Indians set for test vs. the best

It is a very exciting week around our football program. We face a great challenge Saturday when we travel to Eastern Illinois to go against the best team in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Eastern Illinois is 3-1 overall, 2-0 in the OVC and ranked 10th nationally. The Panthers will be the best team we have played this season.

We feel our football team has matured and grown each week and now we get a chance to go on the road and see how much progress we have made. Eastern Illinois has one of the programs that we look at and hope we can accomplish the same things.

The Panthers are a perennial playoff team that finished second in the OVC last year and advanced to the national playoffs. This year they are picked to win the OVC and they are currently on top.

Good teams look forward to playing the best competition and I know our young team is excited about going against Eastern Illinois. Our come-from-behind win at Illinois State Sept. 22 gave us a lot of confidence and it has shown in the last two weeks when we battled from behind to give ourselves a chance to win.

We didn't get the job done from the one-yard line at Tennessee State two weeks ago, but last Saturday when we trailed going into the fourth quarter our team knew we could still win. We executed on both sides of the ball in the final quarter and beat Tennessee-Martin 45-30.

You have to have that type of feeling and confidence to beat quality teams. Our players really believe we can win any game. They aren't just talking about winning, they are doing the things you have to do to win.

People are always asking me if I'm frustrated about all the close games we have lost. Of course I'm frustrated, but the good thing is that I'm not miserable like I was last year when I knew we just weren't a good football team. This year there is frustration when we drop a game in the final moments, but I know we are going in the right direction and I really feel good about us.

I sincerely believe we have shown improvement every week. Our younger players are gaining experience and some names you didn't hear early in the season are starting to play more and more because of the weekly progress they are making.

Players like freshmen O.J. Turner, Jeremy Motley and John Paul Usrey are moving up on the depth chart because they are good football players who are getting better every week.

There is excitement in our practices and meetings this week because our players know that if we are to challenge for the OVC title and a playoff berth, we have to win at Eastern Illinois. They understand that the road to the OVC championship has to go through Charleston, Ill.

It is exciting to know that we have a chance to see if we are the caliber of team that can compete at the championship level.

I hope you will make the trip to Charleston. It is less than about a four-hour trip and, with a 1:30 p.m. kickoff, you won't have to get up that early and you can still be home for a late dinner. It would be great to see a lot of red in what will surely be a big crowd.

If you can't be there, cheer for us on the radio and get ready for a great homecoming game Oct. 20 against Murray State.

Tim Billings is the head football coach at Southeast Missouri State University