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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (0-1) opened the 2015 season with a 34-3 loss to #24 Missouri (1-0) Saturday afternoon in front of a crowd of 64,670 at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field.
 
Mizzou, which shutout Southeast in three quarters, scored the first 17 points of the game and never looked back.
 
"I'm proud of this football team," said Southeast head coach Tom Matukewicz. "Although we didn't play as well as we could have today, I thought our defense did a great job of stopping the run against a very good Missouri offense."
 
Maty Mauk, who improved to 15-4 as a collegiate starting quarterback, threw touchdown passes on two of the Tigers first three drives.
 
Mauk hooked up with J'Mon Moore on a 27-yard strike to cap a quick 5-play, 64-yard march in just 1:15, giving Mizzou an early lead.
 
After a Southeast punt, Mauk went to work again, engineering a 5-play, 54-yard drive. His second touchdown pass, a 23-yard toss to Nate Brown, extended Mizzou's lead to 14-0 with 4:49 left to play in the first quarter.
 
Freshman Drew Lock made his debut under center during Mizzou's first drive of the second quarter.
 
Lock started strong, completing 4-of-5 passes for 51 yards. His 22-yard pass to Moore on 3^rd-and-4 kept the drive alive that resulted in a 39-yard field goal by Andrew Baggett.
 
Southeast put together its only scoring drive of the game late in the first half. The Redhawks covered 76 yards in 16 plays before Ryan McCrum kicked a 35-yard field goal to make it 17-3 at the intermission.
 
Mizzou assembled a 10-play, 76-yard drive to start the second half, but settled for a field goal. Mauk completed a 25-yard pass to Moore to move the Tigers to the Southeast-20.
 
Five plays later, Mauck completed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Sean Culkin. The catch, however, was negated after Culkin stepped out of bounds before securing the ball in the back of the end zone.
 
Baggett's 23-yard field goal split the uprights immediately after the penalty to stretch the Tigers lead to 20-3 with 10:55 remaining in the third quarter.
 
A big play on special teams allowed the Tigers to add to their lead.
 
On 4^th-and-10, linebacker Kentrell Brothers blocked quarterback Tay Bender's pooch punt. Aarion Penton scooped up the ball and ran 41 yards to the end zone, raising Mizzou's lead to 27-3 with 22 seconds left in the third quarter.
 
"That was poor coaching by me," said Matukewicz. "We didn't execute our protection. We'll be working on that right away in practice Tuesday."
 
Lock threw a 78-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Tyler Hunt for Mizzou's final score. That play polished off the Tigers longest march which consisted of five plays and 92 yards in less than two minutes.
 
Mauk completed 12-of-22 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns and Lock threw for 138 yards and a touchdown to lead Mizzou.
 
The Tigers outgained Southeast, 417-201, with 319 of their yards coming through the air.
 
Bender played well in his first career start as the Redhawks QB. He completed 12-of-22 passes for 56 yards and ran for a game-high 69 yards on 14 carries. Bender did not throw an interception, as well.
 
"Overall, I thought it was a good performance," said Bender. "Not throwing any picks is a good thing. Mizzou is a great team and we have to get better."
 
Paul McRoberts, who hauled in his 100^th career catch late in the first quarter, finished with four receptions for 40 yards.
 
Offensively, Southeast did not have a play go for more than 21 yards.
 
In just his third career start, Chad Meredith led the Redhawks with a career-high eight tackles. Eriq Moore also recorded the fifth interception of his career when he picked off Mauk at the Southeast 6-yardline.
 
Southeast's defense accounted for a total of three sacks and eight tackles for loss, while holding Mizzou under 100 rushing yards (98).
 
Punter Alex Knight established new career-highs in punts (10), punting yards (497), 50+ yard punts (5) and punts inside the 20 (6). Knight's 60-yard punt in the second quarter marked the second-longest of his career.
 
Southeast hosts regional-rival Southern Illinois in its home-opener on Sept. 12. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m., CT, at Missouri National Guard Field/Houck Stadium.