The Southeast Missouri State Redhawks football program is the intercollegiate

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team for the

Southeast Missouri State University Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing the Holland Col ...

located in the U.S. state of

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

. The school's first football team was fielded in 1902. The team plays its home games at the 11,015-seat

Houck Stadium Houck Stadium is an 11,015-seat multi-purpose stadium in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It opened in 1930 and was named after famous Missouri resident Louis Houck. Today it is home to the Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks football team an ...

. They are coached by

Tom Matukewicz Thomas M. Matukewicz ( ; born August 5, 1973), also known as "Coach Tuke", is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Southeast Missouri State University. Matukewicz was formerly the defensive coordinator coach at the Univer ...

History

Southeast Missouri State first competed in football in 1904. In 1912, the school joined the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA), which later joined the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

as a Division II conference. The football team had its first known head coach, J.F. Corleux, in 1915. Corleux remained head coach until 1929. In 1991, Southeast Missouri State joined the

and moved up to the

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

level.

Classifications

*1952–1957: NAIA *1958–1972: NCAA College Division *1973–1990: NCAA Division II *1991–present: NCAA Division I–AA/FCS

Conference memberships

*1902–1923: Independent *1924–1990:

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, headquartered ...

*1991–present:

Conference championships

Southeast Missouri State has won 19 conference championships, 12 outright and seven shared. † Co-champions

FCS Playoffs results

The Redhawks have appeared in the FCS playoffs four times with an overall record of 1–4.

Rivalries

Southeast Missouri State has an in-state rivalry with

Missouri State Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

. The two schools last played in 2008, and Missouri State leads the series 46–28. Another rivalry is with

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of the Upland South than the Mi ...

. The annual series between the schools went on hiatus after 2005 and resumed in 2010. In 2013, the two schools played in a game called the College Classic, at

Busch Stadium Busch Stadium (also referred to informally as "New Busch Stadium" or "Busch Stadium III") is a baseball stadium located in St. Louis, Missouri. The stadium serves as the home of the St. Louis Cardinals, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) f ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. In the first-ever football game held at Busch, Southern Illinois won 36-19. In 2014, the rivalry game was played at SIU's stadium in

Carbondale, Illinois Carbondale is a city in Jackson and Williamson Counties, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". The city developed from 1853 because of the stimulation of railroad construction into the ...

, and Southern Illinois won 50-23. Southeast Missouri State leads the series 39–35–8 as of 2014. Within the Ohio Valley Conference, Southeast Missouri State's rival is

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, ...

. Murray State leads the series 38–10–1 as of 2014.

Notable former players

Current coaching staff

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of December 9, 2022.

References

External links

* {{Ohio Valley Conference football navbox American football teams established in 1902 1902 establishments in Missouri