I am blogging like the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks football team: A no-show for the first quarter.

But we'll both be coming on strong in the second half.

Actually, I'm working on some projects in the office tonight, listening to the Southeast-Jacksonville State game on the radio.

For those who don't know: JSU 21, SEMO 3 at the half.

Jacksonville State has 310 yards of offense in the first half to Southeast's 150.

Ryan Perilloux, who last year was the part-time QB at national champion Louisiana State, completed his first six passes and hit the half with 11 completions in 15 attempts for 203 yards and two touchdowns.

Analyst/sports information director Ron Hines has said first that Perilloux has time to order a hot dog and then also a hot dog and a soda.

Southeast has five sacks this year, and has allowed 11. That trend seems to be continuing.

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The star of the first half for Southeast may have been punter/kicker Doug Spada, who launched a 57-yard punt (and it sounds like he had another long one) and hit a 46-yard field goal for Southeast's only scoring.

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Jacksonville State scored a TD in the first period on Brandon George's 59-yard run. (The Gamecocks almost stuffed in another before the end of the period but had to wait until early in the second.)

Southeast has been outscored in the first quarter of its six games this season 66-0.

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An interesting pregame show note when Southeast coach Tony Samuel called his defense a "swarming defense." I don't know that I have ever seen a series of plays that I thought the Redhawks were swarming the ball this season.

Even last year, I've seen them as a bend-but-don't-break defense.

Southeast has allowed 430 yards per game this season, and it has been improving, but last week's opponent -- Indiana State -- hadn't scored a TD all year before recording three last week.

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Also during the pregame, Erik Sean mentioned that Southeast leads the Ohio Valley Conference in first downs and is high in the rankings in time of possession.

Samuel, for his part, notes some stats don't mean much, and that Missouri State's kick return for a touchdown means one less possession for an opponent.

Also, Missouri scored so quick that Southeast had a nine-minute advantage in possession its 52-3 loss to the nationally ranked Tigers in Columbia.

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Samuel mentioned how hard it has been for Holloman to sit out for the year, almost to the point of making it sound like Holloman was a victim. Holloman was suspended for a year for violating NCAA regulations.

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Interestlingly, Sean said during the first half that Southeast has had some offensive plays that look broken and some defensive coverage that has been very loose on JSU receivers.

That's not a good sign for the team's progress.

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Sean said Jacksonville State has lined up a $60 million spending project including suites for its stadium, which he also said is the nicest stadium in OVC. He asked Samuel in pregame show about the facility, and Samuel said in his typical understated fashion, "It's nice."

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Hines said the Redhawks are "closer" this year. He must not remember when Samuel said at media day that people didn't realize how close Southeast was to breaking through last year. I am one of them.

I'm not sure they're any closer this year, other than they did have a chance to rally past Tennessee Tech on a final possession.

They squeaked past Southwest Baptist in OT and rallied for another tight win against Indiana State.

The home schedule offers little hope, so the Nov. 8 trip to Murray State may be the next best shot for a win.

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Southeast and Jacksonville State, Hines said, have more OVC titles over the last seven years than any other schools.

I agree that this is too often overlooked in the passion for football and men's basketball. Southeast has been able to put together some good programs in soccer, gymnastics, track and field. Baseball and volleyball are upper tier in conference action is well.

Some things are going right.

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The football game is not one of them.

JSU scores on the opening kickoff of the second half with a 99-yard return by Maurice Dupree.

He covered the distance in 6 seconds, setting a new world record. Let's see Usain Bolt do that, with defenders no less.