Win, no matter how it looked, was a big lift

It was far from a masterpiece with three turnovers, seven penalties and having to settle for short field goals twice after taking the ball inside the 1-yard line.

But Southeast Missouri State University's football Indians couldn't have cared less how their performance Saturday rated artistically.

All that mattered to the Indians was that they finally had their first win of the season, courtesy of a tough 30-17 homecoming triumph over Eastern Illinois.

So after five weeks of long faces and spotty play, the Indians finally had reason to smile and savor the moment as they lingered on the Houck Stadium turf long after the homecoming contest ended.

Their struggles on the field during the first five games aside, you had to feel good for the Indians because virtually to a man, their players and coaches are quality people, the type you like to see do well.

But in the landscape of college athletics, character doesn't generally rate very high with fans. It's wins that matter. And after last season's breakthrough 8-4 record and this year's preseason national ranking, Southeast supporters were counting on plenty of victories.

Until Saturday, they had nothing to cheer about. And even after beating Eastern Illinois, Southeast still has a big hole to dig out of if it wants to have what most fans would consider a successful season.

To put things into perspective, the 1-5 Indians -- who are 1-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference -- would have to win their final six regular-season games to even finish with a winning record, assuming they don't make the playoffs.

But in what appears to be a down year for the league, the good news is that the Indians still have a fighting chance as they chase their first-ever OVC championship and NCAA Division I-AA playoff berth.

With the OVC looking so average this year, it's highly unlikely any team will go undefeated -- and there's even a decent chance that the champion will have more than one loss.

But there will be plenty of time to worry about the big picture of the conference race in the weeks to come. Saturday, Southeast's players and coaches probably weren't thinking too hard about that.

The Indians were simply relieved to finally get a win.

The unpredictability and mediocrity -- some people might call it parity -- of this year's OVC was highlighted by what took place Saturday in Martin, Tenn.

In a shocking upset, Tennessee-Martin broke a 43-game conference losing streak by stunning Tennessee Tech 30-23 in overtime. The Skyhawks had not won a league game since beating Southeast in 1996.

Unbelievable.

Let me be the latest to put in my two cents about the Rush Limbaugh fiasco.

First of all, I don't think his comments regarding Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb were racist at all -- simply stupid and factually unsound.

McNabb has in fact been one of the NFL's top quarterbacks the past few years, being selected to several Pro Bowls and helping propel an otherwise not great Eagles team reach two straight NFC championship games.

But even if Limbaugh truly believed McNabb was overrated, he should have just left it at that instead of making the insane suggestion that the media tries to prop up black quarterbacks.

Some of his previous comments since he joined the ESPN Sunday pre-game show indicated that he knows little about football -- such as saying that the Rams have not been to the Super Bowl under coach Mike Martz -- and the remarks about McNabb followed that trend.

Why anybody associated with ESPN thought they should bring Limbaugh into the mix was questionable to begin with.

It's early in the NFL season, but two games today and Monday look intriguing.

Today, the Chiefs host the Broncos in a battle of undefeated teams who were fairly shaky last year but appear to be among the cream of the NFL crop this season.

And Monday night, the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers host the undefeated Colts, who have been one of the league's most impressive squads so far but still have plenty of skeptics.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.