Check in hand, Redhawks turn attention to OVC

Now that the Southeast Missouri State football team has gotten its annual sacrificial slaughter out of the way, the Redhawks can concentrate on the season that counts the most.

I'm talking about the Ohio Valley Conference season.

To the surprise of nobody, sixth-ranked Missouri mauled Southeast 52-3 on Saturday night in front of more than 62,000 fans at Faurot Field in Columbia.

Things could have been much worse, but brilliant quarterback Chase Daniel played less than 1 1/2 quarters as the Tigers built an early 42-0 lead.

Like most Division I-AA squads across the country, Southeast annually plays on the road against a Division I-A opponent in exchange for a nice paycheck to help its athletic department stay afloat.

Some I-AA teams play two money games in one year. This season that list includes OVC members Eastern Illinois, Tennessee-Martin and Tennessee Tech.

Mizzou paid Southeast $250,000 for the glorified scrimmage, after Southeast picked up $250,000 from Cincinnati last year (a 59-3 rout) and $300,000 from Arkansas in 2006 (a 63-7 shellacking).

The Redhawks are scheduled to play at Cincinnati next season for $275,000.

Southeast had some individual highlights at Mizzou and, despite the lopsided final score and yardage total — MU had a 592 to 334 yardage advantage — I actually thought the Redhawks played a decent game overall.

It was certainly much better performance than the shaky overtime win over Southwest Baptist in the season opener.

If you're a Southeast fan, you have to feel a little better than after the Southwest Baptist game.

But none of that will matter starting Thursday night, when the Redhawks open their OVC schedule against visiting Tennessee Tech in a game nationally televised by ESPNU.

Tech has not fared all that much better than Southeast in recent years, putting together three straight 4-7 seasons.

The Eagles' record wasn't much better than the Redhawks' in 2007. Tech was 2-6 in the OVC, just ahead of Southeast's 1-6 mark (the Redhawks went 3-8 overall).

Tech looks like a beatable opponent for the Redhawks as they try to prove their last-place preseason OVC prediction wrong.

No game should ever be considered a must-win this early in the year, but I'd say the Redhawks need to beat Tech if they have any realistic hopes of putting together a respectable record.

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It's great to see that four Southeast products were on opening-day National Football League rosters.

For a football program that hasn't had much success on the I-AA level, that's pretty impressive.

Eugene Amano (Tennessee Titans), Edgar Jones (Baltimore Ravens), Dimitri Patterson (Kansas City Chiefs) and Dan Connolly (New England Patriots) all made the grade.

Amano, Jones and Patterson were with those same teams last season, while Connolly was on the Patriots' practice squad.

Amano is the most established among that group. He is in his fifth season with the Titans and is their starting left offensive guard.

An All-American at Southeast, Amano entered this year having made a total of eight starts during his NFL career while playing in 63 of a possible 64 games at both guard and center.

Amano received five starts last year, including the Titans' playoff game against the San Diego Chargers.

Jones saw limited action for the Ravens as a rookie linebacker last season, playing in four games. He recorded five tackles and a sack.

An All-American defensive end at Southeast who was moved to linebacker in the NFL, Jones was moved once more, to tight end, by the Ravens several weeks ago because of injuries. He is Baltimore's No. 3 tight end, but could continue to see action on defense.

Patterson spent last season as a reserve cornerback with the Chiefs, playing in six games on defense and 13 contests on special teams. He had 15 tackles. He is listed No. 2 on the depth chart at right cornerback.

Also a Southeast All-American, Patterson played in three games for the Washington Redskins as a rookie in 2005 and in 2006 was on the Minnesota Vikings' practice squad late in the year. He has one career interception.

Connolly, after moving up from the Patriots' practice squad, is listed on the depth chart as New England's No. 2 center.

Connolly played in four games on special teams as a rookie for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2005, and spent the entire 2006 campaign on Jacksonville's injured reserve list before being released last summer.

Jones, Patterson and Connolly made the NFL as undrafted free agents. Amano was drafted in the seventh and final round.

Amano, Connolly and Patterson were recruited and played for former Southeast coach Tim Billings and his staff.

Jones was recruited by Billings and his staff, but played his last two years for current Southeast coach Tony Samuel.

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Southeast wasn't the only I-AA football program from the state to struggle with a Division II squad in its season opener.

While the Redhawks needed overtime to beat Southwest Baptist 35-28 on Aug. 28, Missouri State lost to Washburn 35-27 on Thursday.

Of course, Washburn is a strong Division II program, ranked 17th in the latest national poll, while Southwest Baptist went 0-11 in 2007.

Still, I'm sure that didn't make the Bears' surprising defeat easier to take.

By the way, Missouri State plays at Southeast on Sept. 20, when the Redhawks look to avenge last year's 55-17 loss in Springfield.

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The Southeast women's basketball program is in the market for an assistant coach.

Angela Lewis-Moore, who spent just one season with the Redhawks, recently left to become an assistant at Marquette.

Southeast coach John Ishee told me he hated to lose Lewis-Moore, but she joined a successful major program and about doubled her salary.

Left on the Redhawks' staff with Ishee are top assistant/chief recruiter Chris Harris and Elizabeth Cansdale, who was recently hired to fill the No. 3 spot.

Ishee said if he doesn't find the right fit to replace Lewis-Moore, he might not fill the position this season.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.