Three former Redhawks are playing football on Sundays

The Southeast Missouri State football program again is represented well on NFL rosters this season.

New England offensive lineman Dan Connolly, in his eighth NFL season, is in his fourth campaign as a regular after starting the majority of the past three years at multiple line positions.

Edgar Jones, an All-American defensive end at Southeast who is in his seventh NFL season, recently was traded from Kansas City to Dallas. The backup linebacker, who joined the Chiefs last year after previously being with Baltimore, is expected to be a key member of the Cowboys' special teams.

Dimitri Patterson, another former Southeast All-American in his eighth NFL season, is listed as a starting cornerback for Miami after the Dolphins picked him up late last season following his release by the Browns. He has played for several NFL teams.

Connolly, Jones and Patterson -- who finished up his college career at Division II Tuskegee after playing his first three seasons at Southeast -- originally made the NFL as undrafted free agents.

A fourth former Southeast standout, All-American offensive lineman Eugene Amano, has somewhat surprisingly not yet been picked up by another NFL team after he was released by Tennessee in June.

Amano, who missed the entire 2012 season after suffering a torn triceps muscle during training camp, was a starter for the Titans the previous four years. He has played eight NFL seasons after being drafted by Tennessee in the seventh and final round.

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The Southeast football team, after being thrashed 45-7 at Southeastern Louisiana in its season opener, was expected to get beat even worse than that Saturday night.

But, to the Redhawks' credit, it didn't happen, although it looked likely for a half.

Highly regarded Mississippi of the Southeastern Conference scored on its first five possessions to build a 31-0 lead at the break.

Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, with a game at Texas looming this week, decided to clear his bench as most of his starters did not play in the second half. Some didn't even see much action after the opening quarter.

That's not to take anything away from the Redhawks' second-half performance that saw them outscore the Rebels 13-0.

The final score was a more-than-respectable 31-13 as Southeast netted a school record $375,000 for the program's annual game against an FBS opponent to raise money for the university's athletic department.

Now the Redhawks, after an open date this week, should be fresh and ready to go for their highly anticipated Sept. 21 matchup with longtime rival SIU that will mark the first football game at the seven-year-old Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

The SIU contest will represent the Redhawks' final shot to pick up a win before they begin Ohio Valley Conference play Sept. 28 against Tennessee-Martin in Southeast's home opener.

SIU, by the way, fell to 0-2 after Saturday's wild 40-37 double-overtime home loss to 14th-ranked Eastern Illinois, the defending OVC champion.

But the Salukis are an impressive 0-2, their other defeat being 42-34 at Illinois in their "money game.

SIU has one more contest before facing Southeast. The Salukis host Division II Charleston (W.Va.) this week.

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Southeast and Austin Peay -- picked to finish eighth and ninth, respectively, in the nine-team OVC -- remain the league's only winless squads through two weeks of the season.

But you really can't read too much into that because teams have played such different nonconference schedules so far.

The Redhawks have lost to a pair of strong squads -- Southeastern Louisiana is looking more and more legitimate after playing TCU tough during Saturday's 38-17 defeat in which the Lions trailed just 17-14 at halftime -- while Austin Peay has faced FBS programs Tennessee and Vanderbilt, losing by a combined 83-3.

OVC preseason favorite Eastern Illinois and Jacksonville State are both 2-0 while the other five OVC teams are 1-1.

In addition to Southeast's loss at Ole Miss and Austin Peay's 38-3 setback at Vanderbilt, three other OVC squads went down at the hands of FBS opposition Saturday. It wasn't pretty.

Eighth-ranked Louisville blitzed Eastern Kentucky 44-7, 21st-ranked Wisconsin routed Tennessee Tech 48-0 and Boise State crushed Tennessee-Martin 63-14.

Saturday's OVC winners, in addition to Eastern Illinois, were Tennessee State 27-7 over Florida A&M, Jacksonville State 48-13 over Jacksonville and Murray State 83-14 over tiny Campbellsville -- which is affiliated with the National Christian College Athletic Association.

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This is a great time of the year to be a sports fan with the Major League Baseball season heading into its stretch drive -- what a great National League Central Division race the Cardinals are hooked up in -- college and high school football starting up a couple weeks ago and the NFL season now also kicking off.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.