COACH'S CORNER: SE LOOKING TO IMPROVE OFFENSIVELY

Southeast Missouri State's trip to Murray State ended in a disappointing 17-3 loss Saturday night.

Our team played hard until the end of the game. We had opportunities to go ahead or tie in the second half but didn't capitalize.

In the first half we didn't get much going offensively and poor field position kept our play calling conservative. In some third-and-long situations we ran the ball rather than risk a sack or minus yardage play. Our punt game leads the OVC in net yards and we tried to punt our way to better field position for the defense.

Except for two long pass plays our defense played bend-but-don't-break football. We thwarted a couple of fourth downs and forced two missed field goals.

Our defensive front -- Angel Rubio, Troy Baglio, Marcus McClellan, Damon Hendrick, Jonathan Robinson, Zuri Buchanan, Chris Justice and Gabe Jenkins -- all continue to play outstanding defense.

In the secondary, John Smith and Mike Reece played well at the safety positions. We need to play the long ball better and that will be improved upon quickly.

Justin Terrill had a good night punting, averaging 44 yards per punt. We did have a couple of protection breakdowns but Justin did a good job being oblivious. Our punt return and block team came very close. Had we `taken the ball off of the punter's foot,' we would have had two blocks.

Offensively, we continued to struggle, particularly in the first half. Murray's defense plays an eight and nine man front and constantly attacks. If you bring more people in the formation to block, so do they. If you spread them out, they blitz and you end up short one man in protection. Against a defense like that, you must be patient, take what run is working, continue to throw and have a receiver break one.

In the second half I believe we came out a better team on offense and defense. We held Murray's offense to 41 total yards in the second half. Offensively, we moved the ball inside their 30 three times. We went for a fourth-and-one when we probably should have kicked a field goal.

I thought our line protected better in the second half as Justin Martini came in for an injured Heath Graham and completed several passes. We kept both tight ends in and the running back and threw two-man routes, which seemed more effective.

In the end, we came out of the game hurting mentally and somewhat physically. We did play with more spirit and intensity in the second half and were in the game until the end.

We play at Tennessee-Martin this Saturday night. We must understand that this is a road game against a team that we took entirely too lightly last year. Martin played very well against Southwest Missouri in a losing cause and will be a formidable opponent.

We must continue to play like warriors on defense, keep a strong kicking game and continue to improve offensively. Penalties and turnovers are critical to this game as consistent momentum should prevail.

We hope that you come to Martin and support the Indians.

John Mumford is the head football coach at Southeast Missouri State University