Southeast Missouri State football team to face Big Ten foe for first time

Purdue football coach Danny Hope spent time in the Ohio Valley Conference as both a player and coach.

So Hope emphasized that he has plenty of respect for teams from that league, including the Boilermakers' next opponent.

But Hope said he is focused more on his squad than Southeast Missouri State, which plays at Purdue on Saturday.

Southeast's first-ever matchup with a Big Ten Conference opponent, set to kick off at 11 a.m., will be televised by the Big Ten Network.

Asked what concerns him most about Southeast, Hope said: "What concerns me most is how our team plays Saturday. We need to play well Saturday. I'm a lot more interested in getting our team ready to play."

Hope said that shouldn't be a problem even though the Football Bowl Subdivision Boilermakers (1-1) will be heavy favorites over the Football Championship Subdivision Redhawks (0-1).

The Boilermakers are coming off a gut-wrenching 24-22 loss at Rice in which they had a 31-yard field-goal attempt blocked on the game's final play. That should be motivation enough for Purdue to not look past Southeast.

"Where we're at as a football team coming off a loss, I would think we'd want to play well this week," Hope said.

Purdue's first game also was decided on the final play. It needed a touchdown in the last minute and a blocked field-goal attempt as time expired to beat visiting Middle Tennessee State 27-24.

"I wish we were 2-0. ... There's a lot of bright spots," said Hope, who is 10-16 in his third year at Purdue after going 4-8 last season. "We think we're going to be a very good football team still."

Part of Hope's optimism stems from the fact Purdue appears to have an emerging quarterback in Caleb TerBush, a mobile 6-foot-5, 225-pound junior who was No. 3 on the depth chart not that long ago.

Projected starter Rob Henry suffered a torn ACL in camp and is out for the year. Robert Marve, who started the first four games last year before suffering a season-ending torn ACL, was expected to be ready for camp, but his knee was slow to recover.

In stepped TerBush, who had appeared in just one game during his college career. He has started both contests this year, completing 37 of 64 passes (57.8 percent) for 403 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. He also is Purdue's third-leading rusher with 88 yards.

"He's going to be an outstanding quarterback," Hope said. "He is much better than he was two weeks ago. He's one heck of a talent. What I really like about him is he doesn't get rattled, and that's probably the most important quality in a quarterback."

Marve, who started 11 games at Miami in 2008 before transferring, has been cleared medically to play, and Hope said he will see his first action of the year Saturday, although TerBush will start.

Hope said he is looking forward to matching up with a former OVC adversary. Hope was 35-22 in five seasons at Eastern Kentucky, leading the Colonels to the OVC title in 2007, his final year at his alma mater.

Hope's Colonels squared off against Tony Samuel's Redhawks during Samuel's first two seasons at Southeast. EKU beat the Redhawks 27-21 in 2006 and 44-17 in 2007. Samuel was a Purdue assistant in 2005 before taking over in Cape Girardeau.

"It's going to be fun. Coach Samuel used to be here at Purdue. He's very familiar with Boilermaker football, and they're a strong member in the Ohio Valley Conference," Hope said. "We had some tough games against them. I know a lot about them, and I think they're a good opponent for us.

"I think his teams always played hard and competed and wanted to win."

Samuel knows his inexperienced Redhawks, who returned just eight starters from last year's record-setting team, will face long odds Saturday. Purdue will pay the university $315,000 for the anticipated mismatch.

Samuel said the Redhawks never go into a game conceding anything. They'll give it their best shot in their final tuneup before their OVC opener Sept. 24 at Tennessee Tech.

"You always want to do well first and foremost," Samuel said. "They're a very good team. We'll do the best we can."