JONESBORO, Ark. -- Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts said
his team shouldn't expect an easy game with 0-2 Southeast Missouri
State this week.
Arkansas State (1-1) is coming off a 63-6 victory over
Tennessee-Martin, a member of the Ohio Valley Conference with
Southeast Missouri, but Roberts there are no similarities between
the teams.
"Southeast Missouri is a totally different football team than
what we faced last week," Roberts said. "They are a very
experienced football team, not only with nine starters coming back
on both sides of the football but their coaching staff has stayed
intact and they're all operating within the same scheme that
they've operated in for a number of years."
That may be easier said than done for an Arkansas State team
riding high with confidence after staying close at Texas A&M before
last week's record-setting blowout over the Skyhawks.
Arkansas State scored four touchdowns in the first quarter.
Quarterback Elliot Jacobs and three running backs scored on their
first rushing attempt of the game and the Indians led 42-0 at
halftime.
On the flipside, Southeast Missouri hasn't looked good losing
17-3 to Ohio and then 28-7 against Southern Illinois. Southeast has
turned the ball over seven times, rushed for only 126 yards and
they average 1.9 yards per carry.
Roberts uses Southeast Missouri's victory over Middle Tennessee
last year as a motivation for his team to not take this game
lightly. Southeast Missouri used that game as a springboard to an
8-4 season.
"They're in a situation now where they are 0-2, and really need
a breakout game, and I'm sure that they're pointing to this game as
that game that can be that breakout game for them," Roberts said.
In a season-opening loss to Texas A&M, the Indians gave up just
257 yards with a senior-led defense that's anchored by defensive
tackles Jon Bradley and Corey Williams.
Arkansas State stopped Tennessee-Martin in its tracks last week,
giving up just 73 yards rushing and 253 total yards. However,
Arkansas State needs to be a little more disciplined, as it gave
Southeast Missouri six first downs on penalties.
"Defensively, we pretty much dominated the line of scrimmage,"
Roberts said. "We played 12 players along the defensive line. We
did not play a lot of our starters for much of the game, but that
is a tribute to them for going out and stopping them in the first
few series they had."
This is Arkansas State's last game against an NCAA Division I-AA
opponent this season. The Indians will be on the road the next two
weeks at Memphis, which scored an upset over Ole Miss last week,
and at Tulsa.
Arkansas State's next home game will be Oct. 4 against
Louisiana-Monroe at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The
Indians won't play another game in Jonesboro until Nov. 8 against
Idaho.