COACH'S VIEW: VICTORY IS THE BEST REWARD FOR A TEAM'S HARD WORK

What a difference a week makes. Last week we were all struggling because we had played hard in four straight football games but had lost all four.

Saturday night we took on a Tennessee-Martin team we were supposed to beat and we did. That win really makes a big difference around the football office and program.

The players have a little spring in their step this week, the heads are held high and the backs are straight. They feel good about themselves and about what we are trying to do. They have finally received a reward for their hard work.

It's not only the players. The coaches feel a lot better this week. The coaching staff has been working extremely hard to get this program turned around and the win after four straight losses certainly hits the spot.

Coaches go home at night with a smile on the face and realize their wives and kids still love them.

The win over Tennessee-Martin in the final home game of the season meant a lot to our seniors who were playing in their final game at Houck Stadium. Corey Chester, Isaac Powell, Asim Thomas, Leslie Weaver, Rodney Woodall, Joe Williams, K. D. Koleosho, Jason Witczak, Andre Clarke, Kemirth Williams, Jay Eckert, David Fielder, Chris Evertsen, Demond Williams, Jonathan Irvin and Chad Gwilliam have all played a big role in helping us get our program headed in the right direction.

It was a great win for the seniors who are leaving the program at the end of the season. They have worked hard to get us headed in the right direction and I think you've seen in the past few weeks that our new players are getting more experience and are playing a bigger role on the team.

Ricky Farmer, Marcus Patton, Eugene Amano and Charles McElroy are freshmen who have worked their way into the starting lineup. Farmer has been honored as the OVC Newcomer and National Newcomer of the Week and Patton was honored as the OVC Newcomer of the Week after scoring two TD's against Tennessee-Martin.

In a year that has been rough to date, we have still had five players receive weekly OVC honors and two players receive national player of the week honors.

I think our confidence is back and we are ready to face the final three games on the road.

The Tennessee-Martin game was a big win for our program, but as coach Barry Switzer used to say after a big win Humility is only seven days away.

We face three tough opponents on the road in our quest to have a winning record. I think we are all excited about the challenge of the next three weeks.

Saturday we play at Eastern Illinois where we face another nationally ranked team. It will be our ninth game of the season and it will be the sixth time we faced a nationally ranked team at the time of the game.

We have a great opportunity at Eastern Illinois. If we can beat a ranked team at their place, it could be a big turning point for our program. It would be another block in our building program.

Eastern Illinois has a very good football team with the number one rated quarterback in Division I-AA. It will be a tremendous challenge both offensively and defensively, but we are going to Eastern Illinois with confidence that we can turn the tide.

Tim Billings is the head football coach at Southeast Missouri State University.