Latest win monumental in its own way

Just one week after arguably the program's biggest win ever, Southeast Missouri State University's football Indians proved they weren't just one-hit wonders.

While Saturday's victory over visiting Tennessee State to begin Ohio Valley Conference play doesn't rank with the previous week's stunning upset at Division I-A Middle Tennessee, the triumph was significant nonetheless.

In the two previous seasons under third-year coach Tim Billings, Southeast had not defeated an OVC team other than lowly Tennessee-Martin. The Indians finally got that monkey off their backs.

And Saturday's victory could go a long way toward breaking another negative streak for the Indians, who have not finished higher than next-to-last in the OVC since 1996.

But it's apparent through the first six games of the season that the Indians have much higher aspirations than just simply rising out of the bottom rungs of the OVC. Now 4-2, Southeast has already equaled its win total from last season --with six contests still to play. Four wins, in fact, are the most any Indian squad has recorded since 1995.

And barring a major upset at Tennessee-Martin next Saturday, the Indians should have a 2-0 OVC record for the first time since they joined the league in 1991. Of course, Billings will no doubt remind his players that the Skyhawks almost beat Southeast last year.

The process of rebuilding Southeast's floundering football program has not gone as fast as Billings and his staff had hoped -- it generally never does -- but Billings said before the season that he could begin to see some light at the end of the tunnel; he just hoped it wasn't another train coming at him.

At the halfway point of the season, there appears to be no train in sight.

I wrote last week that, although the Rams were in serious trouble after starting the season with three straight losses, they should be able to blow out the struggling Cowboys.

Shows you what I know. Not only couldn't the Rams blow out the Cowboys -- they couldn't even beat them.

So now the Rams are in even more serious trouble. Not only are they a stunning 0-4 -- who would have predicted that? -- but they will be without quarterback Kurt Warner for quite a while.

And to make matters even worse, the Rams face two of their toughest opponents of the season in the next two weeks, beginning today when they visit the 49ers. Next Sunday, the Raiders visit St. Louis.

A team that started the season as the favorite to win the Super Bowl now looks like a longshot to even make the playoffs, unless backup quarterback Jamie Martin can come close to duplicating the amazing things Warner did in 1999 when he took over for an injured Trent Green and led St. Louis to the Super Bowl title.

And speaking of 1999, that season marked the last time the Rams were underdogs in any game -- until this week, when the 49ers were installed as 7-point favorites. Now that is some kind of an amazing streak.

Most college football teams aren't even halfway through their seasons yet, but that doesn't mean college basketball isn't about to come into much clearer focus.

That's because official practice for the upcoming hoops season begins Saturday.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian