Nov. 7, 2003

THE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri has won three of its last four to stand 3-6 overall and 3-2 in the OVC. Southeast has OVC wins over Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee-Martin with losses to Samford and Murray State. The Indians have non-conference losses to I-A schools Ohio and Arkansas State and Gateway Conference teams SIU and Southwest Missouri.

Tennessee State is 6-3 overall and tied for first in the OVC with a 4-1 conference mark.

THE COACHES: Tim Billings, a former assistant at Marshall, Missouri and Oklahoma is 18-25 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 1-2 vs. Tennessee State.

James Reese is 19-24 in his fourth season at TSU. He is 2-1 vs. Southeast.

THE SERIES: The series is tied 6-6.

LAST SEASON: Southeast built up a 28-0 halftime lead and coasted to a 49-25 win at Houck Stadium. Jack Tomco completed 25-36 passes for 300 yards and four touchdowns.

LAST WEEK: Southeast led all of the way in a 20-7 road win at Tennessee-Martin. Andrew Goodenough, in his first start of the season, completed 19-29 passes for 180 yards and one touchdown.

Tennessee State trailed Eastern Illinois 14-9 at the half, but rallied for a 24-14 victory at the Coliseum in Nashville. TSU running back Charles Anthony, the leading rusher in the OVC, rushed for 125 yards on 30 carries and now has 1,170 rushing yards this season.

KEY OVC TILT: Tennessee State is tied for first with Jacksonville State with 4-1 OVC records. Southeast is just a game out on the loss side with a record of 3-2 and has both TSU and Jacksonville State coming to Houck Stadium.

OVC HONORS GOODENOUGH: Junior quarterback Andrew Goodenough made his first start against Tennessee-Martin and was honored as the OVC Newcomer of the Week. He completed 19-29 passes for 180 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions.

For the season, Goodenough has completed 29-48 passes for 268 yards and one TD with two interceptions.

THIRD DOWN EFFICENCY: Southeast leads the OVC in third down efficiency, converting 39.7 per cent of third down plays. Defensively, Southeast is last in third down efficiency, allowing opponents to convert 44.8 percent of the time.

FARMER FORCES FUMBLES: Senior linebacker Ricky Farmer, the OVC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 4,

leads the OVC in fumbles forced (3) and fumbles recovered (3).

SIMONHOFF LEADS OVC PUNTERS: Freshman Dave Simonhoff leads the OVC in punting. He averages 42.1 yards per punt.

KUTZ CONNECTS: Junior kicker Derek Kutz, who had the game winning field goal against Eastern Kentucky, leads the OVC in field goal and extra point accuracy. He is 12-14 in field goals and 19-19 on PAT's.

GOODSON LEADS SE RECEIVERS: Tight end Ray Goodson leads Southeast in receiving with 52 catches for 460 yards. He ranks third in the OVC in receptions per game with 5.78 and ranks eighth in yards per game with 51.1.

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.

For the season, he leads Southeast rushers with 86 carries for 332 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns.

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.

INJURIES: Defensive backs Marco Tipton (knee) and Mike Miller (knee) are both out indefinitely. Defensive ends Edgar Jones (ankle), Adam Jones (knee), and Jeromy McDowell (shoulder) are out for the TSU game. Linebacker Corey Andrade (shoulder) and defensive back Nate Johnston (hamstring) are probable.

TOMCO PICKED FOR ALL-STAR GAME: Senior quarterback Jack Tomco is 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.

Tomco was 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.

Currently, Tomco has been removed from the Payton Watch List.

OVC HONORS: 9-20 - David Taufoou, Newcomer of Week 10-4 - Ricky Farmer, Defensive Player of Week 10-4 - Derek Kutz, Special Teams Player of Week 10-18 - Dave Simonhoff, Newcomer of Week 11-1 - Andrew Goodenough, Newcomer of Week

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 HOME 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.

A crowd of 8,600 and a national television audience on The Football Network, saw the Indians win over Eastern Illinois.

Rain and cold weather limited the Murray State game to 4,350 leaving Southeast with a four game average of 8,462 per game.

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.

NEXT GAME: Southeast goes on the road to play at Tennessee Tech on Nov. 15 and closes the regular season at Houck Stadium vs. league leading Jacksonville State, 1 p.m., Nov. 22.