Redhawks hit open week after 0-2 start

The young and inexperienced Southeast Missouri State football team, after two tough road trips that resulted in decisive defeats, will have a chance to regroup this week.

Southeast has an open date before resuming its rugged early-season schedule Sept. 21 in the highly anticipated matchup with longtime rival SIU that will mark the first football game at the eight-year-old Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

The Redhawks fell to 0-2 with Saturday night's 31-13 loss at Mississippi in Southeast annual "guarantee" game against an FBS opponent. The contest against the Southeastern Conference squad netted a school-record $375,000, with the money going to the university's general athletic department revenue.

That came after the Redhawks opened the season with a 45-7 thrashing at Southeastern Louisiana.

"The timing [of the open date] is good. This is a good time to go back and practice," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said at his weekly media conference Monday. "A lot of little things have to get cleaned up. In order to get better you have to fix yourself first."

While Mississippi -- which is ranked 25th nationally this week, the first time it has been ranked since 2009 -- was never in real danger of suffering a monumental upset, the Redhawks did outscore the 49-point favorite Rebels 13-0 in the second half after trailing 31-0 at halftime.

"I thought we did some really good things in the second half. We showed a lot of improvement," Samuel said. "From a coaching standpoint it's encouraging. Some teams would have just folded up and not competed."

Sophomore quarterback Scott Lathrop, the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference freshman of the year who started all 11 games last season, made his first start of 2013 on Saturday.

Lathrop played the entire contest in place of junior Kyle Snyder, who made the trip to Oxford, Miss., but was on the sidelines in street clothes nursing an injury that Samuel said he suffered at Southeastern Louisiana.

Samuel did not say whether he thought Snyder would be ready for SIU, but the coach did compliment Lathrop's play.

Lathrop completed 16 of 24 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. He was 11 of 14 for 109 yards in the second half.

"Scotty did some good things. He did some things he has to get fixed as well," Samuel said. "He competed really well, made some really good decisions."

SIU, Southeast's next opponent, is also winless although the Salukis will be heavily favored to break into the victory column this week when they host Division II Charleston (W.Va.).

Samuel noted that SIU has been impressive in its two narrow losses.

The Salukis are coming off Saturday's wild 40-37 double-overtime home loss to ninth-ranked Eastern Illinois, the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion. SIU's other defeat was 42-34 at Illinois in its FBS "money" game.

"They're playing very good football," Samuel said.

The SIU contest will represent the Redhawks' final shot to pick up a win before they begin OVC play Sept. 28 against Tennessee-Martin in Southeast's home opener.