Redhawks reflect on missed opportunity vs. EKU

RICHMOND, Ky. -- Senior cornerback Tim Hamm-Bey was upset following the Southeast Missouri State football team's road loss to nationally-ranked Eastern Kentucky. He saw it was as a missed opportunity for a rebuilding Redhawks program.

"I really wanted this game," Hamm-Bey said. "Not for myself, just because this would've really took it somewhere it hasn't been yet, especially coming in here against this team I felt we had a real good shot to win."

Southeast was 2-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference when it entered Saturday's game against a one-loss Colonels team that sits in second in the league standings. With the Redhawks' third consecutive conference loss, any chance of competing for a conference title was also lost.

"Every game hurts, but we were hoping to win this game and hopefully win the conference," junior running back DeMichael Jackson said. "This right here was it. Sadly we came up short. We've just got to finish up strong these last three games and see what happens from there."

The Redhawks have a bye week before traveling to Cookeville, Tennessee, to face the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles on Nov. 8, and their goal remains unchanged, according to senior quarterback Kyle Snyder.

"Whether we're in or out the main thing is to win each game," Snyder said, "so we're going to concentrate on Tennessee Tech through the bye week and look to get a win there."

Southeast hosts Austin Peay and Jacksonville State in its final two games of the regular season. JSU's 4-0 conference record has them atop the OVC standings.

"Definitely to win out and make deciding the conference champion as difficult as we possibly can," Hamm-Bey said of the team's goal. "We've definitely got three more opportunities to showcase who we are and to let everybody know that Southeast is a force to be reckoned with."

Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz wanted his team to focus on "the basics" in the week leading up to its game against the Colonels. After a lackluster performance against two-time defending OVC champion Eastern Illinois last Saturday, he told his players a story about the band Van Halen he got from his preacher.

Matukewicz said that Van Halen has a "hidden gem" in their contract that states that when the band arrives at a show they want a bowl of M&Ms, but no brown ones.

"When they come in that's the first thing they look at because if a promoter is not detailed and they have brown M&Ms then they have to go and they check their whole set themselves because they don't trust them," Matukewicz explained. "It's about the details."

The details weren't all perfect for the Redhawks on Saturday, but now they have two weeks before their next game to focus on correcting any issues.

Matukewicz also said that there will be some fun during the bye week, which as he's shown in the past could be anything from a Kona Ice shaved ice truck surprise or a dunk tank and something in between.

"Coach Tuke's got some stuff up his sleeve this week," Matukewicz said. "We're going to do a lot of conditioning. Not a lot of football, not hardly any banging, a lot of competition. We're going to try and catch up academically. It's just been a grind. Then I'm going to let them go home for two days to see loved ones and to just breathe a little bit, and then hopefully come next Sunday I've got a team that's ready to talk about Tennessee Tech and ready to go to work."