What a difference a year makes.

A year ago at this time, I was excited about my first game as a head coach going against my old team at Marshall. I didn't know where our football team stood in relation to the other schools in the Ohio Valley Conference.

After we finished the season 3-8, I knew that we had to get stronger, be in better condition, get better players and have our players understand how to win. We had a chance to win a lot of the games we lost last year, but we just weren't big and strong enough to hold up in the fourth quarter.

I feel that I matured as a head coach and I know we have started the process of filling the gap between our team and the other teams in the OVC.

As a new season begins Saturday night at Eastern Michigan, we have a chance to see how far we have come as a football team. We are more talented than last season and we are bigger and stronger. When we take the field Saturday, only two starters on offense and two starters on defense were in the Southeast football program when I took the job.

We have a lot of new players who will upgrade our program, but we still need more players. Depth will be a problem, but if we can stay healthy, we should be able to be competitive in the OVC.

This year's team has a new attitude and our season opener against a Division I-A team from the Mid-American Conference will give us a good feel for how far we have come. I know we are headed in the right direction but only game competition tells you exactly where you stack up. We won't get a false impression of our team, but a true evaluation going against a big and strong team.

I know our team is ready to play a game. The kids are excited and they are going to Ypsilanti to win the football game. Game conditions will tell us a lot about our new and younger players. Some players perform better in practice than in games and some are gamers who really turn it up a notch when they hear the band and smell the popcorn. Saturday night, we'll find out a lot more regarding which players fit into which category.

In my first year as head coach I learned what we need to compete in the OVC. I really didn't realize how far we had to go, but I know we're headed in the right direction with a young and talented football team.

Patience is not one of my virtues, but I realize that success doesn't happen overnight. Building a strong football program is an ongoing process and we just have to strive to improve every day.

I know our team will play hard Saturday and if we can have some early success, we can compete with a solid I-A team that is coming off a tough season but has gotten a lot better.

I continue to stress that we need the support of the athletic department, the university and the community. I feel we had that last season and we need more of the same, if not even more support, this year.

If you can't make the long trip to Michigan, I hope you will listen to the game on K-103 radio or on the internet at GoSoutheast.com.

Don't forget that we host Southern Illinois at Houck Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 8, at 6 p.m. I'll see you there.

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