An 0-2 start would not ruin Redhawks' season

The Southeast Missouri State football team almost certainly will start the season 0-2.

That's because the Redhawks visit Purdue of the Big Ten Conference Saturday after dropping their Sept. 3 opener 38-10 to Southern Illinois.

It will take a monumental upset to beat Purdue, which is paying Southeast $315,000 for the anticipated mismatch.

But Southeast fans should not conclude that the sky is falling and that the Redhawks are automatically doomed to a struggling campaign. Based on Internet comments I've seen, there are plenty of those people out there.

First of all, no matter how excited Southeast supporters were after last year's record-setting season, the odds of the 2011 Redhawks losing their first two games were pretty strong.

SIU entered the season ranked 17th nationally and loaded for bear after last year's 5-6 disappointment that marked its first losing record since 2002. It would have been a surprise if the inexperienced Redhawks beat the Salukis.

As far as Saturday's contest at Purdue, the Boilermakers (1-1) are expected to finish toward the bottom of the Big Ten and are far from being a powerhouse on their level. But their level is considerably higher than the Ohio Valley Conference.

It's rare whenever a Football Championship Subdivision team beats a Football Bowl Subdivision squad. And it's rarer when that FBS club plays in a BCS conference, which the Big Ten is.

The bottom line is that Southeast fans have no reason to panic if the Redhawks return winless from West Lafayette, Ind.

I'm not saying the Redhawks are going to follow up last year's historic campaign with another solid season. Right now they've got plenty of question marks.

What I am saying is that losing the first two games isn't a reason to write off the Redhawks.

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Even if Saturday's game turns out to be lopsided, I am interested to see if the Redhawks make significant improvement from the season-opening demolition at the hands of SIU.

But no matter how things play out at Purdue, it shouldn't have any bearing on the rest of the campaign, as long as Southeast comes away from the contest relatively healthy.

Once Saturday's game is out of the way, Southeast can turn its full attention to the start of Ohio Valley Conference play Sept. 24 at Tennessee Tech. That matchup probably will tell us a lot more about where the Redhawks stand this year.

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Purdue has had no margin for error in its first two games.

The Boilermakers needed a touchdown in the final minute and a blocked field-goal attempt as time expired to beat visiting Middle Tennessee 27-24 in their opener.

Saturday the Boilermakers had a 31-yard field-goal attempt blocked on the game's final play as they lost 24-22 at Rice.

I'm sure Purdue is looking forward to finally having a breather, but maybe Southeast can foil those plans and give the Boilermakers a run for their money.

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OVC preseason favorite Jacksonville State, the conference's only nationally ranked team, is off to a shaky start.

The Gamecocks needed a fourth-quarter rally to slip past Tennessee-Martin in their season and league opener that proved costly. JSU quarterback Marques Ivory fractured his right fibula and likely will be sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Saturday the 10th-ranked Gamecocks were pounded 38-17 at 23rd-ranked Chattanooga. The 508 yards gained by Chattanooga were the most a JSU defense has allowed since 2004.

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The NCAA recently approved a landmark proposal that will raise the academic requirements to qualify for postseason competition in all Division I sports. The bottom line is that some of the nation's top teams potentially could be barred from NCAA play.

Teams will need a four-year average Academic Progress Rate score of 930 to participate in NCAA championships, including the men's basketball tournament and football bowl games. The APR is the NCAA's measure of how well schools keep athletes eligible and produce graduates. A score of 930 roughly is equivalent to a 50 percent graduation rate.

Based on APR scores released in May, 10 teams that played in the 2011 men's basketball tournament fell below the 930 mark, including national champion Connecticut. Eight teams that played in football bowl games last season scored lower than 930 in the latest figures.

The previous requirement had been an APR of 900, and only four schools had been banned from postseason play since that rule took effect in 2008.

How soon the new standards will be implemented has not been determined. It is believed that it will take three to five years to phase in a plan, likely with a gradual increase in the required APR.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.