Oct. 13, 2008

Game Notes

Date: Oct. 18, 2008
Kickoff: 1:30 p.m. (CDT)
Location: O'Brien Stadium, Charleston, Ill. (10,000)
Affiliations: Eastern Illinois, FCS, Ohio Valley Conference, SE Missouri St., FCS, Ohio Valley Conference
2007 Records: Eastern Illinois, 8-4, 7-1 (OVC), SE Missouri St. 3-8, 1-6 (OVC)
2008 Records: Eastern Illinois 2-4, 0-2, SE Missouri St. 2-4, 0-2
Coaches: Bob Spoo is 129-106-1 in his 21st year at EIU, Tony Samuel is 9-19 in his 3rd year at SE Missouri St.
WebCast: OVC Sports.TV
Radio: Southeast Radio Network anchored by K-103 FM in Cape Girardeau. Other network stations include Team 1380 in St. Louis, KSIM in Sikeston, KWOC in Poplar Bluff and KMAL in Malden. Erik Sean will do play-by-play with Ron Hines offering analysis.
Internet: Southeast Radio Network broadcast can be heard over the internet at www.k103fm.com.

THE TEAMS: The Redhawks, idle last week, are 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the OVC. The Redhawks have wins over Southwest Baptist and Indiana State and losses to Missouri, Tennessee Tech, Missouri State and Jacksonville State.
After losing at Tennessee-Martin last Thursday, Eastern Illinois is also 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the OVC with league losses to Jacksonville State and UT Martin. The Panthers have non-league losses to FBS members Illinois and Central Michigan and wins over Indiana State and Illinois State.

THE COACHES: Tony Samuel is 9-19 in his third season at Southeast. He is 43-76 in 11 years as a head coach including eight seasons at New Mexico State. Bob Spoo is 129-106-1 in his 21st year as head coach at Eastern Illinois.

THE SERIES: EIU leads the series 11-4. The last Southeast win was 30-17 at Houck Stadium in 2003.

LAST SEASON: The Panthers won 31-16 at Houck Stadium. EIU led only 14-13 at the half, but outscored the Redhawks 17-3 in the final half for the win. Timmy Holloman had 133 yards rushing including a 52-yard TD run.

SPADA TOPS NATIONALLY IN PUNTING: For the second straight week, junior punter Doug Spada has the national lead in punting with an average of 45.63 yards per punt. The pre-season all-OVC pick was second nationally last week, but had six punts for an average of 43 yards per punt at Jacksonville State including a 59-yard punt. Spada, who was an honorable mention All-American and first team all-OVC selection last season when he averaged 42.5 yards per punt while converting 14-23 field goals and 21-23 PAT's. As a prep player in Shelby, North Carolina, he was MVP of the soccer team and trained for soccer in England with the prestigious Chelsea Football Club.

HOLLOMAN RETURNS: Senior running back Timmy Holloman has been reinstated and played against Jacksonville State. Holloman, a preseason all-OVC choice, was suspended on Oct. 9, 2007. He had 44 yards rushing in 16 carries against the Gamecocks. At the time of his suspension last season, he was leading the Redhawks in rushing with 131 yards per game to rank first in the OVC. In OVC games only, Holloman was leading the league with 151.5 yards per game. He also was leading the team in scoring with six touchdowns. Holloman had over 100 yards rushing in each of his last four games last season.

HOLLOMAN CAREER RUSHING: Holloman currently has 2,040 career rushing yards to rank fourth in Southeast history. He has eight game with over 100 yards rushing and two games with over 200 yards rushing.

ALL-TIME RUSHING LEADERS: 1. 3,392, Kelvin Anderson (1992-94)
2. 3,006, Walter Smallwood (1965-68)
3. 2,617, Ernest Edwards (1979-82)
4. 2,040, Timmy Holloman (2005-)

FIRST QUARTER WOES: The Redhawks have been outscored 66-0 in the first quarter this season. In the first half, opponents have outscored Southeast 132-30. In the second half, the Redhawks have outscored opponents 97-81. IN THE NATIONAL STATS: Southeast ranks 13th in the nation (FCS) in kickoff returns with 23.46 yards per return. The Redhawks are 11th in net punting with 35.93 yards per game. The Redhawks are 16th nationally in passing offense with 274.33 yards per game, tops in the OVC.

CALVIN 9th IN INTERCEPTIONS: Junior Eddie Calvin picked off his fourth pass of the season at Jacksonville State and is tied for ninth nationally with 0.67 picks per game. He ranks second in the OVC.

STAUFFER 15th NATIONALLY IN TACKLES: Senior linebacker Nick Stauffer is tied for 15th nationally in tackles with 10.50 per game. He had a career high 16 tackles in the SW Baptist game and had 13 tackles in the Tennessee Tech and Missouri State games.

OVC HONORS: Senior quarterback Houston Lillard and junior cornerback Eddie Calvin (were awarded the Ohio Valley Conference Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week Awards after the season opener against Southwest Baptist.
Lillard was 27-39 passing for a career-high 387 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Southeast comeback. Calvin had three pass interceptions in the first half to keep the Redhawks in the game.
Sophomore running back Henry Harris, a transfer from the University of Memphis, has been chosen the OVC Newcomer of the Week two of the last four weeks.

CAPTAINS: The football team has elected five captains for the 2008 season. Quarterback Houston Lillard and wide receiver Michael Williamson will captain the offensive unit while the defensive captains will be linebacker Nick Stauffer, tackle Nick Ketelsleger and cornerback Kendall Magana.

REDHAWKS IN THE NFL: Four former Redhawks players are on NFL rosters going into the first game of the season. Eugene Amano is an offensive lineman with the Tennessee Titans , Dan Connolly is an offensive lineman with New England Patriots, Dimitri Patterson is a cornerback for the Kansas City Chiefs while Edgar Jones is a tight end on the practice squad for the Baltimore Ravens.

NEBRASKA CONNECTION: Eight Southeast coaches have ties to Nebraska. Head coach Tony Samuel played and coached at Nebraska. New outside linebackers coach Troy Dumas was an All-American linebacker for the Huskers, wide receivers coach Lorenzo Brinkley, defensive backs coach Kenny Wilhite, defensive coordinator Tim McGuire and offensive line coach Brian Boerboom all played for the Huskers. Running backs coach Chris Norris played under Tom Osborne when Samuel was an assistant in Lincoln and the father of offensive tackles/tight ends coach Justin Kramer had Samuel as a position coach.

COACHING CHANGES: There are minimal coaching staff changes for the 2008 season. Eric Ravellette has left the staff after two seasons to become an assistant coach at Ferris State. Graduate assistant Matthew Vincent has taken a job as a compliance assistant Central Michigan.
Justin Kramer, who was director of football operations and defensive line coach, will move to the offense as tackles and tight ends coach. Kramer, who was an offensive lineman during his playing days at Southern Illinois-Carbondale, will also be recruiting coordinator.
Doug Brady, a former quarterback for Tony Samuel at New Mexico State, has joined the staff as a graduate assistant. He will work with the quarterbacks. Pat Christian, a defensive lineman for the Redhawks last season, will be a student assistant working with the defensive line that will be tutored by head coach Tony Samuel. Adam Schwent, a linebacker for Southeast last season, is assisting defensive coordinator Tim McGuire. Francisco Perez, an offensive tackle for the Redhawks last year, is helping out offensive line coach Brian Boerboom.
Creston Moore is the new director of football operations for the Redhawks. He worked with the team video last season. FBS TRANSFERS: The Redhawks have two new FBS transfers. Running back Henry Harris is a transfer from the University of Memphis and Ashton Farmer is a transfer from Arkansas State. Both will be eligible this season.
Harris, 5-8, 185, played in four games at Memphis last season. As a prep star at Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, he rushed for 1,579 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior.
Farmer, 6-7, 240, played basketball at Arkansas State the past two seasons. He played in 62 basketball games at ASU. Farmer was a prep football and basketball player at Charleston High School. He caught 39 passes for 658 yards as a high school senior.

REDHAWKS AGAIN HAVE ST. LOUIS RADIO STATION: The Southeast Missouri Football Radio Network will again include 1380 ESPN Radio in St. Louis. The network, operated by Mississippi River Radio will be anchored by 100,000-watt K-103 FM in Cape Girardeau. Other network stations include KSIM, Sikeston; KWOC, Poplar Bluff and KMAL, Malden. Erik Sean will be the play-by-play voice of Redhawks football with former quarterback Rick Wieser adding commentary for home games and Ron Hines, Sports Information Director, handling commentary on road games. Todd Bonacki will be a sideline reporter for home games.

REDHAWKS FOOTBALL WITH Tony Samuel: Samuel will have a weekly 30-minute television show on The Heartland's CW, WQWQ-TV. The show will air at 11:05 p.m. on Mondays and will be hosted by KFVS-TV sports director Todd Richards. The show will also be shown on Charter Cable Channel 11 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's at 8 p.m. It will also be run on the KFVS-TV/Southeast Weather Channel (Charter Channel 113) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights at 6:30 p.m.

OVC SPORTS.TV: The game at Eastern Illinois will be video streamed on the Ohio Valley Conference's premium website, OVCSports.tv which can be accessed by logging on to the league's official website, OVCSports.com. Subscriptions are available on an annual, seasonal and per event basis.

KFVS 12 WEBCAST: All Southeast home games are WebCast on KFVS12.com. Randy Ray handles the play-by-play with Todd Richards adding color commentary.

NEXT WEEK: The Redhawks will host Tennessee State in the annual homecoming game at Houck Stadium. The Redhawks and the league leading Tigers will kickoff at 1 p.m.