Indians pay visit to winless Redbirds

NORMAL, Ill. -- Illinois State entered the season ranked among the nation's top 20 NCAA Division I-AA football teams, but the Redbirds are -- by coach Denver Johnson's own admission -- reeling heading into today's 1:30 p.m. contest against Southeast Missouri State University at Hancock Stadium.

"We really are struggling right now," said Johnson, the former Murray State coach who is in his second season at ISU. "We're blessed in some areas, but we're suspect in some other areas, particularly pass defense. And we're struggling a little bit at quarterback, which is holding our offense down."

But, added Johnson, "I thought before the season, and still do, that we can be pretty decent."

While the Redbirds' 0-2 record indicates that they are struggling, Southeast coach Tim Billings -- whose squad is 1-2 but very easily could have won all three of its games -- is quick to point out that it's not exactly like ISU is losing to patsies.

ISU began the year with a 48-7 drubbing at Western Michigan, a solid Division I-A team. Two weeks ago, the Redbirds fell at Murray State 32-17. Last Saturday's scheduled game against Eastern Illinois was canceled by the terrorist attacks, meaning the Redbirds will be playing their home opener today.

"It's hard to believe they're 0-2," said Billings. "Of course, Western Michigan has a good football team and against Murray State they played well early in the game but offensively they kept shooting themselves in the foot."

The Redbirds committed four turnovers against Murray State and also were penalized 14 times for 148 yards.

"We're having a hard time playing very efficiently," Johnson said.

But, said Billings, "They're still a good football team, with excellent athletes. They've got basically the same team they had last year. Talent-wise, they're probably as good or better as any team we've played. They're big and strong and can run."

The 2000 ISU squad, highly touted entering the season, struggled early but finished 7-4 in Johnson's debut campaign at the school. One of the losses was a surprising 28-25 setback to Southeast in Cape Girardeau during the third week of the season.

In that contest, ISU dominated everywhere but on the scoreboard. The Redbirds gained 445 yards of offense to just 167 for Southeast, but ISU committed four turnovers while the Indians had no turnovers. And the Tribe scored two defensive touchdowns.

"Not to take anything away from the Indians, but we felt like we had several opportunities to win the game last year, but we couldn't do it," said Johnson.

ISU's top player on offense is senior tailback Willie Watts, who rushed for 155 yards against Murray State and has 202 yards on the season while averaging 4.1 yards per carry. Watts ranks seventh in career rushing yards (2,264) and fourth in career touchdowns (18) at ISU.

The Redbirds have been using two quarterbacks, with junior-college transfer Kevin Zouzounis getting the most action. Today's likely starter, Zouzounis is 21-for-37 for 157 yards, with one interception and no touchdowns.

Dusty Burk, who has started much of the past two seasons and ranks 11th in career passing yardage at ISU (2,306), is 9-for-19 for 66 yards, with one TD and one interception.

"Dusty did a good job for us last year and he's certainly capable, but he's having some problems," Johnson said. "We're looking for some consistency out of him or Kevin."

ISU's defensive leader is senior linebacker Adam Waugh, who has 19 tackles in two games and ranks 12th at ISU in career tackles (250).

"Offensively, they'll line up in the I-formation and try to run the ball. We have to try and make them throw," Billings said. "Defensively, they have better pass rushers than what we've seen so far."

But, as Johnson mentioned earlier, the Redbirds are a bit suspect with their pass defense, which could play into Southeast's hands. Indians' quarterback Jeromy McDowell has already thrown for 935 yards in three games and he has game-breaking receivers in the likes of Willie Ponder, Adrian Sanders and Tarik Simpson.

"It looks like SEMO is very improved over last year," said Johnson. "I've known of Tim for a long time and he's doing a good job. Their quarterback does a nice job and they have some very good receivers. Ponder is a really good looking player and they've got several others.

"It looks like they have some things going for them. We're going to have to play a lot better than we did last year if we want to have a chance to beat them."

Billings agrees with Johnson that the Indians are much better than the 2000 Southeast team that went 3-8 in Billings' first season as a head coach. But they are also young and inexperienced, which might have contributed to their two losses this season: 16-12 at I-A Eastern Michigan in the opener and 31-28 to Southwest Missouri last Saturday.

Southeast had late leads in both of those contests -- and outgained Southwest 510 yards to 378 -- but couldn't finish things off. The Indians were hurt by five turnovers, including four in the second half, against Southwest.

"We're a lot better than we were last year and we have a chance to have a good football team," Billings said. "But we can't make the mistakes we've been making."

If the Indians can avoid turnovers today, Billings believes they'll have a solid chance at keeping the Redbirds winless -- and prevailing for the first time in Normal. Southeast has lost all eight meetings on ISU's field and trails the overall series 8-2.

"It's a big challenge for us," said Billings. "But if we play well, it's a game I think we can win."