Southeast Missouri State football team faces struggling Eastern Illinois

Bob Spoo, among college football's most respected coaches, is trying to bounce back during his 25th and final season at Eastern Illinois.

Spoo's swan song has gotten off to a rough start. The Panthers are 0-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 1-3 overall entering Saturday's game at Southeast Missouri State (0-3, 0-1). Kickoff is scheduled for a 6 p.m.

"We've been inconsistent," Spoo said during this week's OVC coaches teleconference.

Spoo, who turns 74 in November, has been remarkably consistent at EIU, posting a 143-125-1 record with nine playoff appearances.

The Panthers entered last season on an impressive 10-year roll, posting more wins than any OVC program during that span while capturing five conference titles and earning seven playoff berths.

But the bottom fell out in 2010 when the Panthers went 2-9, including 2-6 in the OVC.

EIU opened this year with a 33-26 victory over Illinois State, followed by a 42-21 loss at Northwestern of the Big Ten Conference. The Panthers have suffered two consecutive OVC defeats since then -- 31-20 to Tennessee Tech and 28-21 at preseason conference favorite Jacksonville State last week.

"We've had turnovers, penalties. Those are things we can correct," Spoo said. "Until we correct those things, we'll continue to struggle. We just have to be a little more consistent."

Spoo suggested that he is too focused on the task at hand to consider the importance of going out on a winning note.

"I'm not even thinking about that. We're just trying to win a football game," Spoo said. "We lost to a very good Jacksonville State team. We're going down to face a very good Southeast Missouri team."

But Spoo said before the season that it's vital for the program to get back on track.

"We struggled last year. I hope that was just an anomaly, but we've got to get back on the winning track and try to win football games again," Spoo told the Herald-Citizen of Cookeville, Tenn. "I want this to be a special year in a lot of ways, not the least of which is winning. ... It's been just a great time for me at Eastern Illinois for these 25 years, but I want to make this one special, and that has a lot to do with winning.

"We don't want to go out on the losing end. I want to go out on a winning note. That's probably putting a bit extra pressure on myself and my coaches and the team, but I think it's really important to go out a winner."

Spoo ranks fourth among NCAA Division I coaches who have been at one school for the longest tenure. He is in his 50th year as a coach, including high school.

"It's been extraordinary. I've competed against some great programs. I've met some head coaches that are really significant in my life," Spoo told the Herald-Citizen. "Fifty years, 25 [at EIU], was a good time. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Southeast sixth-year coach Tony Samuel has nothing but praise for Spoo.

"Coach Spoo has had a great career. Twenty-five years in one place, that's rare," Samuel said. "When I came into the league, he was the guy we tried to pattern ourselves after. You see a lot of the same type of philosophy."

Samuel said there is plenty of talent on the Panthers team that returned 17 starters from last season. The Panthers' strong performance at nationally ranked Jacksonville State showed what they're capable of doing on the field.

"They played very well at Jacksonville State and almost won that game," Samuel said.

The Panthers have an emerging young quarterback in sophomore Jimmy Garoppolo, who took his share of lumps as a true freshman last year.

Garoppolo has completed 88 of 143 passes (61.5 percent) for 1,028 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions. He is tied for first in the OVC in touchdown passes and ranks second in passing yardage.

"He showed his youth last year, but he's gotten a lot better," Samuel said. "He's a big kid with a nice, quick release.

"They've had their ups and downs, but they're a very good football team."

While EIU is hungry for a win, so are the defending OVC champion Redhawks. They lost last week's conference opener 38-31 at Tennessee Tech after rallying from a 31-17 deficit to forge a 31-31 tie.

The Redhawks feel some urgency since this is the last of just two home games during their first six contests. Three of Southeast's first four OVC games are on the road, including two straight after Saturday.

"We've had two long bus rides. It will be nice to play at home," said Samuel, whose squad visited Purdue of the Big Ten Conference before playing at Tennessee Tech. "It's a real important conference game. I don't think anybody is going to go undefeated [in the league], but we don't need to go down two [losses]. We need to bounce back."