Notebook: Southeast Missouri State football team gets big boost from McCullough in Jackson's absence

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Southeast Missouri State junior transfer running back Tremane McCullough carried the ball just five times in the Redhawks' first two games of the season.

In Saturday's near-upset of nationally-ranked Indiana State, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound McCullough had more than triple that number of rushing attempts.

He got the chance for more playing time when senior running back DeMichael Jackson exited the game with a knee injury.

"Thankful we got him," Southeast coach Tom Matukewicz said of the Arizona Western Community College transfer. "Brought him in at semester because we knew we had to have depth at running back and proud of him because he's a new guy, and he didn't get to touch the ball as much as he used to and waited for his opportunity and made a lot of plays today."

McCullough had a career-high 114 yards rushing on 18 carries in the 29-28 loss.

Jackson went to the locker room with trainers seconds before the end of the first half but returned for the second half. He was on the field for a few plays but didn't have a carry in the second half and spent most of the final 30 minutes of the game with his right knee wrapped and on crutches. He's scheduled to have an MRI on Monday.

"To myself I just said, 'I've got to hold it down for him,'" McCullough said. "He means a lot to this football team. He's been here four years, and I just said to myself, 'I've got to do it for him.'"

McCullough had five carries for 16 yards in the first half before rushing for 98 more in the second half.

"For me, coach told me to stop going east and west and start going vertical. I started pounding the ball," McCullough said. "He said, 'You're fast. Start using your speed,' and so I started doing that. The line was blocking the whole game, so I've got to give it up to the O-Line. We just started playing more physical."

McCullough capped a 57-yard Southeast drive with a nifty spin move on an 18-yard touchdown run up the middle with 9 minutes, 29 seconds remaining to cut the ISU lead to 21-14.

"It was a power straight up the middle, and the line did an excellent job," McCullough said. "The hole was wide open. I just went through, and all I had to do was make a move on the safety. He hit me, but I bounced off. I guess he thought I was a little lightweight so I bounced off. The receivers had their blocks so I just stuffed it in the end zone."

Matukewicz was pleased with McCullough's performance and was impressed with the touchdown.

"It was probably blocked for about 6 (yards), and he ended up getting it for the rest of it," Matukewicz said. "And that's what he can do. He can make big plays. But he also needs to know when they got you you need to get down because they're going to break you in half."

Jackson, who was coming off a career-high 186 yard rushing performance against Southern Illinois, had 22 yards against the Sycamores. He needs four more yards to reach 2,000 career yards rushing.

"D-Mike went down, and that's a bad thing," McCullough said. "... Hope he'll be back next week, but I was just being patient and being humble and waiting for my turn."

Special teams struggles

For the second straight week, Matukewicz was less than impressed with the performance of Redhawks' specialists.

Matukewicz called it "embarrassing" following the team's win over SIU and after Saturday's loss said, "It makes me vomit in my mouth."

All-American and All-Ohio Valley Conference kicker Ryan McCrum missed a 41-yard field goal wide right at the end of the first half against ISU. It would've given the Redhawks a 10-0 lead.

McCrum missed three field goals last week against the Salukis before making the game-winner in the closing seconds.

Southeast punt returner Tyler Manne had a couple of miscues in the first half.

The Sycamores were forced to punt on their second drive of the game. Manne called for a fair catch and dove for the punt from Osborn Umeh near the ISU sideline but fumbled it, and the Sycamores recovered at the Southeast 49 with 7:28 left in the first quarter.

The defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing drive, and Manne fumbled again but recovered it.

Peter Lloyd handled punt return duties the remainder of the game and returned one 30 yards.

Lloyd also had a kickoff returned for 26 yards while freshman Bryce Warner had a 36-yard kickoff return.

"We talked a lot about it," Matukewicz said of this week's preparation on special teams. "We ran a lot of plays and probably doubled our reps on special teams. We also pulled some redshirts on some freshmen we feel like can take some snaps off of our older players that are getting wore down and get them on special teams. We have to do a better job. There's not like some magical sprinkle dust I can sprinkle on them. You've just got to go to work."