Redhawks open OVC play tonight

Tonight's game will not make or break Southeast Missouri State's season.

The 6:30 p.m. kickoff against visiting Tennessee Tech is just one of eight Ohio Valley Conference contests for the Redhawks.

Win or lose, there will be plenty of time for Southeast to thrive or stumble the rest of the year.

But the Redhawks acknowledge that starting off strong in conference play is important for a program trying to shed its losing tradition.

"I think it's very important to get off to a good start," senior wide receiver Mike Williamson said. "Winning the first [OVC] game would be big."

Said senior quarterback Houston Lillard: "Our goal is the [OVC] championship. This is just one game, but we need to win this one and start off right."

And to add some spice to the first conference contest around the OVC this season, it will be televised nationally by ESPNU.

Southeast has had a football game televised on ESPNU before -- at Samford in 2005 -- but never has a national broadcast originated from Houck Stadium.

Southeast coach Tony Samuel said he has noticed excitement around campus about the game being on national TV.

"We haven't had that [a national TV game] here before," he said.

There are some similarities between the programs at Southeast and Tech, both this season and over the past several years.

As for this year, both squads opened with home wins before being trounced on the road by a Division I-A opponent.

Southeast lost 52-3 at sixth-ranked Missouri last week, while the Golden Eagles fell 51-10 at Louisville.

"We were both kind of in the same boat [against Division I-A foes]," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said. "I think we both treated it pretty much like preseason games."

Samuel, in his third season at Southeast, and second-year Tech coach Watson Brown both are trying to revive struggling programs.

While Tech has enjoyed more successful seasons than Southeast during the past two decades, over the last three years their records are similar.

From 2005 through 2007, Southeast went 9-24 overall and 5-18 in the OVC. Over that same period, Tech went 12-21, including 9-15 in conference play.

A year ago, Tech was 4-7 and an eighth-place 2-6 in what was then a 10-team OVC. Southeast was 3-8 and a ninth-place 1-6 in the OVC.

While the Redhawks struggled in this year's opener -- needing overtime to beat Division II Southwest Baptist that was winless last season -- Samuel believes Southeast is improving.

"We're making progress," said Samuel, who took over a program that has had just two winning seasons since moving up to Division I-AA in 1991. "I'm anxious to see what happens [tonight]."

If Samuel is going to like the end result, the Redhawks' defense will need at least a modest amount of success against a spread offense for the first time this season.

Southwest Baptist and Missouri both featured the spread. While it wasn't a surprise that the Tigers sliced through Southeast's defense for 592 yards, the Redhawks allowed a staggering 541 yards to the Bearcats.

"It's kind of become the great neutralizer so to speak," Samuel said of the spread. "It's a concern. It's a tough offense to stop. You really have to be sharp."

Samuel believes already having gone up against two spread attacks should benefit the Redhawks tonight.

"You can't really simulate a lot of those things in practice," he said.

Brown did not use the spread during his first season at Tech. He said this year's personnel dictated the change.

"We just did not have the physical skill players," said Brown, whose team opened the season with a solid 28-12 win over Gardner-Webb. "This is what we had to do. I think we're getting better at it."

The Eagles appear to have the right quarterback to direct the spread. Junior Lee Sweeney suffered through an injury-plagued 2007 season, but was the OVC freshman of the year in 2006, when he led the league in passing with 2,292 yards.

Southeast and Tech did not play last season, but Sweeney threw for a school-record 437 yards during a come-from-behind 32-29 win at Southeast in 2006.

"He's very accurate and he's mobile," Samuel said.