Matukewicz seeks sharper offense for Southeast Missouri State football team vs. Austin Peay

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to say that Watson Brown is the head coach at Tennessee Tech.

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz was disappointed with his offense and its lack of improvement following its 38-17 win against Tennessee Tech.

The second-year coach took matters into his own hands as the Redhawks prepare for a winless Austin Peay team.

"One of the main things is I've been frustrated with some of our practices once we got with scout team, and so I took over the scout team, tried to just heat it up a little bit so that everybody on offense sees as live a look as they can, and hopefully that translates into just producing a little better," Matukewicz said.

The offense that accounted for just 21 of the team's 38 points -- 17 came from special teams -- faced the Matukewicz-led scout team during Tuesday night's practice at Houck Stadium.

The coach could be heard yelling, "Let's go. Let's go. Finish practice," and "Tee off" to his defensive players as they went against the starting offense.

"By me being over there they want to show out and everybody's trying really hard," Matukewicz said. "So now if the offense isn't trying as much they're going to get exposed."

The Redhawks had 235 yards rushing against the Golden Eagles. Junior running back Tremane McCullough, who was named the Ohio Valley Conference newcomer of the week Monday, had 138 yards and an 81-yard touchdown run, while freshman quarterback Dante Vandeven had a career-high 91 yards and two TDs. Vandeven completed 11 of 21 passes for 121 yards and was sacked twice.

Southeast punted five times and went three-and-out twice.

"The big part was we wanted him to be able to move chains," Matukewicz said about Vandeven's progression. "Sometimes we're going to ask him to do that with his feet and not turn it over, and he's done that. He's done a really good job, and we just want him to progress. He's got to work on his pocket passer. Right now he's getting a lot of pressure so he flushes early, and so we just need to improve."

The passing game is where Matukewicz seeks the biggest improvement. The Redhawks rank second in the conference only to top-ranked Jacksonville State in rushing offense with an average of 194 yards per game. They're second to last in passing offense with 156.1 yards per game.

Star receiver Paul McRoberts had a team-high four catches for 56 yards Saturday and still needs on receiving TD to break the school record of 26. He did have a 69-yard punt return touchdown against TTU.

"The thing that bothered me was that I didn't necessarily see an improvement," Matukewicz said about the offense. "I'm good with anything, but I want to see game by game our offense getting better."

Praise for McCoin

Matukewicz ended his session on the Ohio Valley Conference's media teleconference Tuesday morning with high praise of TTU's Brock McCoin, who is the Golden Eagles' top receiver but played quarterback against the Redhawks.

"Just did a great job and really appreciated the kind of competitor he was," Matukewicz said. "Couldn't imagine being thrown in that situation, and I know he's getting my first-team all-conference vote. So wherever Coach [Watson] Brown puts him in, I'm going to vote for him because he walked out of that stadium with a lot of players' and coaches' respect."

McCoin completed 13 of 27 passes for 192 yards against Southeast. He threw two interceptions and was sacked seven times.

He rushed for 96 yards on 27 carries.

The 6-foot, 185-pound wide receiver, who leads the team with 747 yards, 500 more than TTU's second-best receiver, and four touchdowns, started after No. 1 QB Jared Davis and backup Colby Brown were both sidelined with injuries.

Matukewicz did not know that McCoin would be at QB before the start of the game.

It's not the first time TTU has switched QBs on the Redhawks.

Last season in Cookeville, Tennessee, Davis, who had only played in three games before that Nov. 8 game against Southeast, replaced struggling starter Darian Stone.

Davis, who has started all but three games due to injury this season, threw for 216 yards and a TD and rushed for 51 yards and a score against the Redhawks last year.

"One thing about Coach Brown is you've got to expect the unexpected," Matukewicz said. "I learned that last year from playing him. We just try not to bank too hard either way because you just don't know what is going to happen, but if we knew he was going to play, we might've had a couple more blitzes in or done some things like that, but the plan to win would've been still the same."

Targeting reversed

A targeting call that resulted in the ejection of Southeast junior linebacker Roper Garrett early in the fourth quarter of Saturday's game vs. TTU has been reversed.

Had the call stood, Garrett, who leads the team with 69 tackles, would not have been able to play in the first half of the game against Austin Peay because the penalty and ejection occurred in the second half due to NCAA rules. He will be available to start and play in the first half against the Govs.