Gameday blog: Indiana State at Southeast

Our view from the press box at Houck Stadium, as Southeast Missouri State takes on Indiana State in its home opener.

For a second straight week, Southeast Missouri State finds itself in a close game at halftime, tied with Indiana State 10-10.

The difference this time around is that SEMO could make an argument for grabbing some momentum, after the Redhawks came up with a goal-line stop in the final minute to force the Sycamores to settle for a tying field goal from 22 yards out by Jerry Nunez.

After falling behind 7-0 on the first play of the game — a 75-yard touchdown pass from Indiana State quarterback Isaac Harker to Dimitri Taylor — Southeast answered on a 2-yard TD push by Will Young at 6:05 of the first quarter. It then took a lead thanks to a 29-yard field goal from Ryan McCrum.

But that field goal came after 16-play, 68-yard drive that spanned more than eight minutes, leaving the Redhawks again missing an opportunity on offense.

Southeast remained mostly conservative in its play-calling, trying to establish the run, but managed just 56 yards on 25 rushes. Tremane McCullough had four carries for 17 yards.

Quarterback Jesse Hosket is 10 of 14 for 124 yards, with Adrian Davis pacing the receivers with three catches for 44 yards.

The Redhawks have been strong on third down thus far, something that hasn't been the case through the first two weeks of the season. They converted 7 of 11 opportunities in the first half. Meanwhile, Indiana State is just 1 of 6.

Kendall Donnerson, Terrance Hill and Chad Meredith all have four tackles for a SEMO defense that has held the Sycamores to 189 total yards of offense, with 75 of those coming on one play. Donnerson has a sack, three tackles for a loss and a forced fumble.

ISU linebacker Jameer Thurman has six stops.

Southeast will get the football to open the second half.

LIVE on #Periscope: Pre-game: Indiana State at Southeast https://t.co/180cGecRpX— Trent Singer (@semoballTrent) September 17, 2016

The Southeast Missouri State football team is set to close out its non-conference slate in its home opener against Indiana State at 6 p.m. today at Houck Stadium.

Trent Singer and Josh Mlot will provide updates from the game.

You can follow along on Twitter @semoballTrent or @semoballJosh for live updates throughout the game, and you don't have to have a Twitter account to see their posts.

A preview of today's game is available here. The Sycamores (1-1) are coming off a Week 2 loss against Football Bowl Subdivision opponent Minnesota.

The Redhawks (0-2) enter the game after dropping a 30-22 decision to Southern Illinois, a loss that was clinched by an overall sloppy performance. Through two games, Southeast starting quarterback Jesse Hosket has shown growth but is still seeking to become more of a factor on offense.