Off Week: The Southeast Missouri State football team is idle this week after losing to Tennessee Tech on Saturday. Southeast Missouri enters the off week with a record of 2-4 after a loss to Marshall, a road win over Southern Illinois, a home win over nationally ranked Illinois State and OVC losses to Western Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee Tech. The Indians will practice on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. They will take off Friday and Saturday and resume practice on Sunday.

Next Game: The Indians will host Murray State in the annual Homecoming game on Saturday, Oct. 21, 1 p.m. Murray State is currently 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the OVC. The Racers play at Eastern Illinois this Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

The Coach: Tim Billings, an assistant at Marshall the past 10 seasons, is 2-4 in his first year as head coach at Southeast. He also served as an assistant at Missouri and Oklahoma. As an assistant, Billings coached in five I-AA title games and in four bowl games.

Last Week: Southeast out gained Tennessee Tech 292-yards to 262-yards, but still dropped a 31-6 decision.

The 262 yards by Tech was the lowest total for any Southeast opponent this year. Freshman Ricky Farmer had 19 tackles, Joe Williams had 18 tackles, Isaac Powell 15 tackles and Corey Mathis had 11 tackles including six tackles for losses of 18 yards and a quarterback sack for a loss of six yards.

Quarterback Bobby Brune had 259 yards in total offense to account for all but 33 yards of the Southeast offense. Brune completed 23-42 passes for 218 yards and rushed the ball 14 times for 41 yards.

Jason Witczak had field goals of 44 and 33 yards to account for all of the scoring.

Personnel Changes: Ryan Roth, who started a tight end in four of the first five games, was moved to defensive end during practice drills last week. He played 22 plays at defensive end against Tech and recorded three tackles.

True freshman Rick Farmer had hoped to redshirt this year, but was pressed into action in the Tech game as a starter at middle linebacker and responded with 19 tackles. True Freshman Eugene Amano started at left guard for the Indians.

Farmer is OVC Newcomer of the Week: True freshman Ricky Farmer was named the OVC Newcomer of the Week after recording 19 tackles in his first ever collegiate game. Farmer, a 2000 graduate of Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers, Fla., was a first team all-area performer his junior and senior seasons.

Corey Mathis Leads OVC in Tackles for Losses: Junior linebacker Corey Mathis had six tackles for losses in the Tech game to take over the lead in the OVC. Mathis has a total of 12 tackles for losses of 50 yards.

Joe Williams Ranks 2nd in OVC Tackles: Defensive safety Joe Williams ranks second in the OVC in tackles with 87 tackles for an average of 14.5 per game. Williams had 19 tackles against Western Kentucky and had a career high 20 tackles against Southern Illinois. Isaac Powell ranks fourth in OVC tckles with 11.3 per game.

Witczak Ranks 8th Nationally in Punting: Southeast punter Jason Witczak, who was selected as the I-AA national Special Teams Player of the Week after his punting performance against Illinois State, has taken over the punting lead in the OVC and ranks eighth nationally with an average of 42.8 yards per punt. Witczak has a long punt of 66 yards which is tops in the OVC. He is 3-5 in field goals and is 4-4 in PAT's. He leads the Indians in scoring with 13 points.

Cooper High in OVC Stats: Junior Curtis Cooper ranks third in OVC kickoff and punt returns. He averages 22.47 yards per kickoff returns and 11.44 yards per punt return. In all purpose yards, Cooper ranks sixth in the OVC with 109.83 yards per game.

Multiple Receivers: A total of 14 Southeast players have had catches this season. Leslie Weaver leads the way with 21 while Corey Chester has 19 and Tarik Simpson 15. Others with receptions include, Curtis Cooper, Ryan Roth, Jerl Huling, Andy Dunaway, Jake Hill, Iven Brown, Byron White, Charles McElroy, Mark Blissett, and Marcus Patton. and offensive lineman Jonathan Jensen who caught a deflected pass in the SIU game.

Brune Nears 3,000 Yards Passing: Junior quarterback Bobby Brune is closing in on 3,000 yards passing for his career. He is 71-132 for 836 yards this season to give him career totals of 188-435 for 2,888 yards. Brune is currently ranked fourth in the OVC in passing, passing efficency and total offense. Brune has a passing efficency of 113.76 and has 839 yards in total offense for an average of 129.6 yards per game.

Weaver over 1,500 Yards Receiving: Senior wide receiver Leslie Weaver has 21 catches for 373 yards this season to push his career totals to 106 catches for 1,534 yards. Weaver currently ranks fifth in the OVC in total receiving yards with 373, fifth in yards per game with 62.17 and fifth in receptions per game with 3.50.

Injury Update: Isaac Huddleston suffered a head injury in the Eastern Kentucky game and is out until at least the Murray State game. Defensive tackle James Jennette suffered a twisted knee in the Tech game and is probable for the Murray State game. Defensive end Charlie Sortor and kicker/deep snapper Andy Cisne and quarterback Rashad West all missed the last two games. Freshman linebacker Travion Brock suffered a broken arm in Illinois State game and underwent surgery on Sunday, Sept. 17 and is out for the season. Defensive back Leotis Belcher broke his hand during practice on Tuesday, Sept. 19 and will be re-evaluated this week.

Southeast is 2-0 vs. Gateway: The Indians are 2-0 against Gateway Conference schools with wins over Southern Illinois and Illinois State. Southeast has one more Gateway foe on the schedule this season with a Nov. 11 game at Southwest Missouri. Prior to this season, Southeast was 3-13 vs. Gateway teams since the Indians move to Division I-AA in 1991.

Six Captains: The Southeast players have elected six captains, three on offense and three on defense. Offensive captains are quarterback Rashad West, offensive guard David Fielder and wide receiver Leslie Weaver. Defensive captains are safety Isaac Powell, defensive end Asim Thomas and strong safety Joe Williams.

NATIONAL HONORS: 9-16 - Jason Witczak, Special Teams Player of the Week

OVC HONORS: 9-11 - Bobby Brune, Offensive Player of the Week. 9-11 - Curtis Cooper, Newcomer of the Week. 9-18 - Jason Witczak, Specialist of the Week. 10-9 - Ricky Farmer, Newcomer of the Week.

Preseason All-OVC: Senior safety Isaac Powell, junior quarterback Rashad West and sophomore defensive lineman James Jennette received honorable mention preseason all-OVC. Southeast was picked to finish seventh in a preseason poll of OVC football coaches and sports information directors.