COLLEGE FOOTBALL: INDIANS LOOK FOR VICTORY IN SEASON FINALE

Southeast1 Missourian

While Southeast Missouri State University's football team was expected to find the going somewhat rough in its first season under coach Tim Billings, Tennessee State's struggles this year were totally unexpected, at least by those outside the Tigers' program.

The Tigers, who also have a first-year head coach in James Reese, won Ohio Valley Conference championships in 1998 and 1999, and they posted an undefeated regular season last year, climbing to No. 1 in the nation before losing in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs.

Even though the Tigers returned just 11 starters from last season and people expected them to drop a little, they were still picked to finish third in the eight-team OVC.

But as TSU (2-8 overall, 1-5 OVC) and Southeast (3-7, 1-5) both prepare to end their seasons today with a 1:30 p.m. kickoff at Adelphia Coliseum in Nashville, Tenn., the Tigers are fighting just to finish in sixth place in the conference.

The winner of today's game will garner that somewhat dubious sixth-place honor, although for the Indians it would surpass their preseason ranking of seventh, based on voting by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.

Reese, who spent the previous nine seasons as a TSU assistant coach, said several factors have contributed to the Tigers' dismal season that perhaps reached its low point last week, when Murray State compiled an OVC-record 800 yards of offense during a 62-40 romp.

"It's been a tough season," acknowledged Reese. "We struggled early on offense and we had some injuries to some key people. It took our quarterbacks a while to get adjusted to the system and lately our defense has been struggling, so we really haven't been able to get all facets of the game going at once."

Said Billings of the Tigers' problems, "They've kind of hit a downhill slump. The biggest thing with them is they're not playing well defensively. They've had a lot of points scored on them the last few weeks (more than 50 points in three of the past four games). But they've got a really good offense."

To be sure, offense appears to be the least of the Tigers' worries these days as TSU ranks third in the OVC with 382 yards per game.

Quarterback Kenton Evans, a former starter at Memphis, has shaken off a somewhat slow start and he now appears to be playing about as well as any signal caller in the OVC. Evans had his best game of the season against Murray State, passing for 451 yards and four touchdowns. For the season, Evans is 104-for-216 for 1,655 yards, with 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

"He's been playing pretty good the last few games," said Reese of Evans.

C.J. Johnson and Julius Hull are Evans' favorite targets, with 36 and 31 receptions, respectively. Johnson averages more than 20 yards per catch and has scored five touchdowns while Hull has seven TDs.

On the ground, the Tigers turn to Amariah Robb (441 yards, 4.6 average) and Marvin Jones (380 yards, 5.4 average).

"They have good skill people, big play people," said Billings of the Tigers. "Their quarterback is really scary because he can throw and run. We'll have to put some points on the board to stay with them because they're going to score some points."

Southeast has lost six of its last seven games after starting off the season 2-1. Billings had hoped for a lot more in his first season with the team, but he believes a victory today would at least allow the Indians to end the campaign on a positive note and hopefully give them something to build on

"I think it's an important game," Billings said. "We need something positive to happen. It's been tough, but we would like to go out on a winning note."