Western Illinois (3-7, 2-4 Big South-OVC) vs. #12 Southeast Missouri (8-2, 5-1 Big South-OVC)

Game Information
Date: Saturday, November 16, 2024
Kickoff: 1 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Facility: Houck Field (8,000)
Surface: Field Turf
Series: SEMO leads, 1-0
Last Meeting in Cape Girardeau: SEMO 46, WIU 0 | 1944

Head Coaches
Western Illinois: Joe Davis (3-7 overall; 3-7 at WIU; 2-4 Big South-OVC)
Southeast Missouri: Tom Matukewicz (63-61 overall; 62-61 at SEMO; 46-31 Big South-OVC)

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Video: ESPN+  
Live Stats: SEMORedhawks.com
Radio: Real Rock 99.3 FM (Erik Sean, Rick Wieser)
Twitter: @SEMOfootball
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF) 

Redhawks Welcome Western Illinois
•    #12 Southeast Missouri welcomes Western Illinois on Senior Day Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., CT at Houck Field.
•    SEMO will recognize its seniors prior to the game.
•    Saturday marks the Redhawks final home game of the regular-season.
•    Should SEMO make the 24-team NCAA Division I Football Championship, it could potentially be at home again during the postseason.
•    The Redhawks and Leathernecks face each other for the first time as NCAA Division I FCS schools.

Series Notes
•    Southeast Missouri meets Western Illinois for just the second time in its program history.
•    You have to go back 80 years to find the last time SEMO and WIU squared off on the gridiron.
•    The Redhawks beat the Leathernecks, 46-0, in Cape Girardeau during the 1944 season.
•    WIU is in its first year as a member of the Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Association.

Eight Wins
•    The Redhawks picked up their eighth win of the season when they defeated Gardner-Webb, 30-24, on Oct. 26.
•    Southeast Missouri won eight or more games in a season for the fourth time under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz.
•    SEMO is one of 16 NCAA Division I FCS teams with eight or more wins. Montana State (10-0), UC Davis (9-1), North Dakota State (9-1), Mercer (9-1), Villanova (8-2), Incarnate Word (8-2), Tarleton State (8-2), Stony Brook (8-2), South Dakota State (8-2), Richmond (8-2), Rhode Island (8-2), Missouri State (8-2), Jackson State (8-2), Butler (8-2) and Delaware (8-1) are the others.

Undefeated at Home
•    Southeast Missouri is undefeated with a 4-0 record at Houck Field this season.
•    SEMO beat UT Martin, 45-42, in double overtime (Sept. 7), Northwestern State (Sept. 28), 19-0, Tennessee Tech (Oct. 12), 34-3, and Gardner-Webb (Oct. 26), 30-24, for its home victories.
•    With a win Saturday, the Redhawks will go undefeated at home during the regular-season for the third time under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz. SEMO went 6-0 at home in both 2018 and 2019.

Senior Day
•    The Redhawks will honor their 16 seniors prior to kickoff of Saturday's game against Western Illinois.
•    Khalani Riddick, Paxton DeLaurent, Dony'e Taylor, Dorian Anderson, Joedrick Lewis, Sam Cook, Mali Walton, Chris Daigre, JaQori Williams, Zi'kef Johnson, Bryce Norman, Mitchell Sellers, Adam Heston, DC Pippin, Kobe Sixkiller and Sam Keeper.

Seven of Eight
•    The Redhawks have won seven of their last eight games.
•    Southeast Missouri had a season-long seven-game winning streak which ended at Lindenwood on Nov. 9.
•    The seven-game winning streak was the longest under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz.
•    It was also SEMO's longest winning streak since the Redhawks won nine in a row in 2010.

Big South-OVC Play
•    Southeast Missouri (5-1) and UT Martin (5-1) are tied for first in the Big South-OVC standings.
•    Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech are close behind with 4-2 league records.
•    SEMO beat both teams (UT Martin, Eastern Illinois) ahead of them in this year's Big South-OVC Preseason Poll.
•    The Redhawks took down Big South-OVC preseason favorite UT Martin, 45-42, in double overtime on Sept. 7, defeated Eastern Illinois (Oct. 5), 38-27, on the road, beat Tennessee Tech (Oct. 12), 34-3, took down Charleston Southern (Oct. 19), 26-13, and beat Gardner-Webb (Oct. 26), 30-24, for their conference wins.
•    SEMO's only conference loss was a 24-12 defeat at Lindenwood (Nov. 9).

Let's Get Nine
•    With a win over Western Illinois, Southeast Missouri will tie its program record of nine victories in a season.
•    SEMO posted nine wins in a season six times going 9-0 in 1937, 9-0 in 1955, 9-3 in 2022, 9-3 in 2010, 9-4 in 2018 and 9-4 in 2019. The Redhawks are in position to give Tom Matukewicz his third nine-win season as a head coach.

Brown and Smith Return
•    Running backs Payton Brown and Darrell Smith returned at Lindenwood (Nov. 9).
•    Brown missed four games with an ankle injury and Smith was out two games with a hamstring injury.
•    Brown carried the ball three times for six yards and Smith ran the ball nine times for 37 yards against the Lions.

Career Game for Norman
•    Bryce Norman finished with a career-high 19 tackles at Lindenwood (Nov. 9).
•    Norman had nine solo stops, assisted on 10 others and added two sacks and three tackles for loss.
•    He went over 100 tackles in a season for the second time in his career.
•    The 19 tackles are the most in a game by a Big South-OVC player this season and fifth-most by a FCS player.
•    Norman's 10.7 tackles per game are first in the Big South-OVC and fifth nationally through 10 contests.

107 Tackles and Counting
•    Bryce Norman leads Southeast Missouri with 107 tackles through 10 starts this season.
•    Norman is over 100 tackles for the second season in his career. He also recorded a career-best 119 tackles in 2022. 
•    Norman led SEMO in tackles every year he has been in a Redhawk uniform.
•    He is first in the Big South-OVC and fourth in the FCS with 10.7 tackles per game.

Redhawks Now #12 and #13 in FCS Polls
•    Southeast Missouri is #12 in the Stats Perform Media and #13 in the American Football Coaches Association Top-25 polls as of Nov. 11.
•    SEMO reached its highest ranking in program history at #6 this season and was in that spot in both polls for three-straight weeks.
•    The Redhawks were also a Top-10 team for five weeks this year. It was the first time SEMO cracked the Top-10 in 14 years.
•    It is the ninth-straight week where the Redhawks are ranked in both Top-25 polls.
•    The Redhawks initially landed in the Top-25 in both polls on Sept. 16.
•    The Redhawks have been ranked a total of 41 weeks in either the AFCA or Stats Perform Top-25 polls under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz.
AFCA Coaches    Stats Perform
Sept. 16    #21    Sept. 16    #21
Sept. 23    #14    Sept. 23    #13
Sept. 30    #13    Sept. 30    #13
Oct. 7    #9    Oct. 7    #11
Oct. 14    #8    Oct, 14    #8
Oct. 21    #6    Oct. 21    #6
Oct. 28    #6    Oct. 28    #6
Nov. 4    #6    Nov. 4    #6
Nov. 11    #13    Nov. 11    #12