Monday news

Here's what's up:

Chris Austin's column in the (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf Chronicle says Austin Peay State has improved more than its 3-8 record shows. Against the five teams who also appeared on the Govs' 2005 schedule, APSU was 3-2 this year; last year they were 1-4. Factor in the team's youth - 50 of the 85 players were freshman - and it looks like that improvement can only continue.

The (Charleston, Ill.) Journal Gazette/Times-Courier says Eastern Illinois' defense played well Saturday against Illinois State, but ISU's played better. By limiting wide receiver Micah Rucker and bottling up running back Vincent Webb, the Rebirds held EIU to just 138 yards of offense. The paper also says the loss was tough for the Panthers to take, ending as it did a season in which the team was without its venerable head coach, lost an all-American linebacker on the first play of the season, suffered through a number of other injuries and still managed to win a share of the conference title and an at-large bid to the playoffs.

Marty Mishow's blog over at the Southeast Missourian asks SEMO fans whether they think coach Tony Samuel has the team headed in the right direction after going 4-7 in his first season. Mishow urges patience; the fans' opinions are mixed. What's yours?

By the way, look for these daily news updates to become once- or twice-weekly soon, probably on Mondays and/or Fridays. Fear not, though, if a big story breaks (team leaves/joins conference or hires/fires coach) I'll get it up as soon as I know it. Of course, feel free to feed me all the information you've got ... ovc@cableone.net.