Redhawks get well-deserved victory

It's been another dismal Southeast Missouri State football season, but certainly not for a lack of effort from the Redhawks.

I have watched most of Southeast's games this season and not once did I come away thinking the Redhawks failed to play their hearts out.

It's always easy to look at a team's record and, if it's really bad, consider that squad a huge failure.

But I know how much time and effort Southeast's coaches and players put into their craft.

Regardless of the mounting losses, I have tons of respect for the Redhawks, as I do all collegiate student-athletes who manage to balance their sports and academics, which is no easy task.

That's why I was so happy that the Redhawks finally snapped their eight-game losing streak Saturday, taking out their frustrations on Murray State in a 49-13 home romp.

So the Redhawks will not be the only team in the program's history to go winless in Ohio Valley Conference play as they improved to 2-8 overall and 1-7 in the OVC.

Maybe the Redhawks were charmed by the good luck of me not covering the contest as I instead covered that night's Southeast men's basketball opener at Saint Louis University.

Regardless, kudos to the Redhawks for finally breaking through, and in such emphatic fashion, as their struggling offense lit up the scoreboard.

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Southeast's final football game of the season should be interesting.

It's not often that the nation's No. 1 ranked team pays a visit to Houck Stadium, but that will be the case Saturday when Southern Illinois makes the short trip from Carbondale.

SIU (9-1), whose only loss was at Division I-A Marshall, is ranked first and second in the two recognized Division I-AA polls.

Southeast and SIU have not played since 2005, when the Salukis destroyed the Redhawks 58-23.

While it likely will take an incredible performance for Southeast to hang with SIU, it should be fun to watch a squad that is being touted as among the favorites to win the national title.

By the way, the last top-ranked team to play at Houck was Tennessee State in the 1999 finale. Southeast nearly pulled off an upset before falling short 35-28.

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As far as Southeast men's basketball, the Redhawks trailed the entire way but put up a solid effort during Saturday's 59-41 loss at Saint Louis that officially began the Dickey Nutt era.

The Redhawks are short on skilled offensive players, especially inside, and that was apparent against SLU. Southeast lacks a general inside presence, which also was evident.

I liked the way the Redhawks defended and competed, which should serve them well during Nutt's rebuilding project that is going to take some time.

Several Southeast fans at the SLU game told me that's the hardest they've seen the Redhawks play in a while, which I thought was a nice compliment to what Nutt and his staff are trying to instill.

I don't think the Redhawks will be as talented as the majority of teams they play, but may be able to squeeze out a few more wins than people might expect based on their all-out effort and attention to defense.

Meanwhile, Southeast's women looked much better Friday in a 66-53 season-opening win over Division II University of Missouri - St. Louis than they had during their lone exhibition, a 16-point loss to Division II Christian Brothers.

While it's hard to expect a glittering record with nine freshmen on a 13-player roster, several of the rookies appear considerably talented and have already established themselves among the Redhawks' better players.

There is certainly plenty of potential in John Ishee's crew.

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Southeast's men play their first home game Wednesday night and that one should be interesting as Nutt's former team -- Arkansas State -- visits the Show Me Center.

Nutt spent 13 seasons in charge at ASU before being forced out late in his final campaign. He did not coach last year, then was hired at Southeast in March.

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It's a shame that Sikeston, Mo., product Michael Porter, a freshman forward on the Missouri State basketball team, could miss up to a month after having emergency surgery to remove his appendix last week.

Porter was already making an impact with the Bears, scoring 17 points off the bench in their two exhibition games. He led the squad with 12 points in its exhibition opener against Missouri-St. Louis.

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The Sikeston football team keeps rolling along as Saturday's 28-6 win over Ladue sends the undefeated Bulldogs into this Saturday's Class 4 semifinal at Jefferson City Helias.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.