Coming off of a 41-6 loss to the Kansas State Wildcats, the Skyhawks will travel to face conference rivals the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks on September 7, at 6 p.m.
SEMO is also looking to bounce back from a loss against New Mexico State, but the Redhawks have dipped into the win column with a week zero win against North Alabama. The Redhawks are returning starting QB Paxton Delaurent along with their leading tackler from last season in Bryce Norman, both of whom are going to lead a SEMO team with a high amount of turnover from the 4-7 team of 2023.
Skyhawks starting QB Kinkead Dent looked sharp in his week one performance against a good Kansas State defense, even if the stats don’t show it. A veteran offensive line group for the Skyhawks was able to give Dent enough time to attempt shot plays against Kansas State and I’d expect that performance to continue into the season. On the pass catching side of things, the Skyhawk receivers struggled with getting separation against the Wildcats’ defensive backs, save for Trevonte Rucker who caught a 45-yard pass from Dent on an outstanding scramble drill play. The receiving room will look to continue knocking off the rust and have a bounce back day against the Redhawks.
The Skyhawk defense had an up and down performance in week one, holding the Wildcats to 17 points and forcing a turnover in the first half. However, the second half did start to break open for the Wildcat offense once the Skyhawks started to get worn down by the run game; but, against a ranked FBS team like K-State, the Skyhawks put up a great fight and the experience they gained from that game should help them against a more evenly matched OVC opponent.
With the loss of safety Lawrence Johnson, who left for the NFL, the Skyhawks could take advantage of a less experienced defensive backfield for the Redhawks. The Skyhawks will look to keep the ball on the ground like they always do, but if the run starts to draw SEMO defenders forward, expect the Skyhawks to feel confident in their passing game pushing the ball downfield.
The series between the teams is currently split 20 to 19 in favor of the Skyhawks. In last season’s match up, the Skyhawks won 41-14 in the second to last game of the year. A slight advantage in the series goes to the home team with an 11-9 record in home games and 9-10 record in away games for the Skyhawks. The Skyhawks will look to win back-to-back for the first time since 2015-2017 when they won three straight against the Redhawks.
