Oct. 1, 2003

THE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri is 0-5 overall and 0-1 in the OVC. The Indians have non-conference losses to I-A schools Ohio and Arkansas State and Gateway Conference teams SIU and SMS. They lost last week's OVC opener to Samford 41-31 in Birmingham, Ala.

Eastern Illinois is 1-3 with losses to Missouri, Illinois State and Indiana State and a win over California of Pennsylvania.

THE COACHES: Tim Billings, a former assistant at Marshall, Missouri and Oklahoma is 15-24 in his fourth season at Southeast. He was the 2002 OVC Coach of the Year and the AFCA Region 3 Coach of the Year. Billings is 0-3 vs. Eastern Illinois.

Bob Spoo is 102-84-1 in his 17th season at Eastern Illinois. He is 7-1 vs. Southeast Missouri.

THE SERIES: Eastern Illinois leads the series 7-3 and has won three straight. The last Southeast win was 45-38 in 1999 at Houck Stadium.

LAST SEASON: The teams combined for 861 yards in total offense, but a 23 point second quarter paced Eastern Illinois to a 44-27 win at Houck Stadium. Jack Tomco led Southeast completing 20-36 passes for 260 yards and two TD's with two interceptions.

FAMILIAR FACE: Former Southeast quarterback Jon Carr is the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Eastern Illinois. He is in his first season with the Panthers after previously being an assistant at Tennessee State. Carr was a quarterback at Southeast in 1987 before transferring to Purdue. His quarterback coach at Southeast was Jon Gruden, current coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

NATIONAL TV COVERAGE: The game will be televised by The Football Network. Matt Pinto, voice of the Dallas Mavericks, will do play-by-play with Bob Chmiel, a former assistant coach at Notre Dame adding commentary. The game will be televised locally on UPN-The Beat.

OLIVER MOVES TO BACKFIELD: Jamel Oliver moved to the Southeast offensive backfield for the first time in the Samford game and rushed the ball 15 times for 98 yards and one touchdown. He had previously played only as a wide receiver and return man. In high school, he was an all-state running back at Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte, Fla. He has 4.4 speed in the 40.

GILLIAM SHAKES RUST: Anthony Gilliam, a transfer from TCU, who had not played in more than a year, had his best outing at Samford with eight catches for 104 yards and one TD.

TOMCO BACK ON TARGET: After a slow start this season, Jack Tomco was on target at Samford when he completed 23-32 passes for 291 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions.

TAUFOOU OVC NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK AFTER SMS GAME: David Taufoou rushed for 107 yards and one touchdown against SMS to earn OVC Newcomer of the Week honors. Making his first start, Taufoou also had four catches for 13 yards.

INJURIES: Defensive backs Mike Miller and Marco Tipton are out indefinitely with knee injuries. Fred Amano (ankle), Michael Irving (thumb) and Anthony Lumpkin (shoulder) were all injured in the Samford game but are probable for the EIU game. David Taufoou is questionable because of a knee injury suffered in the SMS game and aggravated in the Samford game.

TOMCO ON PAYTON WATCH LIST: Senior quarterback Jack Tomco is on the initial Sports Network Payton Watch List. The list profiles 16 potential candidates for the Walter Payton Award which is the I-AA equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. Tomco, who passed for over 3,000 yards and 29 touchdowns last season, is just the second Southeast player to ever be on the watch list. Last season, Willie Ponder was added to the list at mid-season and ended up fourth in the Payton Award voting. Tomco is also among the first 50 players to be named to play in the inaugural I-AA College Football All-Star Classic on Dec. 30 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The game will be televised by the Football Network.

KINSEY DISMISSED: Junior running back Corey Kinsey, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last season, was dismissed from the team on Tuesday. Coach Tim Billings dismissed Kinsey for violations of team rules. This season, Kinsey had rushed the ball 57 times for 159 yards.

NUMBER CHANGE WITH MEANING: Senior defensive end Ryan Roth will wear number 32 this season to honor the memory of a high school teammate who was killed in the collapse of an apartment deck near Wrigley Field in Chicago on June 28. Rob Koranda was captain of the Naperville (Illinois) North High School team when Roth was a junior. Koranda, who wore number 32, went on to play college football at Princeton before a shoulder injury ended his football career. "Koranda was a friend who was a real inspiration to me,: said Roth who is a preseason all-OVC selection at defensive end. "I want to wear number 32 to honor his memory."

BIG OPENING CROWDS: A Houck Stadium record crowd of 11,100 and a regional television audience on Fox Sports Net Midwest and Fox Sports Net Chicago saw the home opener against SIU. The previous record crowd was 11,015 for the Family Weekend game vs. Eastern Kentucky in 1999. There were 9,800 fans on hand for the Family Weekend game vs. SMS. giving Southeast a two-game average of 10,450 fans per game in 10,000 seat Houck Stadium.

TEAM ELECTS SIX CAPTAINS: The team has elected three offensive and three defensive captains. Offensive captains include quarterback Jack Tomco, center Eugene Amano and kicker Derek Kutz. Defensive captains include end Ryan Roth, linebacker Ricky Farmer and back Dimitri Patterson.

OVC FAVORITE: For the first time ever, Southeast has been picked to win the Ohio Valley Conference title in voting by the league head coaches. Murray State was picked second, Eastern Illinois third, Eastern Kentucky fourth, Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech tied for fifth, Tennessee State seventh, Samford eighth and Tennessee-Martin ninth. Street & Smith's 2003 Football National Preview also picked Southeast to win the OVC crown.

PRESEASON ALL-OVC: Southeast had a league-high seven players named preseason all-OVC with three more players gaining honorable mention. Jack Tomco, Corey Kinsey, Eugene Amano and Dan Connolly were first team selections on offense with Ryan Roth, Marco Tipton and Dimitri Patterson honored on defense. Honorable mention selections were Ricky Farmer, Mike Miller and Dan Bieg. Currently, Tipton and Miller are out indefinitely with knee injuries and Kinsey has been dismissed from the team.

PONDER A NEW YORK GIANT: Willie Ponder, consensus All-American wide receiver last season for Southeast, is currently a member of the New York Giants who drafted him in the sixth round of the NFL draft.

OFF WEEK IS OCT. 11: Southeast does not play on Oct. 11 with the next game after EIU being a game at Eastern Kentucky on Oct. 18.

BILLINGS ON TELEVISION: Southeast Missouri Football with Tim Billings is televised weekly on UPN-The Beat. Steve Sotak hosts the show that airs at 6:30 p.m. each Thursday.

Tim Billings RADIO SHOW: Tim Billings has a one-hour radio show each Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. The show is broadcast live from Buffalo Wild Wings in Cape Girardeau on ESPN Radio, 1220 AM. Erik Sean is host for the show that also includes call-ins and audience participation.

OVC TELECONFERENCE: Ohio Valley Conference football coaches have a weekly teleconference on Tuesdays at 10 a.m. All league coaches participate and answer questions from the media. Coach Billings is on at 10:35 a.m. each Tuesday. For more information contact Ryan Altizer at the OVC, (615) 371-1698.

OFF WEEK IS OCT. 11: Southeast does not play on Oct. 11 with the next game after EIU being a game at Eastern Kentucky on Oct. 18.