Coach Tom Matukewicz believes Southeast Missouri State football team on the right track

Tom Matukewicz is all about the process.

The Southeast Missouri State football coach made that clear from the get-go.

But he also made it clear that by his third season he wanted to be competing for an Ohio Valley Conference title.

After his second season with the Redhawks wrapped up a few weeks ago at 4-7 and 3-4 in the conference, Matukewicz believes his program is still on the trajectory to meet the expectations he's set as part of that process.

"I mean, I feel like as a program we've got to be careful of judging things based on outcomes," Matukewicz said. "That's your job and that's the job of everybody else to judge us on wins and losses, but really what we've got to try and do is just brick by brick, day by day try to improve this thing, and then eventually that all turns into the outcomes that we all want.

"I feel like we're on path to meet those goals. When I first got hired here I said Year 3 we need to be able to compete in our league, Year 5 I'd like to compete nationally. That's the timeline I've been on at jobs I've been a part of turning around, and so I still feel that we're right where we need to be."

The Redhawks, who finished 5-7 and 3-5 in conference in Matukewicz's first season. played one fewer game this year. They didn't face Tennessee State, which was 1-6 overall and 4-6 in the OVC.

Southeast Missouri State quarterback Dante Vandeven carries to the sideline against UT Martin during the third quarter Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

Southeast picked up its three OVC wins with ease, beating Murray State, Tennessee Tech and Austin Peay.

Four of the Redhawks' losses were by five or fewer points, including a 26-21 defeat to Division II Shorter University, which was the program's first loss to a non-Division I opponent since moving to the Football Championship Subdivision in 1991.

"This season was an up and down season," Matukewicz said. "We had some really good wins and then we had some really bad losses. We were in just about every game and we lost four games by a combined 14 points, so that tells me we're right there. We've got to take this offseason to go find that 14 points because we've got a lot of our players back, so we've got to improve as coaches and improve as players so we can make up that difference."

Southeast loses 12 seniors from last year's squad, including first-team all-conference receiver Paul McRoberts, who will compete in the East-West Shrine Game in January.

Receiver Peter Lloyd, fullback Lewis Washington, offensive guard Traven Mable, starting defensive tackle Jon Slania, starting safety David Coley and long snapper Wade Wright are other seniors that played considerable snaps. Junior defensive end Austin Black figures into that 12 after a chronic back issue forced him to end his career early.

Quarterback and OVC Freshman of the Year Dante Vandeven is set to return along with five other all-conference performers: running back Tremane McCullough, guard Garret Baker, linebacker Roper Garrett, cornerback Mike Ford and punter Alex Knight.

Southeast Missouri State's Tremane McCullough rushes 30 yards to the Murray State 3 before scoring on the next play during the third quarter Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015 at Houck Stadium. (Fred Lynch)

The majority of the offensive and defensive lines return. Other notable returners are safety Eriq Moore and cornerback Ryan Moore, and the entire two-deep at linebacker is set to make its return -- Garrett, Chad Meredith, Kendall Donnerson, Stephon Williams, Brad Ivey and Terrance Hill.

Southeast will have several players return after season-ending injuries.

Running back DeMichael Jackson will return after tearing his ACL in the third game last year. Wide receiver Adrian Davis also tore his ACL five games into the season and will be back for his junior campaign.

Defensive end Travis Sanders had surgery to repair a torn ACL and nose tackle Josh Wilson is set to have surgery in a few weeks on his torn ACL.

"You're [writing] this book and if you're always constantly on Chapters 1, 2 and 3, you never get anywhere," Matukewicz said. "We bring enough returners that hopefully we can move to chapters 4, 5 and 6 and be able to progress. That's the whole goal here."

Matukewicz said he was "disappointed overall" in the offense this season. The Redhawks averaged 25.4 points per game.

Southeast ranked second in the OVC in rushing offense, averaging 182.9 yards per game. McCullough became the first Redhawk to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season since 2012. He had 1,028 yards and five touchdowns on 170 carries.

The Redhawks' passing offense ranked seventh in the nine-team OVC with 172.5 yards passing per game.

"We need to be able to throw the ball better," Matukewicz said. "We have, for the most part, been able to run the ball, but I think we need to improve on our play-action passing game. We need to be able to throw the ball down the field. Those are the things that I'm really looking for."

Vandeven, who started the final eight games of the season and played in nine, completed 155 of 250 passes for 1,568 yards and 11 TDs as a true freshman. He had seven interceptions and was sacked 13 times. He rushed for 292 yards and six touchdowns on 87 carries.

Matukewicz said after the Redhawks' 28-25 loss to UT Martin to end the season that he wanted to "out-recruit" each of his returners, including Vandeven, to push them to improve. He said Wednesday that the starting quarterback job is "up for grabs," rather than being Vandeven's to lose.

"I'm excited about him. I think lots of people are excited about him," Matukewicz said. "When you judge his work based on a true freshman, that's why he was the Freshman of the Year. If you judge his work on a championship quarterback, we're not there yet."

Southeast continued to improve on special teams under Matukewicz. Knight, a second-team all-conference pick, led the league and ranked fifth in the country with an average of 44.1 yards per punt. He had 29 punts that landed inside the 20-yard line and 18 went 50 yards or further, including three 60-yarders.

Southeast was second in the OVC in both punt and kickoff returns, averaging 11.9 yards per punt return and 21.7 yards per kickoff return. The Redhawks returned two punts for TDs and freshman Cameron Sanders returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown against No. 1 Jacksonville State.

Junior kicker Ryan McCrum struggled after a breakout All-American season as a sophomore. He made all 29 of his PATs, but was 9 of 16 on field goals after making 18 of 23 the previous year.

"Special teams we've been right up there near the top, even last year," Matukewicz said. "So I think we're there, bring most of our specialists back, but, again, there's lots of room for improvement with those guys."

Matukewicz saw the improvement he was looking for from the defense, but the team's defensive performance fluctuated from game to game. The Redhawks allowed 32.5 points per game to OVC opponents in 2014. That dropped to 26.6 points this season.

They recorded 31 sacks, which was the most in a season since they had 23 in 2006.

Southeast, which led the conference with a plus-10 turnover margin, intercepted 11 passes and recovered 10 fumbles.

With several defensive players returner, Matukewicz is curious to see if the unit can continue that improvement and "have a championship defense."

"You could go through there and pick out games where you're like, 'Wow. [We've] defensively turned the corner,'" Matukewicz said. "Then you could pick out games where it'd make your eyes bleed. Really a good defense is the same week in and week out, and so I'm looking for that consistency.

"And really if you just said one word, that's really our whole team. If you just said, 'One thing, coach. If there's one thing you could do to make up those 14 points [what would it be?]' and that's consistency."

He'll be looking for that steadiness from his team throughout the offseason. Southeast altered its offseason workouts a year ago, but made just minor tweaks to their plan this year.

The Redhawks also announced a $500,000 weight room renovation that includes indoor turf and upgraded equipment that will be ready in January.

"The whole thing about this offseason is going to be consistently competing on a daily basis," Matukewicz said. "Our kids are going to get tired of hearing me say that, but that's what it's all about."