Redhawks had strong showing in ‘money game'

I didn't make the trip to Central Michigan for Southeast Missouri State's opening football game Thursday night.

Instead I watched the contest online on ESPN3 and came away impressed by the Redhawks, who suffered a 38-27 loss.

CMU ultimately seemed to wear down Southeast with its strength, athleticism and depth, which you would expect from a Football Bowl Subdivision program against a Football Championship Subdivision program.

But the Redhawks, who led 24-10 midway through the second quarter and 27-24 in the third period, gave a good account of themselves.

I thought redshirt freshman quarterback Scott Lathrop had a strong showing in his first collegiate action. He seemed poised, threw some nice, accurate passes and appeared to make good decisions on the option.

There were quite a few other highlights for the Redhawks, who certainly can build on Thursday's performance as they prepare for Saturday's home opener against Division II Mars Hill College from North Carolina.

Mars Hill, which qualified for the playoffs last year, opened with a 42-14 loss to Western Carolina. The FCS Catamounts rushed for 342 yards, which would seem to play into the hands of the ground-oriented Redhawks.

---

I found it interesting that Southeast was penalized 10 times for 75 yards, while CMU was not penalized once Thursday night.

Such is life on the road, especially against a heavily favored opponent that is paying you $300,000 in exchange for what normally results in a lopsided loss.

---

Four of the nine Ohio Valley Conference football teams began their seasons with wins last week, with the five losers falling to FBS programs that paid them money for playing.

Eastern Illinois and Tennessee-Martin shared the unofficial title of most impressive among the opening-week winners.

Eastern Illinois, coming off a 2-9 campaign and picked eighth in the OVC preseason poll after finishing in the basement last year, beat visiting Southern Illinois 49-28.

The Panthers threw a school-record seven touchdown passes, including five by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, in their first game under new coach Dino Babers.

Tennessee-Martin not only received a nice check from Memphis but stunned the host Tigers 20-17 on a field goal with four seconds left. It was the Skyhawks' first victory over an FBS program.

Granted, Memphis is way down right now, having suffered 21 losses the past two years and going just 5-31 the previous three seasons. It's still a huge victory for the Skyhawks, who had to endure a weather delay during the contest of nearly three hours.

Other OVC winners were Tennessee Tech over Hampton 41-31 and Tennessee State over Florida A&M 17-14. Both schools won at home.

Two OVC squads fell to ranked FBS teams. Jacksonville State lost 49-24 at Arkansas, while Murray State was routed 69-3 at Florida State.

Other OVC losers were Eastern Kentucky, 48-6 at Purdue, and Austin Peay, 49-10 at Western Kentucky.

---

Tennessee Tech, which earned a share of the 2011 OVC regular-season title, strengthened its roster significantly last week.

Former all-Southeastern Conference wide receiver Da'Rick Rogers transferred to Tech just 48 hours after he was suspended indefinitely by Tennessee for an undisclosed violation of team rules.

The 6-foot-3, 206-pound Rogers led Tennessee in receptions (67), receiving yards (1,040) and touchdowns (nine) last season. SEC coaches named him to their all-conference second team.

Rogers, a high school teammate of Tech quarterback Tre Lamb, became eligible to play immediately for the Eagles. He made his presence felt in Tech's season-opening win over Hampton, catching three passes for 75 yards and a touchdown.

---

The Missouri football team, as expected, had an easy opener, routing FCS Southeastern Louisiana 62-10.

The challenge, and the stakes, will increase dramatically for the Tigers on Saturday when they host ranked Georgia in their first Southeastern Conference game.

---

No area high school football team has been more impressive so far than Jackson, which is 2-0 under first-year coach Brent Eckley after winning just two games all of last season.

The Indians, featuring a no-huddle, spread offense, have racked up 91 points after totaling only 128 points in 10 games last year.

Jackson. which has outscored its two opponents 91-35, likely will have its toughest test to date when perennial power Farmington visits for the Indians' home opener Friday.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.