Saturday's loss to Murray State was very disappointing. We had chances to win the game, but we just didn't get the job done.

The good news is that we are still in the OVC championship race. Every team in the league has at least one loss, and at 2-2 we are very much in the race. The only two teams with just one loss, Tennessee State and Jacksonville State, still have to come to Houck Stadium.

The bottom line, though, is that we are a going to have to play better in order to beat any of the teams remaining on our schedule. We have to have improvement on offense, defense and the kicking game.

We had breakdowns in all three areas in the Murray State game, although I thought the defense really played well in the second half. Our players were flying around and making great hits.

The kicking game again let us down with a fumbled punt at the 6-yard line which led directly to a Murray State touchdown and a blocked punt that gave the Racers the ball on the 2. Our kicking game was a key to our win at Eastern Kentucky, but we had too many mistakes against Murray State.

A kicking sore spot

We missed freshman punter David Simonhoff, who did not play in the game because of a leg injury. He is again doubtful for Saturday's game at Tennessee-Martin. We have sent X-rays of his leg to his hometown doctor, who is the team doctor for the Miami Dolphins, and we are waiting to hear back.

Offensively, we were just not consistent against Murray State. At Martin, Tenn., on Saturday, Andrew Goodenough will see a lot of playing time at quarterback. He is a great athlete who has had success everywhere he has been and we're going to see how he responds.

Andrew is very mobile and has a very good throwing arm. He was a two-time junior college All-American at Palomar Junior College in California with more than 5,000 yards passing and 52 passing touchdowns in his two seasons. At Arizona State, he started last season's opener at Nebraska before being injured. Hopefully he will give us a spark offensively.

We also regain the services of running back David Taufoou, who has missed the last two games with a knee injury. David is full-go this week and has looked good in practice.

Our players were disappointed Saturday, but the fact that we are still in the OVC title chase has given everybody a lift this week. Our players are working hard at improving.

Tennessee-Martin is an improved football team that always gets excited about playing Southeast. It should be a good game. It isn't that far away, so why not take a drive through the beautiful fall colors and help us out at Martin?

Tim Billings is the head football coach at Southeast Missouri State University.