Charleston Southern (3-6, 2-3 OVC-Big South) vs. Southeast Missouri (3-5, 2-2 OVC-Big South)

Game Information
Date: Saturday, November 1, 2025
Kickoff: 1 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Facility: Houck Field (8,000)
Surface: Field Turf
Series: SEMO leads, 1-0
Last Meeting: SEMO 26, CSU 13 | 10/19/24 | Charleston, S.C.

Head Coaches
Charleston Southern: Gabe Giardina (45-41 overall; 8-24 at CSU; 4-15 OVC-Big South)
Southeast Missouri: Tom Matukewicz (67-68 overall; 66-68 at SEMO; 49-34 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) 

Redhawks Host Charleston Southern
•    Southeast Missouri (3-5, 2-2) hosts Charleston Southern (3-6, 2-3) Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., CT at Houck Field.
•    CSU makes its first trip to Cape Girardeau in 2025.
•    SEMO is at home for the third time in four games. The Redhawks are on a two-game home winning streak and hold a 3-1 record at Houck Field this season.
•    The Redhawks' final two home contests of the season will be 1 p.m., CT contests.
•    SEMO welcomes rival Lindenwood for its last home game and regular-season matchup on Nov. 22.
•    After Saturday's game, SEMO hits the road for two-straight weeks with trips to Gardner-Webb (Nov. 8) and Western Illinois (Nov. 15).

Series History
•    Southeast Missouri and Charleston Southern meet for just the second time.
•    SEMO holds a 1-0 lead in the series.
•    The Redhawks won the first-ever game between the teams, 26-13, in Charleston, S.C. on Oct. 19, 2024.
•    SEMO faces Gardner-Webb, the other Big South football school, on Nov. 8.

Redhawks Drop Road Contest at #8 Tennessee Tech
•    The Redhawks dropped a 42-23 decision at #8 Tennessee Tech (Oct. 25).
•    Cole Ruble's 2-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-2 made it a one-score game (21-16) with 1:33 left to play in the third quarter.
•    TTU, however, scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to pick up its 13th-straight win dating back to last season.
•    The loss ended the Redhawks' two-game winning streak.
•    SEMO fell to 0-3 against ranked opponents this season.

Leatherwood Returns
•    Starting quarterback Jax Leatherwood returned after missing three weeks with a knee injury.
•    Leatherwood will start Saturday's game against Charleston Southern.
•    He entered the Tennessee Tech game in the second quarter and completed 27-of-38 passes for 278 yards and one touchdown.
•    Johnny Weber initially started the game under center before giving way to Leatherwood.

Top Receiver
•    Kalvin Gilbert has emerged as Southeast Missouri's leading receiver through eight games this season.
•    Gilbert leads the team in receiving yards (504) and receiving touchdowns (5).
•    He ranks second in the OVC-Big South with 63 receiving yards per game.

Big Game Gilbert
•    Kalvin Gilbert caught a career-high 10 passes for 120 yards and one touchdown at Tennessee Tech (Oct. 25).
•    For Gilbert, it was his second 100-yard receiving game this year.
•    Gilbert scored on a 38-yard touchdown pass from Jax Leatherwood with 9:45 remaining in the fourth quarter.
•    He has caught a touchdown pass in three-straight games.

Nice Defense
•    Southeast Missouri's defense held Tennessee Tech to a season-low 299 total yards on Oct. 25.
•    SEMO limited the Golden Eagles to 136 rushing yards and 163 passing yards.
•    TTU entered that game with a OVC-Big South leading 506 total yards per game.

Keeper Approaching 100 Career Tackles
•    Veteran defensive lineman Sam Keeper is closing in on 100 tackles in his Southeast Missouri career.
•    Keeper presently has 91 tackles in 46 games and 21 starts.
•    He is in his fifth season with the Redhawks.

Keller Goes Over 10 Points Again
•    For the second time this season, Justin Keller scored over 10 points in a game.
•    Keller recently finished with 11 points on 3-of-3 field goals and 2-of-2 PATs at Tennessee Tech (Oct. 25).
•    He made field goals of 31, 40 and 36 yards against the Golden Eagles.
•    Keller has a streak of 25-consecutive PATs made this year.

Red Zone Offense
•    Southeast Missouri ranks fifth in the Football Championship Subdivision in red zone offense.
•    SEMO has scored on 19 of its 20 opportunities in the red zone thus far.
•    The Redhawks scored 110 of their 202 points inside the 20-yard line.
•    Additionally, SEMO has not turned the ball over in the red zone in 17 of its last 20 games dating back to last season.

Leading Tackler
•    Safety Landon Sylvie leads the Redhawks with 70 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), seven vs. Tennessee State (Oct. 11), five vs. Eastern Illinois (Oct. 18) and nine at Tennessee Tech (Oct. 25).
•    Sylvie was SEMO's leading tackler in seven games this season.
•    He ranks second in the OVC-Big South with 8.8 tackles per game. Sylvie also ranks 18th in the nation with 5.1 solo tackles per contest.

About Charleston Southern
•    Charleston Southern makes its first trip to Cape Girardeau on a two-game winning streak after beating Western Illinois (29-24) and Eastern Illinois (17-16).
•    David Portu blocked EIU's potential game-winning field goal to nail down CSU's recent victory over the Panthers.
•    The Buccaneers have the OVC-Big South's top tackler in Steve Zayachkowsky. Zayachkowsky had a total of 82 tackles with an average of 9.1 per game this season.
•    As a team, CSU is eighth in the conference with 293 total yards per game.