Tennessee State (1-4, 0-2 OVC-Big South) vs. Southeast Missouri (1-4, 0-1 OVC-Big South)

Game Information
Date: Saturday, October 11, 2025
Kickoff: 3 p.m., CT
Location: Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Facility: Houck Field (8,000)
Surface: Field Turf
Series: TSU leads, 16-15
Last Meeting: TSU 28, SEMO 21 | 11/23/24 | Nashville, Tenn.
Last Meeting in Cape Girardeau: SEMO 47, TSU 14 | 9/25/21

Head Coaches
Tennessee State: Reggie Barlow (1-4 overall; 1-4 at TSU; 0-2 OVC-Big South)
Southeast Missouri: Tom Matukewicz (65-67 overall; 64-67 at SEMO; 47-33 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) 

Back in Action
•    Southeast Missouri (1-4, 0-1) returns to action to host Tennessee State (1-4, 0-2) Saturday. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m., CT at Houck Field.
•    SEMO begins a two-game home stand against TSU. The Redhawks welcome Eastern Illinois during their Homecoming on Oct. 18.
•    The Redhawks were idle for their bye weekend on Oct. 4.
•    Saturday marks SEMO's first day game at Houck Field this year.
•    The rest of the Redhawks home matchups will be afternoon contests, as well.
•    SEMO is 1-1 at home this season with a 30-20 win over North Alabama (Sept. 6) and a 59-31 loss to Southern Illinois (Sept. 20).

Series History
•    Tennessee State holds a slight 16-15 edge in the all-time series against Southeast Missouri.
•    SEMO has won five the last six meetings between the teams. 
•    The Redhawks are 6-3 against the Tigers with Tom Matukewicz as their head coach.
•    TSU defeated SEMO, 28-21, during a one-score game in Nashville a year ago (Nov. 23).

OVC-Big South Home-Openers
•    Southeast Missouri welcomes Tennessee State for its Ohio Valley Conference-Big South home-opener.
•    SEMO is 14-19 all-time in OVC-Big South home-openers.
•    The Redhawks won nine of 11 conference home-openers under Head Coach Tom Matukewicz.

Redhawks Drop OVC-Big South Opener at UT Martin
•    The Redhawks started Ohio Valley Conference-Big South Association play with a 34-10 loss at UT Martin (Sept. 27).
•    Southeast Missouri was limited to just 30 rushing yards and had two turnovers in the contest.
•    Starting and backup quarterbacks Jax Leatherwood and Patrick Heitert each left the game with knee injuries. 
•    Leatherwood exited the game late in the first quarter following a roughing the passer penalty and Heitert left the game with under seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.
•    Neither Leatherwood or Heitert returned.

Weber or Sherrod will Start Saturday
•    Redshirt-freshman Johnny Weber or junior JD Sherrod will start under center for the Redhawks against Tennessee State.
•    Weber finished Southeast Missouri's OVC-Big South opener at UT Martin (Sept. 27) after starter Jax Leatherwood and backup Patrick Heitert left the game with knee injuries.
•    He completed 9-of-18 passes for 87 yards against the Skyhawks.
•    Sherrod transferred to SEMO from Kent State. He played in two games there in 2024 before suffering a season-ending achilles injury.
•    Before that, Sherrod redshirted at Troy University.

First Career Start for Dutkovich
•    Cole Dutkovich made his first career start at inside linebacker at UT Martin (Sept. 27).
•    Dutkovich finished with eight tackles, including three solo against the Skyhawks. 
•    A transfer from College of DuPage, Dutkovich ranks fourth on the team with 21 tackles through five games and one start this year.

Leatherwood and Heitert Out
•    Starting and backup quarterbacks Jax Leatherwood and Patrick Heitert are out due to injuries.
•    Leatherwood is expected to miss four to six weeks with a knee injury and Heitert is out several weeks with a knee injury.

Short-Handed Redhawks
•    Southeast Missouri currently has five starters out with various injuries.
•    Defensive lineman Nasim Cairo (ankle), outside linebacker McCoy Casey (foot), quarterback Jax Leatherwood (knee), inside linebacker Jared Pedraza (pectoral) and wide receiver Anthony Westervelt (ankle) are in that group.

Conference Success
•    Since 2018, Southeast Missouri has put together a record of 35-14 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.

Leading Tackler
•    Safety Landon Sylvie leads the Redhawks with 49 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) and 11 at UT Martin (Sept. 27).
•    Sylvie was SEMO's leading tackler in all five games this season.
•    He ranks 15th in the Football Championship Subdivision and first in the OVC-Big South with 9.8 tackle per game.

Pedro Among National Leaders
•    Cam Pedro, who has caught a touchdown pass in three of five starts this season, ranks 48th in the Football Championship Subdivision with three receiving touchdowns.
•    Pedro also ranks 39th nationally with five receptions per game.
•    For the year, Pedro has 25 receptions for 316 yards as Southeast Missouri's leading receiver.

Kicking Strong
•    Kicker Justin Keller is Southeast Missouri's top scorer with 31 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-8 on field goals and a perfect 13-of-13 on PATs.
•    Keller is 25th in the FCS with 1.20 field goals per game. He ranks third in the OVC-Big South with six field goals made.

Net Worth
•    Southeast Missouri ranks fifth in the FCS in net punting with a 42.1 average.
•    First-year starting punter Ryan Kingston is third in the OVC-Big South and 22nd in the nation in punting with an average of 43.5 yards per punt.
•    Kingston dropped eight of his punts inside the 20-yard line. Four of his punts traveled 50 or more yards, including a season-long 56-yard punt at #1 North Dakota State (Sept. 13).

About Tennessee State
•    Tennessee State carries a four-game losing streak to Cape Girardeau this weekend.
•    TSU is 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the OVC-Big South under first-year Head Coach Reggie Barlow.
•    The Tigers are last in the league in scoring offense with just 12.6 points per game.
•    TSU scored just seven touchdowns in its first five games this season.