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DURANT, Okla. - Southeastern will open the home portion 2012 season on Sept. 15 with a 6 p.m. matchup against conference-rival Southern Arkansas at Paul Laird Field.
The Savage Storm are coming off a bye week that followed a 31-6 win over Texas A&M-Commerce, to win its season opener for the second-straight season. SAU comes to town with a 1-0 record as well after a 56-0 win over NAIA Texas College.
Against the Muleriders… Saturday marks the 37th meeting all-time between Southeastern and Southern Arkansas. That is the second-most meetings with a GAC in Arkansas behind the 48 meetings with Ouachita Baptist. The series dates back to a 1952 meeting which SE lost 27-14. SAU would win three of the first four with the teams tying in 1954, 7-7. SE got its first win, 19-7, in 1956 and won four-stright which is its longest run int he series. SAU owns a six-game winning streak between 1968 and 1974. SE won last season's meeting 24-21.
Southeastern celebrates 100th season of football… The 2012 seaosn will mark the 100th season of competition for SE football which fielded its first team in 1909. Southeastern has fielded a team every year since then except for the span between 1943 and 1945 during World War II. SE has played 946 games over that span, posting a 452-450-44 record.
Notes from last time out… won its season opener for the second-straight season... its 31 points was the most in a game since scoring 33 against Angelo State in 2010... the 25-point margin of victory was the most since a 28-3 win over Northeastern State in 2008... the six points allowed is the lowest since that same NSU game in 2008... SE put up 335 yards of offense while holding TAMUC to just 195 total yards... the SE defense held TAMUC to just 47 rushing yards...
CJ Kirk's two rushing TD's matches his total from all of 2011...
Houston Slemp's 79-yard interception return for a touchdown was the first since Noe Lopez returned one against Central Oklahoma in 2009... SE put together a mammoth 99-yard drive that ate up 12:00 minutes of the fourth quarter before scoring its final TD of the game.
About the Coaches… Ray Richards (Northern Michigan, 1981) took over the reins for the Southeastern Oklahoma State football program prior to the 2005 season and quickly built on to SE's successful history. Richards has compiled a 36-37 record at SE and an overall career record of 50-67, with head coaching stints at Southeastern and Southwest Baptist University. The 2011 squad opened the year with back-to-back wins before going to a 2-8 season and a ninth place finish in the first season of Great American Conference play. SE had three all conference award winners, highlighted by first team selection
Ryan Shelley who turned in the league's best single-game receiving mark with 225 yards against East Central. In seven seasons at SE, Richards' teams have produced 25 first team all-conference honors as well as 37 all-conference second team honors. His teams also won eight specialty awards in the LSC, including his own Coach of the Year nod following the 2005 season.
Bill Keopple (Central Ark., 1982) became the 19th head football coach at Southern Arkansas in December 2008. He is now in his fourth season as the head coach of the Muleriders. Keopple brings 29 years of coaching experience to the Muleriders, including 18 years as an assistant on the collegiate level with stops at Arkansas, Boise State Tulsa and Central Arkansas. Keopple came to SAU from Arkansas High in Texarkana where he led his teams to two consecutive state championships 2006 and 2007.
