Indians still have OVC title hopes

It's doubtful most Southeast Missouri State University football fans -- at least the realistic ones -- truly believed the Indians could beat Southern Illinois in Thursday's season opener.

But those same supporters also probably didn't think SIU would so totally have its way with the Indians. The Salukis piled up 554 yards of offense and held Southeast to 250 yards during a 42-3 romp.

And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but things are likely to only get worse in Southeast's next game Saturday at Division I-A Bowling Green. The Falcons ended last season ranked 23rd nationally and received votes in the most recent poll. They're probably significantly better than SIU -- and that's saying something, because the Salukis are quite a I-AA powerhouse.

The Indians' third and final non-conference game will be another road test against a I-A opponent, Sept. 18 at Central Michigan. The Chippewas are rated among the worst I-A teams entering the season and likely aren't as good as SIU, but if Southeast beats them it would still rank as a significant upset.

So, as Southeast heads toward a likely 0-3 start -- and I sure hope I'm wrong about that -- fans must be thinking all is lost for the season, particularly after seeing the way SIU physically punished the Indians.

Not so fast. Sure, Thursday's game was far from encouraging, especially since Southeast suffered several key injuries. And who knows how many more players will get banged up in the next two weeks.

But remember, the Indians compete in the Ohio Valley Conference, which has not exactly proven to be among the nation's better I-AA leagues over the past several seasons.

If Southeast was in the rugged Gateway Conference -- where SIU is the preseason favorite -- I might be singing a different tune. But the Gateway is so much better than the OVC, it's hard to read too much into Thursday's wipeout, other than the fact SIU is a heck of a team.

The bottom line: As long as Southeast is relatively healthy entering league play on Sept. 25, nothing I saw Thursday leads me to believe that the Indians can't seriously contend for the OVC title.

Let's just hope nobody in the OVC turns out to be nearly as good as SIU -- highly unlikely -- or all bets are off.

Has anybody around the country -- on any level -- done a better job turning around a football program than SIU's Jerry Kill? I seriously doubt it.

When Kill took over at SIU in 2001, the Salukis had compiled two winning records in the previous 17 seasons, the last time that happened being in 1991.

Kill's first SIU campaign produced a 1-10 mark, followed by 4-8 in 2002. But, out of virtually nowhere, the Salukis stunned the nation last year by going 10-2. And now they look like serious contenders for the I-AA crown.

Truly amazing.

It's great that, after an absence of a few years, KGIR-1220 recently started up another daily sports talk show.

The Sports Huddle, featuring Erik Sean and Jess Bolen, debuted last Monday. It will air each Monday through Friday, from 9 to 10 a.m. daily.

I've listened to most of the first week's shows and thoroughly enjoyed them. Erik and Jess, who have a good rapport on the air, will discuss various topics --covering national, regional and local issues -- in addition to having guests and taking calls.

It's definitely a must-listen for area sports fans -- and I'm not just saying that because I'll be on once a week talking Southeast athletics with Erik and Jess.

Jackson product Mario Whitney, one of the area's all-time great high school football players, has resurfaced at Garden City (Kan.) Community College and was off to a strong start entering Saturday's game at perennial national junior college powerhouse Coffeyville (Kan.).

Whitney, a tailback, rushed for 101 yards during Garden City's season-opening win over Dodge City (Kan.) last Saturday.

After rushing for more than 2,000 yards as a Jackson senior in 2001, Whitney was recruited by most of the nation's football powers. He signed with Missouri, played a little as a freshman but was injured and took a medical redshirt. He left school the following spring after being moved to wide receiver and had not played competitively before hooking up with Garden City this year.

Although he won't be eligible to play until the 2005-06 season, Southeast's men's basketball program received a major shot in the arm recently when Roy Booker transferred from Montana, where he was the Grizzlies' third-leading scorer last season.

Booker, an extremely athletic guard who formerly starred at Portageville High School, was rated as one of the nation's top 20 junior college players following his two-year career at Allen County Community College in Kansas.

Booker never quite lived up to his substantial potential last season, and a big factor was that he played much of the year at point guard instead of his more natural position of shooting guard.

It wouldn't be surprising if Booker, who will be able to practice with the Indians this season but can't play in games under NCAA transfer rules, is one of the OVC's more athletic and explosive players when he becomes eligible.

On the other end of the spectrum, Southeast basketball was hit with a recent big blow when expected starting point guard Ryan "Fuzzy" Belcher was kept out of the Indians' practices and did not make the exhibition trip to Canada over the weekend.

Belcher is currently ineligible for the coming season, as the Indians await word on a waiver to the NCAA. Reportedly at issue is a three-hour class from Florissant Valley Community College that Southeast did not accept.

The Indians are hoping that the NCAA will rule in Belcher's favor because he reportedly did everything he was told to do in order to be eligible. The problem apparently stemmed from Southeast officials -- and it's not certain who is to blame -- not realizing early enough that those three hours would not be accepted by the university.

Belcher, said to be a solid student, could have easily taken any kind of a three-hour class over the summer in order to be eligible if he had been told that there was a problem.

Stay tuned on the situation because Belcher was arguably the Indians' top recruit for this year and he was expected to be a key piece of the puzzle as Southeast tries to turn around its recent struggles.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.