COACH'S CORNER: SE FOOTBALL ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF UTM

After our victory against Southwest Missouri, I felt that we may not take a struggling Tennessee-Martin as seriously as needed.

Through the week we seemed loosely confident at times. However, we won our second game of the year last Saturday by defeating the Skyhawks 36-7 in Martin, Tenn.

After building a 23-point halftime lead, we were able to extend it in the second half and play several players.

Offensively, we racked up 469 total yards, 203 rushing and 266 passing. We generated 26 first downs, converted eight of 12 third downs and only had one turnover.

We did not dominate Tennessee-Martin as far as number of plays run and time of possession, but in averaging 6.9 yards per play we took advantage of every play.

Our offensive line play continued to be solid, allowing eight rushers and six receivers to get in on the action. K.D. Koleosho had eight rushes for 57 yards and a 50-yard screen pass for a touchdown. Tight end John Borne caught five balls for 118 yards and one touchdown.

Quarterback Rashad West continued to play well as he accounted for 270 yards of offense.

Defensively, we limited Tennessee-Martin to 28 yards on 27 rushes and 163 passing yards for 191 yards of total offense.

Brian Hinton continues to remain atop the Ohio Valley Conference with another interception, giving him five for the season and three in his last two games.

Linebackers Donovan LaViness and Jeremy Atwell led the defense with 10 and eight tackles, respectively. Skye Howard played a solid game with four tackles at safety.

We only needed three punts. Bobby Brune and Jeremy Atwell shared the punting duties. Andy Cisne stepped into the kicking slot and was three-for-five on extra points while also booting a 25-yard field goal. Andy also kicked three balls out of the end zone.

Our next opponent is Eastern Illinois, which will come to Houck Stadium this Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

Eastern Illinois has suffered through a tough season as the Panthers scheduled three Division I-A games early for guarantee money and they appear not to have recovered from that rugged stretch.

The Eastern Illinois game from last year is still a big part of our team as we had a tremendous comeback to go ahead late, only to see the Panthers kick a field goal in the closing seconds to defeat us.

Motivation should be no problem, not only because of what happened last year but also because we have the opportunity to win a third straight game.

After the Eastern Illinois game we have an open week in which the players can heal up and we have a chance to get out and evaluate recruits as a staff.

Our final game will be against Tennessee State on Nov. 20 at Houck Stadium. The Tigers are presently ranked No. 2 in the country and will likely win the OVC. John Mumford is the head football coach at Southeast Missouri State University.