2018 Southeast Missouri State Redhawks football team

2018 Southeast Missouri State Redhawks football
FCS Playoffs Second Round, L 23–48 vs. Weber State
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Ranking
STATS	No. 15
FCS Coaches	No. 16
2018 record	9–4 (6–2 OVC)
Head coach	Tom Matukewicz (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Jeromy McDowell (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Bryce Saia (5th season)
Home stadium	Houck Stadium (Capacity: 11,015)
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Ohio Valley Conference football standings
v t	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 10 Jacksonville State $^		7	–	1					8	–	3
No. 15 Southeast Missouri State ^		6	–	2					8	–	3
Eastern Kentucky		5	–	2					7	–	4
Murray State		5	–	3					5	–	6
Tennessee State		3	–	4					4	–	5
Eastern Illinois		3	–	5					3	–	8
Austin Peay		3	–	5					5	–	6
UT Martin		2	–	6					2	–	9
Tennessee Tech		1	–	7					1	–	10
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2018 Southeast Missouri State Redhawks football team represented Southeast Missouri State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Tom Matukewicz and played their home games at Houck Stadium. They were a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. They finished the season 9–4, 6–2 in OVC play to finish in second place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they defeated Stony Brook in the first round before losing in the second round to Weber State.

Previous season[]

The Redhawks finished the 2017 season 3–8, 3–5 in OVC play to finish in a tie for fifth place.

Preseason[]

OVC media poll[]

On July 20, 2018, the media covering the OVC released their preseason poll with the Redhawks predicted to finish in eighth place.^[1] On July 23, the OVC released their coaches poll with the Redhawks predicted to finish in seventh place.^[2]

Media poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Jacksonville State	134 (14)
2	Austin Peay	114 (1)
3	UT Martin	96
4	Tennessee State	91
5	Eastern Illinois	83
6	Eastern Kentucky	64
7	Murray State	39
8	Southeast Missouri State	35
9	Tennessee Tech	19

Coaches poll

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Jacksonville State	126 (14)
2	Austin Peay	112 (4)
3	UT Martin	95
4	Eastern Illinois	73
5	Eastern Kentucky	69
6	Tennessee State	64
7	Southeast Missouri State	62
8	Murray State	24
9	Tennessee Tech	23

Preseason All-OVC team[]

The Redhawks had thee players selected to the preseason all-OVC team.^[3] Running back Marquis Terry was also selected as the preseason offensive player of the year.

Award watch lists[]

Award	Player	Position	Year
Walter Payton Award[4]	Marquis Terry	RB	SR

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	6:00 p.m.	at Arkansas State*		Centennial Bank Stadium Jonesboro, AR	ESPN+	L 21–48	20,184
September 8	1:00 p.m.	Dayton*		Houck Stadium Cape Girardeau, MO	ESPN+	W 40–21	4,273
September 15	6:00 p.m.	at Southern Illinois*		Saluki Stadium Carbondale, IL	ESPN+	W 48–44	8,592
September 22	3:00 p.m.	at Eastern Kentucky		Roy Kidd Stadium Richmond, KY	ESPN+	L 14–23	7,720
October 6	6:00 p.m.	at Tennessee Tech		Tucker Stadium Cookeville, TN	ESPN+	W 70–38	4,404
October 13	1:00 p.m.	Austin Peay		Houck Stadium Cape Girardeau, MO	ESPN+	W 31–27	6,467
October 20	1:00 p.m.	No. 5 Jacksonville State		Houck Stadium Cape Girardeau, MO	ESPN+	W 37–14	3,103
October 27	2:00 p.m.	at UT Martin		Graham Stadium Martin, TN	ESPN+	W 56–33	4,014
November 3	1:00 p.m.	Tennessee State	No. 25	Houck Stadium Cape Girardeau, MO	ESPN+	W 38–21	3,481
November 10	1:00 p.m.	at Murray State	No. 21	Roy Stewart Stadium Murray, KY	ESPN+	L 38–40	2,087
November 17	1:00 p.m.	Eastern Illinois	No. 23	Houck Stadium Cape Girardeau, MO	ESPN+	W 38–32	3,987
November 24	1:00 p.m	No. 15 Stony Brook*	No. 20	Houck Stadium Cape Girardeau, MO (FCS Playoffs First Round)	ESPN3	W 28–14	5,679
December 1	1:00 p.m.	at No. 3 Weber State*	No. 20	Stewart Stadium Ogden, UT (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	L 23–48	8,838
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

* Source:^[5]

Game summaries[]

at Arkansas State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redhawks	0	14	0	7	21
Red Wolves	7	14	27	0	48

Dayton[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flyers	7	0	7	7	21
Redhawks	3	10	7	20	40

at Southern Illinois[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redhawks	14	3	17	14	48
Salukis	10	10	7	17	44

at Eastern Kentucky[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redhawks	7	0	0	7	14
Colonels	3	7	7	6	23

at Tennessee Tech[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redhawks	21	28	14	7	70
Golden Eagles	3	14	7	14	38

Austin Peay[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Governors	6	7	0	14	27
Redhawks	3	0	7	21	31

Jacksonville State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 5 Gamecocks	0	7	0	7	14
Redhawks	7	9	14	7	37

at UT Martin[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redhawks	16	14	7	19	56
Skyhawks	7	10	3	13	33

Tennessee State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	0	14	7	0	21
No. 25 Redhawks	3	21	14	0	38

at Murray State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 21 Redhawks	17	14	0	7	38
Racers	0	7	17	16	40

Eastern Illinois[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	7	0	10	15	32
No. 23 Redhawks	10	7	3	18	38

FCS Playoffs[]

Stony Brook–First Round[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Seawolves	0	14	0	0	14
No. 20 Redhawks	0	0	28	0	28

at Weber State–Second Round[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Redhawks	7	0	7	9	23
No. 3 Wildcats	0	27	7	14	48

Ranking movements[]

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	25	21	23	20	15
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	24	19	23	20	16

Players drafted into the NFL[]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
6	189	Drew Forbes	OT	Cleveland Browns

References[]