COLLEGE: VICTORY PROVIDES EMOTIONAL LIFT FOR SE

Bolstered by their first victory in more than a month, Southeast Missouri State University's football Indians still have a chance at a winning season.

But accomplishing that feat will definitely be difficult. The 3-5 Indians will need to win their final three games -- all on the road -- beginning this Saturday with a contest against Eastern Illinois, ranked 21st nationally in NCAA Division I-AA.

Southeast, which will also play Southwest Missouri State on Nov. 11 and Tennessee State on Nov. 18, will at least have some momentum and confidence now after Saturday's 34-14 win over Tennessee-Martin that broke a four-game losing streak.

"It was a big win for us psychologically," said Southeast coach Tim Billings at his weekly media conference Monday. "Going into our last three games of the year, our confidence should be up. We're excited now.

"If we can just keep improving these last three games, we'll have a good opportunity."

While Billings knows none of the final three contests will be easy to win, the next game appears particularly daunting. Eastern Illinois, despite Saturday's 34-12 loss to Western Kentucky, is 6-2 and in second place in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 4-1 league record.

"Looking at our last three games, Eastern Illinois definitely looks like the best of the three," said Billings. "They're a very good team."

The Indians, who posted their first OVC victory of the season by beating Tennessee-Martin, are in seventh-place in the eight-team league at 1-4.

Farmer harvests 24 tackles

True freshman middle linebacker Ricky Farmer, who was ticketed for a redshirt season before being thrust into a starting role Oct. 7 at Tennessee Tech in an attempt to boost a struggling defense, continues to shine.

After coaches reviewed the Tennessee-Martin game film, Farmer was credited with a whopping 24 tackles, including 18 in the first half. In only three games, he has 49 tackles to rank fifth on the team.

"Ricky had another great game," Billings said. "We've become a lot better defensive football team with him at middle linebacker."

Another true freshman, running back Marcus Patton, has started the past couple of games and also opened plenty of eyes. He rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns against Tennessee-Martin.

"Marcus is really coming along," said Billings.

Farmer and Patton are two of four true freshmen who have been starting for the Indians the past few weeks, the others being tight end Charles McElroy and offensive guard Eugene Amano.

Other first-year Indians recruited by the new coaching staff who start are offensive guard Mike Green, defensive tackle Jermaine Motley, linebacker Corey Mathis and punter/placekicker Jason Witczak. Tarik Simpson, who comes off the bench, is the squad's third-leading receiver and Curtis Cooper is one of the OVC's top return men.

Green is a transfer from Nebraska, Motley, Witczak and Simkpson are Marshall transfer while Mathis and Cooper came from the junior-college ranks.

"We feel like we recruited some good players and a lot of them are helping us quite a bit," Billings said.

* Two Indians lead OVC statistical categories as Joe Williams is first in tackles with 112 and Mathis is tied for first in quarterback sacks with five after getting two against Tennessee-Martin.

Witczak ranks 12th nationally in punting with an average of 42 yards per kick but he has fallen to second in the OVC.

* Despite a season-low crowd of 3,850 for the Tennessee-Martin contest, the Indians still set a school record for home attendance, averaging 8,056 fans for their four home games.

* Jackson High School product Kent Langston, a sophomore, has been moved from defensive end to tight end. He saw some action at his new position against Tennessee-Martin.

* Western Kentucky, which is in its final season in the OVC, wrapped up the conference championship and earned the league's automatic bid to the Division I-AA playoffs by virtue of its impressive win over Eastern Illinois.

The Hilltoppers are 8-0 overall and have completed OVC play with a 7-0 mark. They are ranked sixth nationally.