Samuel pleased with Southeast Missouri State football team's progress in win vs. Eastern Illinois

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tony Samuel emphasized that the Redhawks' first win of the season was far from perfect.

But Samuel also acknowledged that the Redhawks did plenty right while dominating statistically during Saturday's 37-30 home victory over Eastern Illinois.

The defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Redhawks improved to 1-3 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Southeast piled up 541 total yards, including 411 yards rushing. The Redhawks held the Panthers to 278 total yards.

"I like the progress more than anything. I'm seeing areas of progress," Samuel said Monday. "We're starting to come together as a group. We're not there yet, but we're headed in the right direction."

Among the things Samuel said Southeast needs plenty of work on are what kept the Panthers in the game until the end.

Eastern Illinois returned a kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown and a 56-yard kickoff return set up a 19-yard touchdown drive. The Redhawks missed an extra point and had a field-goal attempt blocked.

"There's always something. Trust me," Samuel said. "There's always something that has to get fixed."

However, Samuel agreed that it was Southeast's best overall performance of the season.

The Redhawks' offense continues to emerge. Southeast has scored 68 points and totaled more than 1,000 yards in the past two games, including a 38-31 OVC loss at Tennessee Tech on Sept. 24.

Over 700 of those yards have been on the ground as Southeast ranks 12th nationally in rushing offense.

"We're starting to jell," senior quarterback Matt Scheible said Saturday.

Especially impressive the past two contests has been Southeast's inexperienced offensive line that returned just one starter from a year ago.

"They really have to spend time together and work together to be good," Samuel said of offensive line play in general. "We're finally starting to get where we're eliminating mistakes, communicating a lot better."

Junior guard Colt McCauley, among the four first-year offensive line starters, said Saturday that it was just a matter of time before the unit began to click.

"The first two games, playing SIU and Purdue, it was tough," McCauley said about losses in which the Redhawks were outscored a combined 97-10. "But we're starting to come together. I knew we'd be fine once we started conference."

Next up for the Redhawks is Saturday's OVC game at Tennessee State (1-4, 0-2), which went winless in the conference last season. The kickoff in Nashville, Tenn., is set for 6 p.m. at L.P. Field, home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans.

The Tigers almost broke through Saturday at Austin Peay, which scored the final 17 points and kicked a field goal with 10 seconds left to pull out a 37-34 victory.

Saturday's contest continues a road-heavy portion of the Redhawks' season. Southeast has four of its first six games away from home.

Noteworthy

* The Redhawks have scored 30 or more points in their first two OVC games for the first time since 2003. That year Southeast began league play with a 41-31 loss at Samford and a 30-17 win against Eastern Illinois.

* Senior linebacker Philip Klaproth, from Poplar Bluff, Mo., became the 21st Southeast player to record at least 200 career tackles when he had five against Eastern Illinois.

* Samuel said redshirt freshman wide receiver/return man Spencer Davis, who ranks fourth in the OVC in kickoff return average (23.5 yards per return) and third in all-purpose yardage (122 yards per game), likely will return to action this week.

Davis missed the Eastern Illinois game with an ankle injury suffered at Tennessee Tech.