THE LATEST LINE: SE FOOTBALL CONTINUES ITS DISMAL YEAR

You sure can't question the heart of Southeast Missouri State University's football team.

The Indians will fight and claw until the end, even though the odds of getting a victory are generally stacked against them.

But the bottom line is, the Indians are simply not a very good -- nor talented -- Division I-AA team. That has been evident for most of the season, and it became even more clear Saturday afternoon, when SEMO dropped a 21-7 homecoming decision to what appears to be only an average Tennessee Tech squad.

Not that a loss Saturday prevented the Indians from having a good year. Those hopes likely went out the window quite a while ago.

But what the defeat did is diminish the Indians' odds of even winning more than a game or two in what is shaping up as potentially Southeast's worst season in 15 years.

Going into this season, all but the most eternal optimists didn't expect much out of the Indians. Most of their best players from last year's 3-8 team were seniors, and it's not as if many blue-chip athletes were waiting in the wings to take their place.

But, entering the campaign, Tennessee Tech appeared to be one of the few very winnable games on SEMO's schedule, especially since the Indians beat the Eagles last year on the road.

But now that chance is by the boards -- and the Indians are sitting at 0-6. A winning season is definitely out of the question, since there are only five games left.

And, considering that SEMO still has to play Gateway Conference foes Indiana State and Southwest Missouri, along with Ohio Valley Conference power Tennessee State, the odds of getting more than a victory or two are looking really slim.

Eastern Illinois appears to be fairly mediocre, and the Indians play the Panthers at home next month. Tennessee-Martin looks horrible as always, although the Indians have to visit the Skyhawks in three weeks and could very well be heading to Martin with an 0-8 record, which wouldn't do much for their mental outlook.

If the Indians don't win at Indiana State next Saturday -- the Sycamores are also winless, but they have played a murderous schedule and lost by just three points to national power Illinois State Saturday -- then it will mean 12 straight losses for SEMO dating back to last season, which would tie the school record for futility, set during the 1983 and 1984 seasons.

Right now -- and I really hope I'm wrong, because I truly like SEMO's coaches and players -- it's hard to envision the Indians doing any better than 2-9.

And even getting those two victories would take some serious playing for the Indians, whose last two-win season came in 1992. SEMO's worst record before that was a 1-10 mark in 1984.

If you're a SEMO football fan, you can only hope that better times are ahead.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian