Indians specialize in Roy Kidd occasions

It was a great victory for us last Saturday at Eastern Kentucky. It was an exciting game on a beautiful football Saturday that ended with a Southeast win.

Eastern Kentucky has a great football tradition and to win at Roy Kidd Stadium two years in a row is a phenomenal accomplishment. EKU has lost only three games at home in the last three years and two of the losses were at the hands of our football team. It was homecoming and a crowd of over 15,000 was on hand. The Colonels entered the game with a record of 27-2 in homecoming games and they are now 27-3.

Roy Kidd is a hall of fame coach who I had the privilege to visit with before the game. Last year we won on his final game as a head coach in the stadium named in his honor. Last Saturday was Roy Kidd Day because he was being honored by the College Football Hall of Fame.

With two straight wins on Roy Kidd Day, I think we should have a Roy Kidd Day every time we play. We can make up some plaques and invite Roy to all our games.

It was a great victory for our players, coaches, fans and the football program, but we now turn our attention to Saturday night's home game with Murray State. The Racers are the only OVC team we haven't beaten since I became head coach. It is time to get that first victory over the Racers (2-6 overall, 1-3 OVC), who hold a 32-4-1 series edge, including wins in the last 10 meetings.

The win at EKU put us back in the OVC title chase with a 2-1 conference record. If we play one game at a time and take care of business, we still have a chance to win the OVC championship. Every team in the OVC has at least one loss.

Being in the race, makes Saturday 6 p.m. game at Houck Stadium even more exciting.

Congratulations to freshman punter David Simonhoff who was named the OVC Newcomer of the Week after averaging over 47 yards per punt Saturday. David has shown great improvement this year and currently leads the OVC in punting.

Hall of fame inductions

I would also like to congratulate all of the former Southeast athletes who will be inducted into the Southeast Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday afternoon and who will be recognized at halftime of our game Saturday night. It is a tremendous honor to be inducted and it will be great to see some of the greatest athletes in Southeast victory.

A special congratulations to the former football players to be inducted, including All-Americans Wayne Goddard and Diz Anderson, as well as Walter Smallwood, a great running back who still holds some records here at Southeast, Rick Attig, who excelled in both football and track, and John Wittenborn, who spent 11 years in the NFL.

Also, there will be a special tribute to the 1937 and 1955 football teams that went undefeated and untied with 9-0 records. An undefeated team is something to be very proud of.

It is great that we now have an athletic hall of fame at Southeast. I don't know if everyone realizes how hard Ron Hines and Rich Eichhorst worked to make the Hall of Fame a reality. And Dr. John Bierk should be congratulated for his financial gift that that got the Hall of Fame started.

It should be a great Saturday on the Southeast campus and I hope we will see you at Houck Stadium Saturday night. Your support has been outstanding this season and another big and enthusiastic crowd could help us gain a much needed victory over Murray State.

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