Redhawks pass first test as a ranked team

The Southeast Missouri State football team played its first game with a national ranking in more than seven years Saturday night.

If that additional pressure affected the No. 25 Redhawks, they sure didn't show it.

The Redhawks added to their storybook season with a 19-17 victory over Tennessee State in just their second home date.

The contest was closer than it needed to be as Southeast dominated statistically with a 439 to 299 advantage in total yardage and a 36:09 to 23:51 edge in time of possession.

Southeast, leading 19-3 at halftime, did not score in the second half. The Redhawks squandered numerous opportunities, which allowed TSU to hang around.

But the bottom line is that the Redhawks are 5-1 overall and a first-place 4-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference in their best OVC start since joining the league in 1991.

Southeast has its first five-game winning streak since moving up to Division I-AA in 1991 and its longest winning streak since the 1989 squad won its final six games of the season.

Can life possibly get any better for Southeast football fans these days?

Doubtful.

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The announced attendance Saturday was 10,316 -- the third largest in school history.

While the crowd was great, I think there was a bigger crowd at Houck Stadium for Southeast's home opener -- Sept. 25 against Tennessee Tech -- even though official attendance that night was listed as 8,732.

But what do I know?

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The Redhawks play their fifth road game in their first seven contests Saturday when they visit Austin Peay.

Then Southeast has three straight home dates before ending the regular season Nov. 13 at preseason OVC favorite and third-ranked Jacksonville State, which is right behind the Redhawks with a 3-0 league mark.

You hate to look too far ahead, but could that matchup with Jacksonville State possibly be for the OVC championship?

Only time will tell, but the way things are going for the Redhawks, anything seems possible.

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There won't be a new scoreboard at Houck Stadium this year after all.

Southeast director of athletics John Shafer told me about two months ago that a new scoreboard would be in place before the end of the football season, although not by the first home game. I wrote about it in my column.

But Shafer told me last week that the university "ran into some glitches."

So Southeast football fans will have to endure Houck's tiny, junior-high caliber scoreboard for at least the rest of this season and possibly beyond.

To Shafer's credit, he told me he is embarrassed by originally saying there would be a new scoreboard this year but not being able to deliver.

Shafer would not promise there would be a new scoreboard in place for the 2011 football season but said he sincerely hopes that is the case.

Southeast's original scoreboard had to come down before the 2008 campaign because of construction of a dormitory at the west end of Houck Stadium. The ground floor of the building houses a game-day locker room and athletic training room for the football program.

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The college baseball season is more than four months away but fans should be prepared to see a major change.

New NCAA regulations on aluminum bats are designed to make the bats more closely simulate wood. They even will sound more like wood when a ball is struck.

That should make for a lot less home runs flying out of parks across the country, including Capaha Field.

Southeast coach Mark Hogan said he already has noticed a difference during fall practice. He said hitters in the future will have to strike the ball more cleanly off the barrel of the bat to hit home runs.

Other changes for the 2011 season, designed to trim the length of games, include a clock rule that limits 20 seconds between pitches (with the bases empty) and 90 seconds between innings.

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The area high school football season is seven weeks old -- and now things will get really interesting.

All-important district play begins Friday as playoff berths will be decided over the next three weeks.

Especially intriguing is the much-hyped Class 4 District 1 that has been a hot topic of conversation all year.

Arguably the region's top three teams -- Central, Farmington and Sikeston, in no particular order -- are in that district. Only two will make the playoffs.

Central and Sikeston are both state-ranked and undefeated at 7-0. Farmington is 6-1. Winless Perryville rounds out the district.

People have been talking about the Sikeston at Central matchup in Week 9 as being the game of the year in Southeast Missouri.

While Sikeston should crush Perryville in its district opener, Central figures to face a much stiffer test at Farmington.

It should be an exciting three weeks of football, not only in Class 4 District 1 but in every area district.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.