The nine coaches in the Ohio Valley Conference are trying to unlock the mystery combination to find a winning streak.

“It’s too early for me to draw conclusions but somebody’s going to figure this out,” Jacksonville State head coach Jack Crowe said.

With all four home teams winning their conference games last Saturday, it’s possible that the right system may be just playing in front of the home faithful.

“We had our backs against the wall and came out to make a point,” Crowe said after its 42-14 victory over Eastern Kentucky.

The Gamecocks, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State and Samford all won at home and cited the atmosphere as an advantage, instead of talent.

“There’s a lot of mystery in this league right now and so to win a game isn’t about talent,” Crowe said. “It’s about things happening that we made happen.”

Jacksonville State is concerned about an overconfident state of mind as they enter uncharted territory against the Murray State Racers.

“I don’t even know where Murray, Kentucky is,” Crowe said. “I do want an aggressive intent as we enter the mode of being a road warrior.”

With the two new teams in Samford and Jacksonville State sitting atop the OVC as the teams to beat, the conference attitude is that the champion will distinguish itself in the next couple of weeks.

“One of us is going to get this combination right,” Murray State head coach Joe Pannunzio said. “But hell, I’m 1-4 and trying to get out of a four-game losing streak.”

Pannunzio is debating on starting senior signal caller Stewart Childress who has suffered an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament but is insisting on still practicing with the first-team this week.

“That damn kid that I got, he’ll play without an ACL,” Pannunzio said. “When I think he’ll sit, there’s this crazy kid who wants to play and be out there working to get better.”

The team with arguably the highest conference championship aspirations heading into last week was Eastern Kentucky, but after the 42-14 loss, Colonels’ head coach Danny Hope is now wishing to stay in the OVC race as it hosts Samford.

“I think we’re still in the hunt but we can’t play poorly and this is a huge game for both teams,” Hope said. “I’ll tell you this though, I don’t think they are four to five touchdowns better than us right now.”

The Colonels drew nearly 15,000 people for its upset of then national-ranked Appalachian State in week two.

“We’ve traveled 5,000 miles in four road games so it’ll be a great atmosphere to play in our own place,” Hope said.

Southeast Missouri State is certainly not lacking the talent to have a successful season. However, Indians head coach Tim Billings can’t figure out the almost unexplainable 0-5 start to the 2003 season.

“Confidence is what I worry about now because we have good players and a really bad team,” Billing said.

Even though SEMO was predicted to be a contender in the OVC, a conference title is not something that is even being currently contemplated.

“Weren’t we the preseason favorite?,” Billings said. “If we lose another one, a team has a very slim chance for the playoffs with two OVC losses.”