It’s somehow fitting that Roy Kidd’s final home game would have a huge impact in deciding the outcome of the Ohio Valley Conference championship.

However, it was up-and-coming Southeast Missouri head coach Tim Billings who stole the show by earning his first career victory against Eastern Kentucky.

“It’s a bitter-sweet feeling because you hate to see him lose his last home game,” Billings said.

That was SEMO’s first victory over Kidd in 13 tries.

Southeast Missouri went down to Richmond, Ky. and defeated the Colonels 35-21 to make Kidd’s at-large berth hopes a little more dim.

That victory put three OVC teams ranked in the Sports Network Poll (No. 3 Eastern, No. 25 EKU and No. 26 SEMO).

SEMO

Tim Billings’ program turn-around became officially complete last Saturday when his Indians pulled the upset of the conference by defeating Eastern Kentucky 35-21 in Richmond.

Walter Payton award candidate flanker Willie Ponder broke the OVC single-season record for receiving yards by catching nine passes for 185 yards and three TDs.

“They played a lot of man-man coverage, and when you go one-on-one against Willie Ponder, you better be pretty good,” Billings said.

SEMO’s defense stepped up big and only allowed 60 yards rushing to the Colonels who predominately use the three yards and a cloud of dust offensive philosophy.

“Our defensive line didn’t get a lot of pressure, but we were able to stop their run really well,” Billings said.

The last matchup for the Indians this season will be Senior Day in Cape Girardeu, Mo. against future OVC member Samford.

If SEMO wins against the Bulldogs, it will earn its first eight-win season since 1967 and increase the Indians chance at an at-large berth.

Murray State

The first thing that Racers head coach Joe Pannunzio did was give a big thank you to SEMO head coach Tim Billings.

“Thank you Tim. I owe you one,” Pannunzio said.

If the Racers can defeat Tennessee – Martin on the road this week, the OVC championship will go through Stewart Stadium in Murray, Ky.

The problem is that Murray State is 0-4 on the road this season and Pannunzio stressed how his team isn’t looking past the Skyhawks.

“It would be crazy to look past UTM,” Pannunzio said.

Pannunzio believes that their new freshman and junior college transfers are now coming together at the perfect time.

“Early in the year our new players and transfers weren’t gelling like we wanted, but now I’m really proud of our team chemistry,” Pannunzio said.

Eastern

The Panthers will take its show to non-conference play against Howard Schnellenberger’s Florida Atlantic project team.

Florida Atlantic is attempting to go I-A in about two years and with such a high-profile coach like Schnellenberger, the Owls should be more competitive than its 1-10 record shows.

Spoo mentioned how talented the Owls are but have failed to get such key position players academically eligible.

“They have good players that play hard,” Spoo said.

If Eastern can win the last two regular season games, they will finish undefeated and possibly receive a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“There are implications because it would be great for recruiting at this program,” Spoo said.

Spoo did mention the fact that the Panther defense did give its best performance of the season because when the first-string came out, Eastern was up 53-13.

“It was a good performance because the defense only gave up one long scoring drive,” Spoo said.