Eastern Illinois (3-3, 2-1 OVC-Big South) vs. Southeast Missouri (2-4, 1-1 OVC-Big South)
Game Information
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2025
Kickoff: 2 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Facility: Houck Field (8,000)
Surface: Field Turf
Series: EIU leads, 18-14
Last Meeting: SEMO 38, EIU 27 | 10/5/24 | Charleston, Ill.
Last Meeting in Cape Girardeau: SEMO 35, EIU 28 | 10/14/23
Head Coaches
Eastern Illinois: Chris Wilkerson (67-51 overall; 16-24 at EIU; 9-13 OVC-Big South)
Southeast Missouri: Tom Matukewicz (66-67 overall; 65-67 at SEMO; 48-33 OVC-Big South)
Follow the Redhawks
Video: ESPN+ (Erik Sean, Rick Wieser)
Live Stats: SEMORedhawks.com
Radio: Real Rock 99.3 FM (Erik Sean, Rick Wieser)
X: @SEMOfootball
Game Notes: Southeast Missouri (PDF)
Homecoming at SEMO
• Southeast Missouri (2-4, 1-1) closes out its two-game home stand when it hosts Eastern Illinois (3-3, 2-1) during its Homecoming Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m., CT at Houck Field.
• SEMO is at home for the fourth time this season when EIU comes to Cape Girardeau.
• This year marks the fifth time the Redhawks welcome the Panthers as their Homecoming opponent.
• SEMO is 3-1 all-time against EIU on its Homecoming weekend.
• The Redhawks are 6-1 in their last seven Homecoming matchups.
Series History
• Saturday marks the 33rd meeting between Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois.
• EIU leads the all-time series, 18-14.
• SEMO won the last seven games of the series, including a 38-27 victory in Charleston a year ago.
• Tom Matukewicz is 8-3 all-time agianst EIU as SEMO's head coach.
• Matukewicz has the most wins against the Panthers and fellow OVC-Big South member Tennessee Tech (8-3) in his 12 years at the helm.
• Eight of SEMO's 14 wins against the Panthers came at Houck Field.
• The Redhawks averaged 36.1 points per game in their last seven meetings with EIU.
Homecoming Games
• Southeast Missouri is 18-15 all-time in Homecoming games since moving to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision in 1991.
• SEMO won six of its last seven Homecoming matchups.
• Here is a list of the Redhawks Homecoming results in that span.
10/12/91 Tennessee Tech W, 34-31
10/31/92 UT Martin W, 37-13
11/6/93 Eastern Kentucky L, 21-35
10/29/94 Austin Peay W, 31-10
10/7/95 Tennessee Tech W, 33-12
10/26/96 Middle Tennessee W, 16-13
10/11/97 Tennessee Tech L, 14-17
10/31/98 Middle Tennessee L, 19-21
10/9/99 Tennessee Tech L, 7-21
10/21/00 Murray State L, 28-38
10/20/01 Murray State L, 35-45
10/19/02 Eastern Illinois L, 27-44
10/4/03 Eastern Illinois W, 30-17
10/30/04 UT Martin W, 35-7
10/29/05 Murray State W, 52-21
10/30/04 UT Martin W, 35-7
10/29/05 Murray State W, 52-21
10/21/06 Eastern Kentucky L, 21-27
10/20/07 Murray State L, 17-31
10/25/08 Tennessee State W, 27-20 OT
10/10/09 Austin Peay L, 14-24
10/30/10 UT Martin W, 24-17
10/22/11 Austin Peay W, 17-13
10/20/12 UT Martin L, 17-27
10/26/13 Eastern Kentucky L, 7-31
10/4/14 Tennessee State W, 28-21
10/17/15 Eastern Kentucky L, 10-27
11/5/16 #2 Jacksonville State L, 10-17
10/14/17 Tennessee Tech W, 31-3
10/13/18 Austin Peay W, 31-27
10/26/19 UT Martin W, 17-10
2020 No Homecoming Game
10/30/21 Eastern Illinois W, 38-15
10/29/22 Eastern Kentucky L, 23-28
10/14/23 Eastern Illinois W, 35-28
10/26/24 Gardner-Webb W, 30-24
Redhawks Grab First OVC-Big South Win
• Southeast Missouri picked up its first Ohio Valley Conference-Big South Association win of the season when it beat Tennessee State, 28-12, on Oct. 11.
• With its win over the Tigers, SEMO improved to 15-19 all-time in OVC-Big South home-openers.
• The Redhawks won 10 of 12 conference home-openers under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz.
Weber Named OVC-Big South Co-Freshman of the Week
• Johnny Weber was named Ohio Valley Conference-Big South Association Co-Freshman of the Week on Oct. 13.
• In his first career start at quarterback, Weber completed 24-of-39 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns.
• He threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Donnie Cheers with 5:57 left to play in the first quarter and 10-yard pass to Kalvin Gilbert with 10:23 remaining in the fourth quarter.
• Weber completed passes to eight different receivers.
• He took over as SEMO's quarterback after starter Jax Leatherwood and backup Patrick Heitert suffered knee injuries at UT Martin (Sept. 27).
• Weber is the third different SEMO player to earn one of the OVC-Big South's weekly accolades joining Jax Leatherwood (Offensive Player of the Week, Sept. 8) and Justin Keller (Specialist of the Week, Sept. 8).
Epton, Jr. Springs for Two Touchdowns
• Brandon Epton, Jr. scored a career-high two rushing touchdowns against Tennessee State (Oct. 11).
• Epton, Jr. hit paydirt on 36-yard run with 1:15 left in the first quarter and scored on a 2-yard plunge with 8:30 to go in the second period.
• He finished with 69 yards on 16 carries, as Southeast Missouri ran for a season-high 176 yards as a team.
• Epton, Jr. is tied for second in the OVC-Big South with four rushing touchdowns through six games this year.
Longest Scoring Drive
• Southeast Missouri put together its longest scoring drive of the season against Tennessee State (Oct. 11).
• SEMO covered 99 yards on 10 plays and capped that drive with a 2-yard run by Brandon Epton, Jr. with 8:30 left in the second quarter.
• The last time the Redhawks had a 99-yard scoring drive was against Murray State on Oct. 3, 2015.
• Paul McRoberts caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Dante Vandeven to polish off a 12-play, 99-yard drive with 5:01 left to play in the second quarter of that contest.
• SEMO had two 90-plus yard scoring drives against the Tigers.
Ruble Rumbles
• Cole Ruble gained a season-high 93 rushing yards vs. Tennessee State (Oct. 11).
• Ruble averaged 7.8 yards on 12 carries.
• He also had a 35-yard run for a first down on a fake punt against the Tigers.
• Ruble ranks second on the team with 195 rushing yards on 26 attempts.
Season-High Takeaways
• Southeast Missouri's defense came away with a season-high three takeaways vs. Tennessee State (Oct. 11).
• Slade Dollar and Adrian Patterson each had one interception and Jeremy Walton recovered a fumble.
• It was SEMO's first game with multiple takeaways this year.
• Dollar leads the Redhawks with two interceptions in six starts at inside linebacker.
Program Milestone Ahead
• Southeast Missouri is just one win away from reaching 500 in its football program history.
• SEMO's football program began in 1904 and moved to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision in 1991.
• The school's all-time program record stands at 499-565-36.
Halfway Point
• The Redhawks are halfway through their 12-game schedule in 2025.
• Southeast Missouri's remaining six games include home matchups with Eastern Illinois (Oct. 18), Charleston Southern (Nov. 1) and Lindenwood (Nov. 22), and road trips to Tennessee Tech (Oct. 25), Gardner-Webb (Nov. 8) and Western Illinois (Nov. 15).
Conference Success
• Since 2018, Southeast Missouri has put together a record of 36-14 in conference games.
• During that span, SEMO won three league titles (2019, 2022, 2024) and made the FCS Playoffs four times (2018, 2019, 2022, 2024).
• The Redhawks finished with winning conference records six times and a .500 league record once in the last seven seasons.
Red Zone Offense
• Southeast Missouri leads the Football Championship in red zone offense four games into its 2025 campaign.
• SEMO has scored on all 14 of its opportunities in the red zone thus far.
• The Redhawks scored 82 of their 137 points inside the 20-yard line.
• Additionally, SEMO has not turned the ball over in the red zone in 16 of its last 18 games dating back to last season.
Kicking Strong
• Kicker Justin Keller is Southeast Missouri's top scorer with 35 points.
• Keller, a transfer from Coastal Carolina, is in his first season as the Redhawks starting kicker.
• He scored a season-best 12 points on 3-of-3 field goals and 3-of-3 extra points vs.North Alabama (Sept. 6).
• For the season, he is 6-of-9 on field goals and a perfect 17-of-17 on PATs.
• Keller is third in the OVC-Big South in field goals made (6), fifth in field goal percentage (66.7), fourth in scoring (kick) (5.8 ppg) and tied for first in PAT kicking percentage (1.00).
Net Worth
• Southeast Missouri ranks fifth in the FCS in net punting with a 42.6 average.
• First-year starting punter Ryan Kingston is third in the OVC-Big South and 16th in the nation in punting with an average of 43.8 yards per punt.
• Kingston dropped 10 of his punts inside the 20-yard line. Five of his punts traveled 50 or more yards, including a season-long 56-yard punt at #1 North Dakota State (Sept. 13).
Leading Tackler
• Safety Landon Sylvie leads the Redhawks with 56 tackles this season.
• Sylvie became the first Redhawk to reach double-digit tackles when he posted a career-high 12 at Arkansas State (Aug. 30).
• He followed that up with eight tackles the following week vs. North Alabama (Sept. 6), nine at #1 North Dakota State (Sept. 13), nine vs. #11 Southern Illinois (Sept. 20), 11 at UT Martin (Sept. 27) and seven vs. Tennessee State (Oct. 11).
• Sylvie was SEMO's leading tackler in all six games this season.
• He ranks 19th in the Football Championship Subdivision and first in the OVC-Big South with 9.3 tackle per game.
About Eastern Illinois
• Eastern Illinois is coming off its first OVC-Big South loss of the season, a 21-10 setback vs. Gardner-Webb on Oct. 11.
• EIU is second in the OVC-Big South in rushing touchdowns (12) and has the league's second-best rushing defense allowing 138.8 yards per contest.
• Cole LaCrue leads the conference in scoring (TDs). LaCrue has a OVC-Big South best six rushing touchdowns and is averaging 7.2 points per game this season.
• Defensively, Tylan Foster and Ja'Wuan Nickson are among the OVC-Big South's top 10 tacklers. Foster is sixth with 7.5 tackles per game and Nickson is eighth with 7.3 stops per contest.
