INJURIES: In addition to McDowell's injury, linebacker Michael Irving suffered a shoulder injury in the ISU game and is questionable this week.

OVC HONORS: 9-1 - Corey Mathis, Def. Player of Week
9-8 - Jeromy McDowell, Newcomer of Week
9-8 - Kyle East, Special Teams Player of Week
9-22 - Curtis Cooper, Off. Player of the Week

NEXT WEEK: Southeast Missouri will return to Houck Stadium for the Family Weekend game with Tennessee-Martin. Kickoff will be at 6 p.m. with a live concert by "The Association" to follow the game.

DEPTH CHART: See PDF file at top of page.