Notebook: Spectacular catches highlight big night for McRoberts

Eriq Moore couldn't help but laugh at the notion, but Paul McRoberts was serious.

After McRoberts was asked to explain a few of his highlight-reel catches from the Southeast Missouri State football team's victory over Murray State on Saturday, Moore joyfully teased McRoberts, who also is one of his closest friends, with a question.

"Could you slow it down?" Moore asked.

McRoberts, who made a pair of spectacular catches on a third-quarter drive that elicited a request from ESPN for video footage, replied: "Eriq Moore knows my mindset. I have powers. I know how to slow the ball down in the air."

"No, really, I can envision myself slowing the ball down and just getting after it and never giving up," McRoberts continued. "Because most guys when they feel like the ball's out of reach they open their hands, and me, I'm the one -- like I close my hands because I just believe I can get it. I dropped a few and those are the ones you've got to have. *... It's nothing. I guess it's just effort and not giving up on plays."

The first catch-- a 44-yarder from Dante Vandeven where he stretched out past the defender, snagged it with one hand before securing it with both as he hit the ground -- moved the Redhawks into the red zone.

"It was all slow motion," McRoberts said. "After I caught it it stuck to my hand. I just knew I had to get two hands on it to cushion it and bring it in. *... I was happy, just falling on the ground like, "Ahhhh," in a daze or in relief. It was awesome. Good ball from Dante."

Southeast Missouri State's Paul McRoberts scores on a 24-yard pass from Dante Vandeven as Murray State's Shaw Samuels-Connell looks on during the second quarter Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

McRoberts ran into the left side of the end zone on the next play, pushing away from his defender and reached up to snag the ball and get his toes just inside the back corner for an 8-yard touchdown that pushed the Redhawks' lead to 24-10 with 24 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

McRoberts gave Southeast the lead for good with 5:01 left in the first half. He caught the ball, escaped past one diving defender before running and leaping toward the end zone as two defenders tried to push him out of bounds, just hitting the left pylon to pick up the 24-yard TD.

The standout senior had two touches in Southeast's loss to Division II Shorter the previous week. He caught eight passes for a season-high 169 yards on Saturday.

"I've got to demand the ball sometimes and get things done," McRoberts said. "I got into a groove with Dante and it felt amazing, and it felt like I was my old self again. So hopefully -- not hopefully -- I'm going to keep that up regardless."

Vandeven completed 16 of 25 passes for 221 yards with one interception and was not sacked on the night.

The true freshman called McRoberts "Batman" and himself "Robin" when asked about their connection on the field in Vandeven's second start.

"We're a duo. We really are," Vandeven said. "We both get together on the sideline, every series we talk stuff out and make sure we both know what's going to happen on the next play so we don't make mistakes. *... We can go three-and-out and we can go off on the sideline and me and him can talk things out."

Southeast rushed for 274 yards against the Racers and Arizona Western Community College transfer Tremane McCullough recorded 220 of those on 27 carries.

"I just wanted to say that by him being a transfer, new to the Division I level he comes with the attitude that he needs to," McRoberts said. "He don't think about, 'I'm not good enough.' He gets us fired up. He tells me, 'Block. I'm (going) to run this thing."

Southeast Missouri State's Tremane McCullough rushes 30 yards to the Murray State 3 before scoring on the next play during the third quarter Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

The 5-foot-10 McCullough set a new career-high for the third straight week.

He had 114 yards rushing against Indiana State and 166 against Shorter in the absence of DeMichael Jackson, who is out for the season with a torn ACL.

McCullough had runs of 23, 30 and 47 yards against MSU. He scored on a 3-yard run early in the third quarter.

"Tremane, speaking of him, he's like a firecracker, man," Moore said. "Tremane's fast, quick and *... you just see him break out of there, them dreads flying and his head moving and he's out of there. Defense, when I'm on the sideline watching that and I see Tremane out there it just gets me going. He's an exciting player. Any time he touches the ball something great can happen."

*******Injury update

Sophomore receiver Adrian Davis and sophomore nose tackle Joshua Wilson both sustained knee injuries during the Redhawks' win.

Davis left the game early in the first quarter and returned to the sidelines later on crutches and wearing his jersey over his street clothes. Wilson went down with an injury early in the first half and was spotted on crutches.

Redshirt-freshman offensive tackle Alex Snyder was helped off the field by trainers in the fourth quarter. He injured his back on a play that warranted an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Murray State following a 47-yard run by McCullough.