Billings adds region award to growing list of honors

Indians' Ponder finishes fifth in Walter Payton Award voting for top player in Div. I-AA.

Southeast Missourian

The honors keep rolling in for Southeast Missouri State University football coach Tim Billings after the Indians' 8-4 season that marked the program's most wins since 1969.

On Tuesday, Billings won the American Football Coaches Association Region 3 Coach of the Year award for NCAA Division I-AA. The region, one of five in the country, consists of more than 25 teams, including those from the Ohio Valley Conference, the Southwestern Athletic Conference and various independents.

Billings, who last week won OVC Coach of the Year honors after the Indians tied for third in the conference, is now eligible for the AFCA National Coach of the Year award, to be announced in January.

"This award is voted on by coaches, so it's nice to be recognized by your peers," Billings said. "But it's more a recognition of the kind of season we did and the players and my assistant coaches deserve a lot of the credit. It's an award that can be shared by the entire program."

Ponder fifth in Payton voting

Also Tuesday, Southeast record-setting wide receiver Willie Ponder finished fifth in the voting for the Walter Payton Award, which goes to the top football player in Division I-AA.

Ponder, one of 16 finalists for the award, received 94 points in voting released after the top three finalists were announced Tuesday.

The top three finalists are Eastern Illinois quarterback Tony Romo, Villanova quarterback Brett Gordon and Grambling State quarterback Bruce Eugene. Their point totals were not revealed, but one of the three will be announced as the winner on Dec. 19 at the 16th annual I-AA College Football Awards in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Also announced on Dec. 19 will be the Eddie Robinson Award, which goes to the I-AA coach of the year. The entire voting breakdown for that award will not be revealed until that time, but Billings is also one of the finalists for that honor.

Voting for the Payton and Robinson awards, based on regular-season performance only, was conducted among more than 100 media members and media relations professionals covering I-AA.