Southeast Missouri State football team gets blown out on road

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- At least the Southeast Missouri State football team could have woken up if it had been a nightmare.

But the Redhawks had to live through this nightmare that reached historic proportions.

Tennessee State took out more than a season's worth of Ohio Valley Conference frustration on the Redhawks with Saturday night's 55-3 massacre at LP Field. It was 28-0 after one quarter and 41-0 at halftime.

"That was ugly," Southeast coach Tony Samuel said.

The Tigers (2-4, 1-2) had lost nine consecutive OVC games dating to the 2009 season. Quite a few of those defeats were excruciating, including last week's three-point setback at Austin Peay when TSU squandered a 27-6 lead.

"Prayer works. I prayed for this team and these kids all week long," TSU coach Rod Reed said. "I think we started something in the Austin Peay game. We had an opportunity to win that game, but we let it slip away. We talked about finishing all week."

Defending OVC champion Southeast (1-4, 1-2) tied for its most lopsided conference loss since joining the league in 1991. The program's other low-water mark came during that inaugural OVC season when host Middle Tennessee State romped 52-0.

"It was one of those games. We didn't execute and they're a good team," Southeast senior safety Bryan Blanfort said.

Samuel saw nothing that would suggest the Redhawks weren't ready to play.

But the Tigers dominated from the opening kickoff. They drove 68, 88 and 80 yards for touchdowns on their first three possessions to lead 21-0.

"We were missing tackles. We weren't executing like we were supposed to," senior linebacker Philip Klaproth said.

Then Southeast began to implode, as if TSU needed any help.

Senior quarterback Matt Scheible fumbled on the first offensive play after TSU's third touchdown, and the Tigers recovered at Southeast's 30-yard line.

The Tigers scored on the ensuing play, making it two touchdowns in a span of 22 seconds.

"We just came out and didn't execute," Scheible said. "The ball didn't bounce our way."

TSU then recovered a pooched kickoff at Southeast's 39-yard line, which led to a field goal and a 31-0 lead less than two minutes into the second quarter.

Southeast's next offensive play was a fumble by redshirt freshman fullback Ron Coleman, and TSU recovered at the Redhawks' 37. But the Tigers came up empty on that possession.

Not so on TSU's final two possessions of the half. A field goal made it 34-0 and a touchdown with 32 seconds left accounted for the overwhelming 41-0 bulge.

"Everything happened to start the game that could happen," Samuel said. "They drove the field on us. We weren't tackling. We had miscues. They are a good football team. We knew that. We just didn't play well at all tonight."

The Redhawks had just one first down and 13 yards on only 17 plays during the opening two quarters. They passed midfield once, only getting to the TSU 47-yard line.

"We never could get in a rhythm," Scheible said. "Just overall not a good performance by our team."

TSU piled up 406 yards on 53 plays in the first half.

"I thought Tennessee State's offense executed well," Samuel said. "You're not going to have success with 17 plays."

Southeast threatened to score on its first two second-half possessions.

The Redhawks reached the TSU 29 and 20 before being turned away.

The Tigers scored again in the first minute of the fourth quarter and returned a punt 91 yards to make it 55-0 barely a minute later.

Southeast avoided the shutout when junior Drew Geldbach kicked a 30-yard field goal with 6 minutes, 51 seconds left.

TSU finished with 536 yards compared to 158 for Southeast.

"We just didn't play well enough," Samuel said. "I'm not going to make excuses. We have to figure out what happened."