THE LATEST LINE: REBUILDING A COLLEGE FOOTBALL PROGRAM CERTAINLY ISN'T EASY

The 10,028 fans who attended Saturday's Southeast Missouri State University homecoming football game against Murray State certainly got their money's worth.

Murray and SEMO combined to pile up more than 860 yards and they put a collective 66 points on the scoreboard. The contest was certainly not lacking for excitement.

But the third-largest recorded gathering for a SEMO football game in Houck Stadium history -- topped only by the 11,015 fans who turned out last year for a game against Eastern Kentucky and the 10,222 fans who showed up earlier this season for a game against Western Kentucky -- didn't get what it wanted the most -- an Indian win.

That's because the Racers prevailed 38-28, marking SEMO's fourth straight loss in what is now a 2-5 season and pointing out once again that it's extremely difficult to turn around a struggling college football program overnight.

Look no further than turnovers to find the key to the contest. The Indians, who had committed a total of 13 turnovers in their first six games, had a whopping seven Saturday, including six interceptions that marked the highest single-game total in school history.

But before people think that the Indians simply gave the game away, give the Racers credit because they forced several of the turnovers, including the first one that resulted in the game's initial touchdown.

On several of the interceptions, however, the Racers were the recipients of gifts when passes were thrown right to them. That's definitely not conducive to breaking a long losing streak against one of your main rivals, and Murray has now won eight straight against SEMO.

Just after first-year SEMO head coach Tim Billings had finished up his post-game radio interview, he shook his head and said, "When this thing is going to turn around, I don't know."

What Billings does know is that he and his staff have a big task ahead of them, not only for the rest of this season but also for the future.

Like I said earlier, it's extremely difficult to turn around a struggling college football program overnight.

But, from getting to know Billings and his assistants over the past several months, I have no doubt they are going to be equal to the challenge.

* SEMO freshman guard Derek Winans had surgery this past last week resulting from a high school injury, when he broke a bone in his leg and it never healed properly.

Winans, a former star at Shawnee (Ill.) High School, was going to be redshirted by the Indians this year anyway. He is allowed to practice with the team and should be back in action in about four weeks or so.

In other SEMO basketball news, freshman forward Joe Webb from the Kansas City area, who was a partial qualifier and could not have played in games this season, has left the program.

* The SEMO men's and women's hoop squads will hold Red vs. Black intrasquad games Saturday afternoon at the Show Me Center, with the action taking the place of Midnight Madness that wasn't held this year because it fell during fall break.

* Major congratulations to SEMO volleyball coach Cindy Gannon, who recorded her 300th career victory over the weekend.

The classy Gannon is just one of many top-flight coaches at the university.

* The area's top high school football teams continued to roll as all-important district play began Friday night. Jackson, St. Vincent and New Madrid all remained undefeated with lopsided wins to highlight the action.

And here's a big kudo to Fredericktown and its coach, Kent Gibbs. The Blackcats likely surprised some people by beating Kennett, and they are assured of consecutive winning seasons for the first time in 37 years.

I've said it many times, but it's worth repeating. There are a lot of first-rate coaches in the area, but for my money, nobody gets more out of what he has to work with than Gibbs.