CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Both of Saturday night’s starting quarterbacks have now made their collegiate debuts, and they couldn’t have been more polar opposite performances.

Eastern starter Mike Donato had a solid opening night five weeks ago accounting for 225 total yards (158 passing, 67 rushing) and two touchdowns in a 24-13 road victory against Indiana State.

Most importantly, the sophomore from Broadview didn’t turn the ball over in his first collegiate start.

Southeast Missouri (0-6, 0-3) trotted out its third quarterback of the season in 18-year-old true freshman Markus Mosley. The Tyler, Texas, native had only seen one quarter of game action before his start, that coming in the final quarter of the Redhawks 33-17 loss at Samford last Thursday.

With SEMO down 26-17, Mosley was called to replace starter Mike Haley and completed 6-of-10 passes for 94 yards but had two interceptions.

However, it is hard to imagine how Mosley’s night against the Panthers (3-2, 2-0) could have been any worse as Eastern made life miserable for the signal caller in its 48-24 blowout win Saturday night.

“I just couldn’t seem to do anything right,” Mosley said. “I felt like I was prepared, but there were times I dropped back and just didn’t want everything to go wrong.”

Mosley ended the game against the Panthers 8-of-17 for 50 yards (only 9 coming in the second half) and one interception. He was eventually pulled in the fourth quarter for Haley once the score was 48-10 with nearly 12 minutes left in the game.

Billings talked about his team’s inability to protect his young quarterback, who was sacked three times, and take the offensive pressure of him by running the ball.

SEMO has the worst running attack in the Ohio Valley Conference averaging only 63.2 yards per game.

“We have a young offensive line and no running game whatsoever so we are really just dropping back and throwing it every time,” Billings said. “Both of those factors is what makes Donato successful and partly why Markus struggled so bad.”

This is what made the Eastern defensive line’s job easier.

“We figured if we could get at him and get into his head, he wouldn’t get comfortable,” sophomore defensive tackle Tim Kelly said. “We were just relentless.”

On his first drive, Mosley completed his first pass attempt and then fumbled the third down snap leading to a punt. His second pass attempt was a floater into double coverage that Billings called “simply a bad throw” and was intercepted by Eastern safety Chad Cleveland.

“Markus played like a true freshman, there’s no doubt about it,” Billings said. “He just never got comfortable back there and couldn’t make a play.”

Mosley’s worst play might have been his last. With Eastern up 35-10 and having most of its second-string defense in the game, Mosley dropped back to throw, scrambled away from pressure in the pocket, put a juke move on another lineman, but was crushed in the back by defensive end Pierre Walters. Mosley fumbled the ball and it was recovered by linebacker Michael Torres.

On the night, SEMO had 6 turnovers, and Mosley accounted for two.

“It’s something we emphasize in drills; we wanted five tonight and we got six,” defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni said. “It was nice to have (Mosley’s) first start to be against us.”

Mosley said he was not nervous before his first start and didn’t feel pressure even when the Redhawks got down 21-3 with nearly nine minutes left in the half.

“I didn’t play well at all, but it had nothing to do with nerves or trying too hard,” Mosley said. “I just don’t know right now what was wrong exactly.”