Aug. 30, 2001

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Football Game Information
Southeast Missouri State at Eastern Michigan

Date: Saturday, Sept. 1, 2001

Time: 5 p.m. (CDT)

Location: Rynearson Stadium, Ypsilanti, Mich. (Artificial Turf)

Capacity: 30,200

Affiliations: Eastern Michigan, I-A Mid-American Conference
Southeast Missouri, I-AA Ohio Valley Conference

Series: First Meeting

2000 Records: Eastern Michigan 3-8, Southeast Missouri 3-8

The Coaches: Tim Billings is 3-8 after one season at Southeast Missouri
Jeff Woodruff is 3-8 after one season at Eastern Michigan

Radio: Southeast Radio Network anchored by K-103 FM in Cape Girardeau. Other network stations include KSIM in Sikeston and KWOC in Poplar Bluff. Erik Sean will do play-by-play with Ron Hines as the color analyst.

This Week in the OVC

8-30 Gardner Webb at UTM
8-30 Fayetteville St. at TTU
8-30 E. Ky. at Central Mich.
9-1 Murray St. at Ole Miss
9-1 Ala. A&M at Tenn. State
9-1 Southeast at E. Mich.

THE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri and Eastern Michigan were both 3-8 last season. Southeast was 1-6 the I-AA Ohio Valley Conference while Eastern Michigan was 2-3 in the I-A Mid-American Conference-West.

THE COACHES: Tim Billings, a former assistant at Marshall, Missouri and Oklahoma, was 3-8 in his first season at Southeast Missouri. He was 2-0 vs. Eastern Michigan while serving as an assistant at Marshall. Jim Woodruff, a former assistant at Arizona, Washington, Nevada-Reno and Kent State, was 3-8 in his first season at Eastern Michigan.

THE SERIES: This is the first meeting.

SEASON OPENERS: Since moving to Division I-AA in 1991, Southeast is 4-6 in season openers. Last season, Southeast opened the season with a 63-7 loss at Marshall. The last Southeast win in a season opener was in 1998 when Southeast beat Truman State 23-18 at Houck Stadium.

SOUTHEAST VS. MAC: Southeast is 0-1 vs. Mid-American Conference teams after last year's loss to Marshall. The Indians have future games schedule with Ohio University in 2003 and Kent State in 2005.

McDOWELL WILL START AT QB: Redshirt freshman Jeromy McDowell has been tabbed the starting quarterback for the Indians after beating out two seniors. McDowell threw for 23 touchdowns while completing 63% of his passes two seasons ago at North County High School in Bonne Terre. The 23 TD's ranks as the ninth best ever by a Missouri high school player. He was a three-time all-state selection. Seniors Rashad West, who has been hampered by a knee injury, and Bob Brune will backup McDowell.

FRESHMAN KICKERS: Southeast kicking duties will be handled by a pair of true freshmen. Derek Kutz is scheduled to kick PAT's and field goals in the opener while Brian Emmendorfer will kick off. Kutz holds five Missouri high school records including 52-52 PAT's season, the best career PAT percentage with 98-99, 93 straight PAT's and 28 career field goals. He is tied for the state record for kicking points with 81 last season. His long field goal in high school was 46 yards.

Emmendorfer has two of the longest field goals in Missouri high school history, 57 and 58 yards.

INJURIES: Backup linebacker Tyson Gooch underwent shoulder surgery just prior to the start of fall drills and will be out for the season. Senior center Jon Jensen has never fully recovered from a shoulder injury and has left the team. Junior defensive end Ryan Roth is recovering from foot surgery and is out indefinitely. Senior defensive back Demar Winston has been hled out of contact drills because of a shoulder injury but has been cleared to play Saturday.

Senior wide receiver Andy Dunaway is recovering from a broken finger suffered this summer and has been cleared to play in the season opener.

NESSMITH RULES INELIGIBLE: Sophomore wide receiver Chris NesSmith has been declared academically inelgible for the season.

SIX CAPTAINS SELECTED: The Indian squad has elected six captains for the 2001 season. Serving as offensive captains will be senior running back Curtis Cooper and junior wide receivers Willie Ponder and Adrian Sanders. Defensive captains will be junior linemen James Jennette and Jermaine Motley along with sophomore linebacker Rickey Farmer.

YOUNG SQUAD: The current Indian squad has 47 freshman and sophomores on the 76 man squad. There are 37 freshmen including redshirt freshmen and 10 sophomores. There are 19 juniors and only 11 seniors.

NEW COACHES: The Indians have four new assistant coaches. Cody Vardeman will coach the defensive ends after being defensive coordinator at Ranger College last season. Matt Webb will coach the linebackers after serving as linebacker coach at Southwest Baptist the last three years. Bob Vaught will work with the defensive tackles after coaching at Greenville High School in Greenville, Michigan the past two years and Andy McGill, who played high school football at Sikeston, joins the staff as defensive backs coach after coaching the past two seasons at William Jewell.

NEW STRENGTH COACH: Paul Helsel has joined the Southeast staff as strength and conditioning coach after serving as assistant strength and conditioning coach at Marshall since April of 1998. Helsel worked as an assistant at Alabama from 1994 to 1998. He has both Bachelor and Master's degrees from Alabama and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

BROTHERS: The Southeast defensive line could have two Motleys. Junior defensive tackle Jermaine Motley is a returning starter in the defensive line while his younger brother, sophomore Jeremy Motley, will battle for playing time at defensive end. Jeremy, 6-4, 260, was a quarterback in high school.

UNCLES: Former NFL standout Barry Sanders of the Detroit Lions is the uncle of Southeast wide receiver Adrian Sanders. Former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield is the uncle of Southeast defensive back Marco Tipton. Holyfield attended last year's Southeast game at Tennessee State and talked to the team in the dressing room after the game.

ACADEMIC HONORS: Five members of the football team have been honored as members of the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll. Alex Alameda, Andy Dunaway, Mike Gross, Chuck McElroy and Justen Meyer were honored for having a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 or higher.

PRESEASON ALL-OVC: Senior linebacker Corey Mathis, who ranked 16th nationally in tackles for losses last season, has been named to the preseason all-OVC football team. Junior defensive lineman Jermaine Motley, senior running back Curtis Cooper and sophomore offensive guard Eugene Amano were named honorable mention preseason all-OVC.

PRESEASON POLLS: Southeast is picked sixth in the preseason poll of OVC coaches and sports information directors. At least one national publication picks Southeast fifth in the OVC.

SIX HOME GAMES: Southeast will have six home games at Houck Stadium beginning with regional rivals Southern Illinois on Sept. 8 and Southwest Missouri on Sept. 15. Tennessee-Martin will be the Family Weekend foe on Oct. 6 and Murray State will be the homecoming opponent on Oct. 20. Eastern Kentucky will be at Houck on Nov. 3 and the Indians close the regular season at home against Quincy on Nov. 10. All home games begin at 6 p.m. except the homecoming game that will kickoff at 1 p.m.

RADIO REACHES FIVE STATES: Southeast football games are broadcast throughout Southeast Missouri and into four additional states on the Southeast Football Network operated by the Zimmer Broadcast Group of Cape Girardeau. The games can be heard worldwide on the internet at www.gosoutheast.com. Erik Sean will be in his second season of doing play-by-play of Indian games. Former Southeast quarterback Rick Wieser will add commentary for home games with Ron Hines providing commentary on road games.

FAMILIAR FACES: Eastern Michigan assistant athletic director Mike Malach and equipment manager Ed Whited are both former staff members at Southeast Missouri State. Marty Mornhinweg, head coach of the Detroit Lions, was the offensive coordinator at Southeast Missouri in 1989 and 1990. Lion defensive back Marquis Walker played at Southeast Missouri in 1995.

NEXT WEEK: Southeast Missouri will host Southern Illinois in the home opener at Houck Stadium. Game time will be 6 p.m. Eastern Michigan will play at Maryland.

DEPTH CHART: Available in the PDF file at the top of the page.