Young offensive line holds up well

The college football season is only a few weeks old and Southeast Missouri State is already playing with a makeshift offensive line.

Considering that the reason is injuries, that's not a good thing.

Only two of the five linemen who opened the season as starters were in the lineup Saturday night as the winless Redhawks lost to Tennessee-Martin 17-7 in their homer opener that also served as the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.

Center Corey Porter and left tackle Ben Schmidt, both juniors, have started all four games for the Redhawks (0-4). The other three offensive line regulars are out with injuries.

That means the Redhawks trotted out an extremely youthful group up front against the 23rd-ranked Skyhawks (3-1). True freshmen Billy Dasher and Jake McCandless were at right guard and right tackle, respectively, while redshirt freshman Christian Guerrero lined up at left guard.

Southeast coach Tony Samuel reserved judgement until after he sees the film but his initial thoughts were that the unit held up well.

"I thought for the most part they hung in there," Samuel said. "We're hoping to get some guys back next week [at Tennessee State]."

Statistically speaking

Southeast Missouri State University's Spencer Davis runs back a kickoff during the Redhawks' 17-7 loss to the University of Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks Saturday, Sept. 28, at Houck Stadium in Cape Girardeau. (Adam Vogler)

Southeast wound up being outgained in total yardage only 356-306 after UTM had a whopping 270-92 advantage during a first half that ended 17-0.

The Redhawks outgained the Skyhawks 214-86 in the second half. Southeast had 131 of its second-half yards during two fourth-quarter drives directed by sophomore quarterback Scott Lathrop.

One of those drives resulted in Southeast's lone touchdown and the other ended on downs on UTM's 29-yard line.

Lathrop played four series, including the final three after junior starter Kyle Snyder went most of the second half and third quarter.

"He came on and did a good job for a stretch," Samuel said of Lathrop. "He did some good things down the stretch."

Lathrop completed 8 of 16 passes for 71 yards. He was also Southeast's top rusher with 64 yards on 10 carries, including key scrambles of 30 and 24 yards in the final period.

Snyder was 6 of 13 for 71 yards.

Senior D.J. Foster caught four passes for 36 yards. Junior Spencer Davis and sophomore Peter Lloyd each had three receptions.

Sophomore tailback DeMichael Jackson rushed for 47 yards on 10 carries. Junior fullback Ron Coleman added 40 yards on 12 attempts and Southeast's lone touchdown, a 2-yard run with 6:17 left in the game.

Senior tailback DJ McNeil led UTM with 148 yards rushing on 27 carries. He had 105 first-half yards on 17 attempts.

Junior quarterback Dylan Favre, the nephew of future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, completed 11 of 16 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively for Southeast, juco transfer safety Ron Davis led in tackles with 11. Senior safety Ben Kargbo and junior linebacker Wisler Ymonice added nine tackles apiece and junior linebacker Matt Starks had eight.

Junior cornerback Reggie Jennings had a first-half interception and true freshman defensive lineman John Popovich recovered a second-half fumble.

Popovich and redshirt freshman defensive lineman Austin Black were each credited with a half-sack.

Knight punts

True freshman Alex Knight handled Southeast's punting for the second straight game while senior Joe Vucic serves a team suspension. Knight was busy, especially in the first half, and pretty effective.

Knight averaged 39.3 yards on seven punts, including 38.6 yards on five first-half punts. Three of his first-half boots pinned UTM at the 13, the 13 and the 8.

"He did a good job moving the ball around," Samuel said.