Southeast Missouri (0-1) vs. Southern Illinois (0-1)

Family Weekend
Date: Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015
Kickoff: 6 p.m., CT 
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Stadium: Missouri National Guard Field/Houck Stadium (10,000)
Surface: FieldTurf
Forecast: Clear, 77 degrees
Series: Southeast leads, 39-35-8
Last Meeting: Southern Illinois 50, Southeast Missouri 23 | Sept. 13, 2014 in Carbondale, Ill.
Head Coaches: Tom Matukewicz (6-8 overall; 5-8 at Southeast; 3-5 OVC). Dale Lennon 150-68 overall; 48-35 at SIU; 34-22 MVFC).

Media Information  
Radio: ESPN 92.9 FM, Real Rock 99.3 FM (Erik Sean, Rick Wieser, Todd Bonacki) | Listen Live
Video: OVC Digital Network
Live Stats: GoSoutheast.com
Twitter Updates: @SEMOFootball
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri | OVC Weekly Report

Redhawks Host Regional-Rival Southern Illinois on Family Weekend
Southeast Missouri hosts regional-rival Southern Illinois in its home-opener Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m., CT, at Missouri National Guard Field/Houck Stadium. Saturday's matchup falls on Family Weekend.

Follow the Redhawks
Fans can listen to Saturday's game live on the radio at ESPN 92.9 FM and Real Rock 99.3 FM with Erik Sean, Rick Wieser and Todd Bonacki calling the action from Missouri National Guard Field/Houck Stadium. Video is available online at OVCDigitalNetwork.com. Live stats can be accessed online at GoSoutheast.com. Live twitter updates will be provided @SEMOFootball.

Home-Openers
Southeast is 15-9 all-time in home-openers since moving to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The Redhawks coasted to a 77-0 win over Missouri Baptist in their home-opener last season. Southeast came away with a win in its home-opener seven of the last nine years.

Familiar Territory
For the eighth time during Southeast's NCAA Division I era, Southern Illinois visits Missouri National Guard Field/Houck Stadium for the Redhawks home-opener. Although the College Classic between Southeast and SIU at Busch Stadium (Sept. 21, 2013) was technically the Redhawks home game, the Salukis haven't opened Southeast's home slate at Houck Stadium since Sept. 3, 2011. SIU went 6-1 in the previous seven matchups, winning in 1991 (28-27, Aug. 31), 1995 (30-27, Aug. 31), 1999 (43-25, Sept. 2), 2003 (28-7, Sept. 6), 2005 (58-23, Sept. 1) and 2011 (38-10). The Redhawks only home-opening win over the Salukis as an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision club was on Sept. 8, 2001. That year, Southeast scored 24 unanswered points behind Jeromy McDowell who threw for a school record 391 yards and three touchdowns in its 24-5 victory.

Series History
Southeast and Southern Illinois meet for the 83rd time in 2015. The Redhawks, who have played SIU more than any other opponent in their football history, own a 39-35-8 advantage in a series that dates all the way back to 1909. However, the Salukis won eight of the last nine matchups between these teams and look to keep their current four-game winning streak in the series alive. Southeast, which is 17-17-4 against SIU at Missouri National Guard Field/Houck Stadium, has not beaten the Salukis in Cape Girardeau since 2001. Additionally, the Redhawks haven't won against SIU since their Ohio Valley Conference championship and NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoff season in 2010. Southeast upset the then-No. 5 Salukis, 24-21, in Carbondale that year.

Big Stage
The Redhawks and Salukis each kicked off their respective 2015 seasons against Football Bowl Subdivision teams on the road. Southeast fell to #24 Missouri, 34-3, and SIU dropped a 48-47 heartbreaker to Indiana. Both of those games were on Sept. 5. The Salukis pulled to within a point when Jimmy Jones made a leaping touchdown catch with 18 seconds left. SIU went for the two-point conversion and the win, but Mark Iannotti's pass went through the arms of Connor Iwema.   

Stacked Schedule
Four ranked teams are part of a strong schedule for Southeast in 2015. The Redhawks kicked off the season at #24 Missouri (Sept. 5) and square off against #21 Indiana State (Sept. 19), #19 Eastern Kentucky (Oct. 17) and #5/6 Jacksonville State (Nov. 14) later in the year. Southeast is 4-22 against ranked Football Championship Subdivision (4-19) and Football Bowl Subdivision (0-3) teams combined since 2004. Tom Matukewicz is the only head coach in the school's football history that has led the Redhawks to two wins over ranked opponents in the same season. That happened when Southeast took down then-# 3 Southeastern Louisiana (24-23) and #20 Tennessee State during Matukewicz's head coaching debut in 2014.

Matukewicz vs. Southern Illinois
Tom Matukewicz is 0-1 against Southern Illinois as a head coach. Southeast fell to then-#14 SIU, 50-23, in Carbondale during the third week of the 2014 season.

SIU Connections
The Southern Illinois game is always going to mean something more to head coach Tom Matukewicz, defensive coordinator Bryce Saia and offensive coordinator Sherard Poteete. Matukewicz spent seven seasons under head coach Jerry Kill at SIU. As linebackers coach and run-game coordinator, Matukewicz had a big hand in three Missouri Valley Football championships (2003, 2004, 2005) and five NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoff berths (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007). He was named the 2007 FCS Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association after helping turn the Salukis into one of the top rushing defenses in the nation. Saia and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Poteete also have Southern Illinois connections. Saia coached the defensive line for four years (2004-07). The Salukis ranked either first or second in the MVFC during his tenure, and had the top-ranked scoring defense in the FCS in 2004. Saia was also with Matukewicz at Toledo for two seasons. Poteete was named the 1999 MVFC Newcomer of the Year and garnered All-MVC accolades in 2000 as a quarterback at SIU. His wife, the former Jamie Campbell, played softball for the Salukis from 1997-2000.

Redhawks Drop Season-Opener
Southeast dropped its season-opener to #24 Missouri, 34-3, in front of a crowd of 64,670 at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field on Sept. 5. Mizzou, which shutout the Redhawks in three quarters, scored the first 17 points of the game and never looked back. Ryan McCrum's 35-yard field goal late in the first half accounted for Southeast's first points of the season. It was the Redhawks 15th-consecutive loss to a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent.

Defensive Statement
The Redhawk defense held its own against a very good Missouri offense last week. Southeast held the Tigers under 100 yards rushing (98), posted three sacks, tallied eight tackles for loss and had an interception. The three sacks matched the Redhawks single-game high from last season just one game into their 2015 campaign.

On the Move
With 32 yards against Southern Illinois Saturday, Paul McRoberts will join Southeast's top-10 list in career receiving yards. McRoberts currently has 1,535 yards. Willie Ponder currently holds the all-time career record with 2,543 receiving yards from 2001-02.

More on McRoberts
Paul McRoberts made the 100th catch of his career on a 3-yard pass from Tay Bender in the first quarter against Missouri (Sept. 5). McRoberts led Southeast with four receptions for 40 yards in that game. He ran his career total to 103 receptions. In addition, McRoberts has caught a touchdown pass in 11 of his last 14 games.

The Chase is On
Star wide receiver Paul McRoberts is on pace to break Southeast's all-time career record in receiving touchdowns. McRoberts enters his senior year with 20 receiving touchdowns and needs seven more to break the record. He is currently tied for second behind Willie Ponder who caught 26 touchdown passes from 2001-02. Ponder is the Redhawks all-time leading receiver with 2,543 yards.

Major Attention
Legitimately one of the best receivers the Football Championship Subdivision has to offer, Preseason All-American Paul McRoberts is getting significant interest. Several NFL teams, including the Seattle Seahawks, Jacksonville Jaguars, San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have already seen McRoberts.

Bender Debut
Junior Tay Bender made his first career start as Southeast's quarterback at Missouri (Sept. 5). Bender completed 12-of-22 passes for 56 yards and rushed for a game-high 69 yards on 14 carries. He completed passes to six different Redhawk receivers and did not throw an interception. Bender is Southeast's third different starting quarterback in three years.

Meredith Notches Career-High
Outside linebacker Chad Meredith tallied a career and team-high eight tackles against Missouri (Sept. 5). Meredith, who missed the last eight games of the 2014 season with a shoulder injury, also had two tackles for loss. It was just the third start of his career.

Good Knight
One of the Ohio Valley Conference's best punters, Alex Knight had a huge game against Missouri (Sept. 5). Knight established new career-highs in punts (10), punting yards (497),  50+ yard punts (5) and punts inside the 20 (6). He averaged 49.7 yards per punt, as well. Knight also had a 60-yard punt against the Tigers, marking the second-longest of his career. He ranks second in the Football Championship Subdivision in punting.

First Takeaway
Eriq Moore recorded Southeast's first turnover of the season when he intercepted a Maty Mauk pass on Missouri's second drive of the game. Moore, who led the Redhawks with three picks a year ago, now has five in his career.

New to the Club
A total of five players made their first career starts at Southeast against Missouri last week. Alex Snyder (OT), Michael Cooke (OT), Stephen Dunn (TE), Tay Bender (QB) and Ryan Moore (CB) are the newest starters. In all, 14 different players saw action for the first time as Redhawks.

White Balance
Southeast donned white pants, white jerseys and black helmets for its season-opener at Missouri (Sept. 5). It was the first time the Redhawks suited up in white pants and white jerseys since 2009 (Oct. 24, at Tennessee Tech). That year, Southeast wore its white uniform set with red helmets.

Redhawk Captains
Senior wide receiver Paul McRoberts, and juniors Garret Baker (G), Eriq Moore (SS) and Roper Garrett (LB) are Southeast's captains this season. McRoberts, Baker and Garrett are captains for the second year in a row, while Moore earned the distinction for the first time in his career.  

Closing In
DeMichael Jackson is coming up on 2,000 rushing yards in his career. Jackson presently has 1,788 yards and nine touchdowns in 29 games and 15 starts at Southeast. He needs 212 yards to reach the mark. Henry Harris (2,773 from 2008-10) was the last Redhawk running back to rush for 2,000 career yards.

About Southern Illinois
Southern Illinois, ranked seventh in this year's Missouri Valley Football Conference Preseason Poll, began its season with a resilient performance at Big Ten Conference member Indiana (Sept. 5). SIU, which racked up 659 yards of total offense, came up short in a 48-47 loss. The Salukis had the Hoosiers on the ropes, leading 32-21 at the half. IU, however, came back and led 48-41 until the final 18 seconds of the game. Mark Iannotti hooked up with Jimmy Jones, who made a leaping catch in the end zone to narrow the gap to one. SIU went for the two-point conversion and the win, but missed the attempt. Iannotti was named the MVFC Offensive and Footbal Championship Subdivision National Player of the Week after his big game against IU.