Redhawks enter OVC play winless after rugged slate

It goes without saying that an 0-3 record to begin the season is not what the Southeast Missouri State football team had in mind.

But that winless mark is certainly no surprise because the Redhawks had the unenviable task of facing three strong nonconference opponents -- all away from home -- to kick off the campaign.

Southeastern Louisiana, which routed the Redhawks 45-7 in the season opener, has turned out to be even better than most people anticipated.

Mississippi, which Southeast played to a respectable 31-13 final in week two, is now ranked 21st in big-boy football -- the FBS.

And everybody knows how solid a program SIU has. The Salukis withstood a strong challenge by the Redhawks on Saturday before pulling away for a 36-19 victory in the first football game played at the eight-year-old Busch Stadium III in St. Louis.

Now that those three defeats are behind them, the Redhawks can begin focusing their attention on the part of the season that carries the most weight.

The Redhawks embark on their eight-game Ohio Valley Conference schedule Saturday when Tennessee-Martin visits Houck Stadium for a 6 p.m. Family Weekend kickoff in Southeast's home opener. The 2-1 Skyhawks were off last week.

UTM has been one of the OVC's biggest early surprises after the Skyhawks were hit fairly hard by graduation following an 8-3 overall record and 6-2 conference mark in 2012.

The Skyhawks, picked to finish fifth among the nine OVC teams in the preseason poll, have two wins over squads that were ranked at the time in Chattanooga and Central Arkansas, which is still rated 13th. UTM's only loss was at FBS program Boise State.

The Redhawks, even playing at home, undoubtably will be underdogs against the Skyhawks -- who have moved into the nationals rankings at No. 24 -- since Southeast was tabbed for an eighth-place OVC finish.

Southeast, inexperienced but with some impressive young talent, will have a chance to make a statement that it can be a surprise OVC contender and that what happened over the first three weeks of the season will have no bearing on the Redhawks' conference hopes.

We'll see if they can pull off the upset.

By the way, as an interesting side note to the Southeast-UTM matchup, Skyhawks quarterback Dylan Favre -- a junior college transfer -- is the nephew of former NFL quarterback Brett Favre.

---

The OVC football season, at least the conference portion, officially got under way Saturday when host Tennessee Tech was hammered by Tennessee State 41-21.

Six other OVC teams play their first league games this week.

In addition to Southeast hosting Tennessee-Martin, Eastern Illinois hosts Eastern Kentucky -- in a battle of squads picked 1-2 in the OVC preseason poll -- and undefeated Jacksonville State entertains Murray State.

Only Austin Peay will have not played a conference game after this weekend.

Eastern Illinois suffered its first loss of the season Saturday after nearly pulling off another FBS upset before falling 43-39 at Northern Illinois, last year's Orange Bowl participant. The Panthers have been the most impressive OVC team, and one of the nation's more impressive FCS squads, so far.

The eighth-ranked Panthers won at FBS San Diego State and beat SIU. They also crushed Illinois State -- which was ranked at the time -- 57-24 in their only home action to date.

Panthers senior quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has been the league's most impressive individual. Garoppolo, considered a solid NFL prospect, already has been named national player of the week twice. He has thrown for a FCS-best 1,731 yards and an FCS-best 20 touchdowns against just three interceptions while completing 65.1 percent. He has also matched Tony Romo's career record of 85 touchdown passes at Eastern Illinois, which is also the OVC mark.

---

The Southeast men's basketball team now will be able to get an early jump on practice like the Redhawks women.

Before the 2011-12 season, the NCAA implemented a rule that allowed Division I women's squads to begin practice a couple of weeks earlier than the previous starting date of Oct. 15 (or a corresponding weekend).

Beginning this year, NCAA Division I men's squads also are allowed an earlier start to practice.

Southeast's women, under third-year coach Ty Margenthaler, will hold their first practice Sept. 30.

Southeast's men, under fifth-year coach Dickey Nutt, will hold their initial practice Oct. 1.

Men's and women's teams still are allowed only 30 practices before their first game, the same as under the old system.

Optimism is high surrounding both Southeast programs, especially on the men's side as the Redhawks should be among the most talented squads in the OVC.

Southeast has improved its record during each of Nutt's four seasons, including a 17-16 mark last year that was the program's first winning campaign since 2004-05.

It will be a stunner if that trend doesn't continue this year and, with Murray State having lost all of its top players, the opportunity is clearly there for the Redhawks to break through and win the OVC West Division. They'll likely begin the season as West Division favorites.

I know the football season is just a few weeks old, but I already can't wait for basketball to get here.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.