Among the most disappointing parts of Southeast Missouri State's 29-27 loss to Tennessee Tech on Thursday night for Redhawks fans had to be the offensive fizzle at the end, when the Redhawks had their two shortest series of the night.

They never ran fewer than five plays in a series until the final 7 1/2 minutes of the contest, when they needed to come up with just a drive into Doug Spada's field goal range to win the game (more on that later).

Defensive end Hannibal Vaivao said he had faith in the Redhawks offense once Tennessee Tech assumed the lead in the fourth period.

"When the offense got the ball [at the end], it kept our hearts racing to see if they could score," he said. "But things happen for a reason, and we've just got to improve."

Southeast's last two possessions resulted in five incomplete passes in six attempts and a loss of 2 yards on a run. The Redhawks punted after the first possession (with 6:04 to play) and turned the ball over on downs on the final drive, with 1:26 to play.

Spada's punting good, kicking...

Tennessee Tech scored three touchdowns; Southeast scored three touchdowns.

Tennessee Tech's Justin Kraemer kicked three field goals, including 51- and 45-yarders (and missed one PAT to leave the door open); Southeast's Spada hit two field goals but missed two.

That comparison doesn't work out in SEMO's favor.

Spada missed a 36-yarder in the second period and a 52-yarder in the first. Redhawks fans never had a chance to see if Spada, who hit a field goal to tie the game with Southwest Baptist after missing two earlier in the contest, could boot a game-winner late in the game, as Southeast's offense (see above) couldn't get past its own 35.

(There was a lot of water under the bridge between the first missed field goal and the end of the game, but fourth-and-6 at the Tech 35, down 7-0 with 9 minutes into the game, I would have been tempted to go for it.)

Spada's punting stats were much better: three for an average of 46.3 yards. He hit a long of 51.

But Spada, who had a tackle and an assist on kickoffs, made his most athletic play by snaring a high snap, avoiding a rusher who was in his face, scramble to his left and boot a line drive 46-yard punt into the end zone. (It nearly hit a TTU player on a bounce.)

Local injuries

Left tackle Matt James, who has missed the last two games with a right ankle sprain suffered in practice, hopes to be back for next week's game with Missouri State.

James said he's been out too long, after never missing a game at Southeast or during his high school days in Jackson due to injury.

Freshman defensive back Kris Cottner of Perryville is out with a knee injury suffered during the Mizzou game.

Cottner, a state-qualifying sprinter for the track team at Perryville, made an impression on his teammates this summer.

Senior captain Mike Williamson raved about Cottner during the media day event.

"I have no idea where he's going to fit in as far as playing time goes," Williamson said, "but this guy showed up for every workout this summer. He's in great physical condition. He's up there in the top four or five people finishing in every sprint. He lifts hard. He's humble, he has a good mindset and he's personable with his teammates. I couldn't be more excited about a guy on that side of the ball, and it surprises me because he's a freshman. I'm pumped about him."

(As an aside, on the offensive side, Williamson said the player he was most excited about was Miles Edwards, who caught four balls for 33 yards. No balls were thrown his way in the last two series.)

The crowd

Count me among the 6,110 who were in attendance at Houck on Thursday who didn't think there were 6,110 people in the stands (perhaps the number included television viewers. I kid, of course).

With ESPNU taking up an entire section of the press box, I was sent over to the north side with a view of the south grand stand. It was not very full. The north bleachers were fairly crowded with students and the band, but the south side was probably 20 percent occupied -- at most.

Missouri State

If it is anything like last year, when Missouri State put up 55 points to clobber the Redhawks, ouch.

The Bears likely are in a foul mood after an opening home loss to Division II Washburn.

Check out the blogs, columns and comments in the Springfield News-Leader to see happy the fan base is there.

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Southwest Baptist

In case you missed it, the team that pushed Southeast to overtime in the opener, the Southeast Baptist team that was 0-11 last year, lost at Northwest Missouri State 62-38 on Sept. 6.

The big question

At this point in season three, what do you think of the Tony Samuel era or the state of SEMO football? Do you see enough things moving in the right direction (an offense that is opening up) or are you concerned about that the program might not get over the hump this year? How much is coaching? How much is facilities and other factors that Samuel can't control?