COACH'S CORNER: SEMO HAD STRONG EFFORT VS. MURRAY

Even though Southeast Missouri State lost Saturday to Murray State 26-14, our football team played its most complete and physical game to date.

As I've stated over the years, a well contested football game will usually boil down to three to five key plays. In our case, against the Racers, the game came down to two key plays.

Statistically, we played well against Murray. Our defense held their high-powered offense under 300 yards. In the previous two games, the Racers averaged nearly 500 yards per game and they had scored a total of 77 points, so we held them well below their average in both yards and points.

We executed a game plan that took away a majority of Murray's passing game. Kevin Meachem and Brad Richardson both had excellent games and Brian Hinton intercepted a pass.

Offensively, we started Kevin Seto at quarterback. Kevin allows our offense to be somewhat more multiple, particularly in the passing game. We were able to spread Murray out as several receivers caught several balls. Dante Bryant, Leslie Weaver and Corey Chester all had solid games as receivers.

Our run game was more effective than the past few years. Lineman Ian Walters had his most physical game as an Indian. Offensively, we had too many minus yardage plays due to Murray's attacking eight-man front. We had two solid scoring drives and at times had the Racers on their heels.

Our kicking game for the most part was solid. Our returns continue to give our offense good field position. One of the two key plays I mentioned was a low snap that squirted between Justin Keen's legs and led to a Murray touchdown.

Other than that play, Justin continues to do a super job as a freshman punter. He pinned the Racers inside the 20 four times and placed the ball away from their return man.

I feel a sense of pride in our football team as they continue to play extremely hard and more physical. It's unfortunate that we lost to Murray after such an intense effort. We went toe-to-toe with No. 9 in the country. We gave them everything they wanted but fell just a little bit short.

Our team is on the verge of doing something special this season. Our players believe it. Maybe others should as well!

We will have a tough Tennessee-Martin team this Saturday night in a 6 o'clock kickoff at Houck Stadium.

Martin is 0-2, but they have lost to a pair of very good football teams in Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois. The Skyhawks are a young team but they play extremely hard and we certainly can't afford to take them lightly.

It will be Family Weekend. The College Football Hall of Fame will be here to honor Kenny Dement and his recent induction. After the game, the Temptations will be in concert.

There is obviously a great deal of celebration scheduled for this weekend, the biggest being a big win over Tennessee-Martin.

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