Southeast Missouri (0-1) at Dayton (0-1)

Date: Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017
Kickoff: Noon, CT
Location: Dayton, Ohio
Stadium: Welcome Stadium (11,000)
Surface: 24/7 Field Turf
Weather Forecast: Mostly Sunny, 71 degrees
Series History: First Meeting
Head Coaches: Tom Matukewicz (12-23, 9-14 OVC at SEMO). Rick Chamberlin (74-28 at UD).

Media Coverage
Radio: SEMO ESPN 92.9 FM, Real Rock 99.3 FM (Erik Sean)
TV: Spectrum Sports Watch Here
Twitter: @SEMOFootball
Southeast Missouri Notes

Redhawks Travel to Dayton
Southeast Missouri (0-1) hits the road for the second-straight week, this time heading to Dayton (0-1) Saturday. Kickoff is set for Noon, CT, at Welcome Stadium.

Follow the Redhawks
Fans can listen to Saturday's game on the radio at ESPN 92.9 FM and Real Rock 99.3 FM. Erik Sean will call the action. Video and live stats can be accessed online at DaytonFlyers.com. Twitter updates provided @SEMOFootball.

Series History
Southeast and Dayton meet for the first time in 2017. The Redhawks travel to Ohio on the front end of a home-and-home series with the Flyers. Dayton will return the trip to Cape Girardeau next season.

Pioneer League Snapshot
Dayton is a member of the Pioneer League, the nation's only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. San Diego, Drake, Valparaiso, Butler, Morehead State, Marist, Campbell, Davidson, Jacksonville and Stetson are the rest of the affiliates. San Diego won the Pioneer League with an overall 10-2 record and perfect 8-0 conference mark last season. Right behind the Toreros was Dayton, which finished at 9-2 overall and 7-1 in the Pioneer League.

Against the Pioneer League
Southeast is 3-3 all-time against Pioneer League opponents. The Redhawks are 0-1 against Drake and 3-2 against Morehead State. Morehead State is with Southeast in the Ohio Valley Conference outside of football. The Redhawks won their last two games against Pioneer League foes, beating Morehead State, 45-20, on Oct. 1, 1994 and, 21-12, on Nov. 4, 1995.

Back-to-Back Road Games
The Redhawks open a season with back-to-back road games for the second-straight year. Southeast starts a season with consecutive road contests for the third time in five years.

Season-Opening Losses
Southeast and Dayton each kicked off the 2017 season with a loss. The Redhawks fell at Football Bowl Subdivision and Big 12 Conference member Kansas, 38-16, and Dayton suffered a 13-10 loss in the final seconds at Robert Morris last week. Nick Bisceglia kicked a 26-yard field goal with four seconds on the clock to beat the Flyers.

Welcome to the Club
A total of eight players, including wide receiver Trevon Billington, safety Bydarrius Knighten, running back Marquis Terry, left guard Kyle Thies, cornerback Shabari Davis, center Lucas Orchard, right guard Junior Pierre and nose tackle Reggie Miles made their first career start at Kansas (Sept. 2). Terry, Thies, Davis, Orchard, Pierre and Miles are all first-year players at Southeast.

First-Timers
Seventeen players played in their first game at Southeast when the Redhawks faced Kansas (Sept. 2). Bydarrius Knighten, Marquis Terry, Jermel Adams, Eain Roberts, Nicholas Litang, Octavius McClatchey, Shabari Davis, Marcus Goree, Kendrick Tiller, Camden Boyle, Demarcus Rogers, Lucas Orchard, Kyle Thies, Junior Pierre, Bryson Donnell, Reggie Miles and Colby Cornett formed that group.

Billington Starts Strong
In his first career start at wide receiver, Trevon Billington made his first career reception and scored his first career touchdown at Kansas (Sept. 2). Billington scored the Redhawks first touchdown of the 2017 campaign on a 9-yard pass from Jesse Hosket with 8:52 left to play in the second quarter. He finished with four receptions for 44 yards.

Ford Tough
Cornerback Mike Ford, who missed the last four weeks of 2016 with an injury, collected five tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and two pass breakups in his first start of the season at Kansas (Sept. 2). Ford's last start before this year's season-opener was at Tennessee Tech on Oct. 22.

Kansas Native
Silver Lake, Kansas native Tom Matukewicz began his fourth season as Southeast's head coach against Kansas. This year marked the third time Matukewicz coached against KU. The Redhawks also played at Kansas on Sept. 6, 2014, his first year with the Redhawks. The other time Matukewicz faced the Jayhawks was when he was linebackers coach at Northern Illinois in 2011.

Season-Opening Games
With its 38-16 loss at Football Bowl Subdivision and Big 12 Conference member Kansas (Sept. 2), Southeast dropped to 9-18 all-time in season-openers since joining the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in 1991. This year marked the third-straight where the Redhawks started a season on the road against a FBS opponent.

Multiple TD Passes
Quarterback Jesse Hosket completed 25-of-44 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns at Kansas (Sept. 2). Hosket completed a pass to nine different Redhawk receivers. He connected with Trevon Billington on a 9-yard touchdown pass with 8:52 left in the second quarter and threw a 22-yard strike to Kristian Wilkerson with 12:17 remaining the fourth period. Hosket threw for two touchdowns in three of his last four starts dating back to last season.

Start Tracker
Outside linebacker Chad Meredith carries a streak of 23-straight starts to Dayton this week. Jesse Hosket started 12-consecutive games since he took over as Southeast's starting quarterback in 2016. Hosket is the Redhawks first quarterback to start back-to-back seasons in six years. Meanwhile, Drew Forbes has started 12 games in a row at left tackle.

Turnover Battle
Southeast won the turnover battle in its first game of the 2017 season at Kansas (Sept. 2). The Redhawks forced three turnovers and finished with a +2 turnover margin against the Jayhawks. Shabari Davis and Cape Girardeau native Al Young each intercepted a pass for the first time in their careers, while Omardrick Douglas notched his first career fumble recovery when Omar Pierre-Louis jarred the ball loose from KU punt returner Tyler Patrick. The Redhawks scored their first touchdown following Douglas' fumble recovery and cut the Jayhawks lead to 14-7 in the second quarter. Southeast forced three turnovers in a season-opener for the second year in a row.

Davis Debut
Sophomore Shabari Davis leads the Ohio Valley Conference in punt return average after one game this season. Davis, a transfer from Garden City Community College, returned three punts for 79 yards, averaging 26.3 yards per return at Kansas (Sept. 2). His longest return was 30 yards. As a team, the Redhawks averaged only 6.5 yards per punt a year ago.

Career-High for Wilkerson
Kristian Wilkerson had a career-high nine receptions at Kansas (Sept. 2). Wilkerson led the Redhawks with 68 receiving yards and scored his first touchdown of the seaosn on a 22-yard catch in the fourth quarter. He has had at least one catch in 10 of his last 12 contests. Wilkerson leads the Ohio Valley Conference in receptions per game.

Approaching 200
Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference and All-American outside linebacker Chad Meredith is inching closer to 200 career tackles. Meredith led Southeast with six tackles at Kansas (Sept. 2). He currently has 182 total stops. Meredith ranked second on the team in tackles (86) and tackles for loss (10.5), and tied for first in sacks (4) last season. Meredith has started 22-straight games and is eighth in career sacks (8.5) and eighth in career tackles for loss (25) at Southeast.

Now Appearing
Marquis Terry rushed for 87 yards on 23 carries in his first start at tailback last week. Terry averaged 3.8 yards per carry and also caught four passes for 22 yards. He finished with a team-high 109 all-purpose yards in his first game as a Redhawk. Terry's 23 carries against Kansas (Sept. 2) were more than any Southeast running back had in a game all of last season. He enters the week ranked fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference with 87 yards per game.

Litang Scores
Newcomer place kicker Nicholas Litang made a 45-yard field goal on his first career attempt at Southeast with 11:26 remaining in the third quarter at Kansas (Sept. 2). Litang, who transferred to Southeast from New Mexico Military Institute, scored four points against the Jayhawks.

Scoring Streak
The Redhawks presently have the third-longest scoring streak in the Ohio Valley Conference. Southeast has scored in 67-consecutive games and ranks behind Murray State (133) and UT Martin (81) in that category. The last time the Redhawks were shutout in a game was at Purdue (59-0) on Sept. 17, 2011.

Turnover Time
Southeast's defense forced a turnover in eight of its last 12 games. The Redhawks recorded multiple takeaways in nine of their previous 16 contests.