COLLEGE FOOTBALL: INDIANS, SKYHAWKS TO WAGE CELLAR BATTLE

The way Southeast Missouri State University football coach Tim Billings sees it, his team's final home game of the season today will put the Indians in a rather unique position.

For the first time all year -- and eight games into Billings' first season at Southeast -- the Indians will be favored to prevail when Tennessee-Martin visits Houck Stadium for a 6 p.m. Ohio Valley Conference kickoff.

"It's the first game all year that people think we should win, so it's really the first pressure game we've had," Billings said. "We haven't been in this situation before."

Southeast (2-5, 0-4 OVC) has been unofficially regarded as the underdog in all seven of its games so far, although the Indians were able to pull off upsets against Southern Illinois and Illinois State.

That the Indians will be expected to win today has less to do with how they are rated as it does with how lightly regarded are the Skyhawks (1-7, 0-6), who have not posted an OVC victory since the 1996 season.

UTM, which like Southeast has a new head coach, opened the season with a 32-21 win over NAIA Lambuth (Tenn.). Since then, the Skyhawks have been outscored 316-39, including 267-22 in conference play.

"I think we didn't realize how tough it might be, but I think we're about where we should be," said UTM boss Sam McCorkle in assessing the state of his new program. "I feel like we're getting better, but we've had three different quarterbacks start because of injuries and we're playing 20 freshmen a great amount.

"Playing a lot of young guys might not be real good for this year, but I'm excited for what that means for the future."

McCorkle likens his situation to the one Billings is in at Southeast, although he admits that Southeast's program is ahead of UTM's.

"They may be a bit ahead of us at this time, but both of us are in similar situations to a certain extent," McCorkle said. "We're both trying to build a program that can compete in the OVC."

McCorkle has the Skyhawks in an option offense this year and the result has been a ground attack that ranks third in the OVC with an average of 170 rushing yards per game. Fullback Jermi Hampton is the league's sixth-leading rusher with 69 yards per game and he is second in yards-per-carry at 6.7.

But UTM's passing attack has been virtually non-existent. The Skyhawks rank last in the OVC with just 55 aerial yards an outing and their quarterbacks have combined to complete just 27 percent of their attempts.

Billings said he is wary of the problems the Skyhawks might present offensively simply because of their option attack.

"They're dangerous because they run the option," he said. "The thing about the option, you have to stop the run and that has been a weakness for us. And when you try to stop the run, the play-action pass can hurt you.

"They've been able to move the ball some. They've had opportunities, kind of like us, they just haven't been able to make the plays. The thing that's really hurt them is they've turned the ball over a lot."

Today's game will pit the two worst defensive teams statistically in the eight-team OVC. The Skyhawks are seventh in total defense, allowing an average of 437 yards per game, while the Indians rank last at 439 yards a contest. In points allowed, Southeast is seventh and UTM last as the squads are giving up respective averages of 39 and 42 points per game.

But Billings believes his defense has improved significantly over the last several games and he'll be looking for more of the same as the Indians try and break a four-game losing streak in what he considers to be a crucial contest.

"This is a really big, key game for both of us because whoever loses is at the bottom of the conference," said Billings. "If we can play well and win, then it can really give us a big springboard into our last three games, and if we can finish strong, it can really give us a big springboard into recruiting."

The Skyhawks have not really been competitive in any OVC game so far, their closest defeat being by 27 points. McCorkle is hopeful of giving Southeast a battle, although he knows that won't be easy.