SEMO, Tennessee Tech put positive spin on lopsided weekend

Coaches and the media are doing their best to find highlights from the beatdowns that Southeast and Tennessee Tech endured heading into their Thursday matchup at Houck Stadium.

Both teams will have had just five days to let the bruises heal after a pair of losses Saturday to FBS teams: Southeast lost 52-3 to Missouri, and Tech lost 51-10 to Louisville.

At Tech, coach Watson Brown's Golden Eagles walked away with a fat check and a bruised ego, but Brown found the bright side: "I like the positive of doing this and letting them see what they have to do to get better. I think playing someone better than you always brings that out. When you play somebody who you're better than, you don't always find that out until it's too late."

And SEMO, coach Tony Samuel found enthuasiasm in an offense that was held to three points: "I thought offensively we held our own against them," he said. "You could see we executed better."

Even Southeast Missouri's print media chimed in with fervor under headlines that included "SEMO didn't look all that bad at Mizzou."

One person who might not agree: Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel, who benched most of his team's starters for good shortly before halftime.