No. 11 SEMO falls behind early, drops 28-21 loss at No. 25 Tennessee State

SEMO head coach Tom Matukewicz on the sideline during a timeout against Western Illinois on Saturday, Nov. 16.

Kaiden Karper ~ kkarper@semoball.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — This was not how Southeast Missouri State football wanted its memorable regular season to end.

Now it's time for the Redhawks to regear for the playoffs.

No. 11 SEMO (9-3, 6-2 Big South-Ohio Valley Conference) could not claw back from an early 21-0 deficit as No. 25 Tennessee State (9-3, 6-2) held on for a 28-21 victory in the regular season finale at Nissan Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 23.

After clinching the Big South-OVC's automatic berth to the FCS playoffs, SEMO will await its opponent during Sunday's FCS Playoff selection show.

Here are three immediate takeaways:

Why the Redhawks lost

There was blame on both sides of the ball for SEMO, but the Tennessee State pass rush and the explosive play on defense proved to be the biggest deciding factors.

“Disappointed how we started the game,” Matukewicz said. “We didn't get off the bus well, and I'm gonna try to figure out why that happened, but obviously proud of how they responded. You get down 21-0 and that can get away from you when you're not even in the game. They did battle back. We got in the game, got it to within a score. At the end of the day, I think the difference was their pass rush. When our left tackle Tyler McMillan went out, we just couldn't protect, so a lot of those skill players weren't as effective and didn’t have time. And then defensively, it was the big play. I think we gave up four explosive plays. Can't do that in this type of game.”

In the first half, the offensive woes occurred early after SEMO came up empty-handed on its first four possessions. On the Redhawks' first offensive drive, quarterback Paxton DeLaurent faced a collapsing pocket and was stripped sacked by Tiger defensive lineman Meonta Kimbrough, which led to a Keandre Booker scoop-and-score touchdown to put Tennessee State up 14-0 within the blink of an eye.

The Redhawks did piece together a pair of impressive 70-plus-yard drives that resulted in Dorian Anderson and Brown touchdown receptions in the second quarter, but the mistakes overshadowed those efficiencies.

Similar to their loss against Lindenwood, the Redhawks were not productive on third down (5-16) and were outgained 115 to 75 on the ground, even with a strong bounce back game from the true freshman Brown, who averaged 4.5 yards per carry. Up front, Tennessee State’s formidable pass rush won the lion’s share of one-on-one battles at the line of scrimmage, forcing three sacks and six quarterback hits.

Defensively, SEMO couldn’t get off the field when it needed to at times. The Tigers’ high-octane offense seemed to give SEMO trouble, and dual-threat quarterback Draylen Ellis took some shots against the Redhawks that turned into big gains – similar to what was seen last week against Western Illinois.

Down 21-14 on the first play of the fourth quarter, SEMO saw Ellis scramble in the pocket, break a tackle, reverse his field, and burst down the sideline for a 42-yard rushing touchdown to swing the momentum in Tennessee State's favor.

“They’ve got some really good players,” Matukewicz said, “but we didn’t tackle well. I didn't think we pressured the quarterback as well as we needed to. He (Ellis) was really elusive every time we got back there. Just seemed hard to get him down. I think that was the difference.”

DeLaurent’s arm not enough

If this was his final game as a Redhawk, DeLaurent left it all on the field.

The record-breaking senior quarterback went 27 for 46 for 286 total yards and two touchdowns against a Tennessee State secondary that entered the day as the top-rated passing defense in the conference.

DeLaurent made plays when he needed to and helped forge a late comeback on SEMO’s 49-yard touchdown drive midway through the fourth quarter. Trailing 28-14, DeLaurent was able to hit Donnie Cheers and Cam Pedro for clutch completions before Brown plunged into the end zone for a 1-yard rushing touchdown.

However, the Redhawks' miscues in pass protection put DeLaurent under duress for most of the night, which shut down several scoring opportunities as a result.

“We just couldn't hold up,” Matukewicz said. “I mean, we had three starting o-linemen out and they were better than us. They won the line of scrimmage.”

Mindset moving forward

It was a frustrating loss for a program that was one win away from becoming the first 10-win team in SEMO football history, but the Redhawks are back in the FCS playoffs for the fifth time in school history.

Matukewicz credits his team's resilience and the remarkable season that they put together.

“You’ve always got a choice to respond down 21-0,” he said. “I'm happy and proud of them for responding and getting back in the game. At the end of the day, we don't have a lot of life left in this 2024 team, and it's going to end soon. So, at the end of the day, let's enjoy each other. These seniors are champions. They all walk out of here with a ring and a championship. Only 24 teams make the playoffs out of 127 teams. This was a hell of a season. I'm proud of them.”