Indian football looks tough, but so does schedule

Southeast Missouri State University's most anticipated football season in years -- maybe ever -- kicks off Thursday night in Athens, Ohio.

As the Indians prepare to make the long bus trip to play Division I-A Ohio University, considerable eyes are on a team that returns 19 starters from last year's breakthrough 8-4 season and is ranked 20th nationally.

The Indians figure to be every bit as good -- and probably better -- than their 2002 version as they chase their first-ever Ohio Valley Conference championship and Division I-AA playoff berth.

While the Indians will automatically make the playoffs if they win the OVC title -- although it likely won't be easy, they are the preseason favorites and figure to have a solid shot at the crown -- surpassing last year's overall record could be a bit trickier.

That's because Southeast's schedule is brutal to say the least, perhaps the toughest in school history.

While many Division I-AA teams face at least one cupcake, lower-division non-conference opponent -- Southern Illinois has two of them on the schedule in Quincy and St. Joseph's -- they are no place to be found on the Indians' slate.

Two Division I-A foes

Instead, Southeast plays at two Division I-A opponents in Ohio and Arkansas State, and hosts regional I-AA rivals Southern Illinois and Southwest Missouri, to form its non-conference schedule. Then there are the eight OVC games, many of them rugged.

Granted, Ohio and Arkansas State don't exactly rank among the major-college powers; both are rated toward the bottom of the nation's 117 Division I-A teams. And the Indians proved last year they can play with similar type squads by beating Middle Tennessee and almost defeating Eastern Michigan, although Eastern Michigan is one of the absolute worst I-A teams.

If the Indians do lose to both Ohio and Arkansas State -- although upsets wouldn't be totally shocking, they figure to be solid underdogs in both games and squeezing out even one victory will be a tall order -- that leaves Southeast needing nine wins in its other 10 regular-season games to better last year's record.

Southern Illinois is expected to be improved and should be a challenging opponent. Southwest Missouri, while predicted to struggle, might also not be a pushover. The Bears were somewhat down last year but still beat the Indians, although it was early in the season before Southeast began to click.

As for the always-tough OVC schedule, Eastern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky join Southeast in being ranked among the nation's top 25 preseason teams by the two major polls. Murray State received the second-most votes among those squads not in the top 25 while Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State also garnered votes. So there don't figure to be many cakewalks there either.

Southeast coach Tim Billings has pointed to the schedule when he says that, even though he expects the Indians to be better than last year, he doesn't know if they'll win more games.

It's true that the schedule-makers certainly didn't do the Indians any favors. And it's true that surpassing last season's victory total will be quite a task.

But, remember, this Southeast team is a tough-as-nails group that proved just about everybody wrong last year by posting the program's first winning record since 1994 and most victories since 1969.

The Indians probably look at this schedule and figure overcoming that is simply another step in their progression as one of the nation's premier I-AA programs. Don't tell them they can't win nine or 10 games.

Bet against the Indians at your own risk, but remember -- you were warned.

While the football Indians open their season Thursday, two other Southeast squads also expected to have big seasons get under way this week as well.

The women's soccer team, favored to win a third consecutive OVC regular-season title, plays Ohio in the Illinois Tournament Friday.

The volleyball squad, tied for first in the OVC preseason poll, faces Colorado and Maine in the Maine Tournament Friday.

With Southeast's cross country program -- which begins its season Sept. 6 -- also figuring to fare well, it looks like this could be quite a fall for Southeast athletics.

The high school sports season is also just about upon us. Missouri football teams don't begin play until Sept. 5, but some of the other fall sports around the area get under way this week.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.