The Southeast Missouri State football team failed to score a touchdown in its first game of the season and lost 34-3 against No. 24 ranked Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.

This was the first time the Redhawks weren’t able to score a touchdown in a game since coach Tom Matukewicz joined the team last year.

The only score of the game for Southeast came from preseason All-American junior kicker Ryan McCrum when he made a 35-yard field goal late in the second quarter.

The Redhawks got into field goal range when first-year starting quarterback Tay Bender found preseason All-American senior wide receiver Paul McRoberts on two of his four catches of the game in a drive that started from Southeast’s own 6-yard line.

McRoberts broke free on a slant route when Southeast’s offense was on Missouri’s 17-yard line, but Bender quickly threw the pass out of play past the end zone to avoid a sack.

Bender was called for intentional grounding after the play to move the Redhawks back to Missouri’s 24-yard line where Southeast would only gain six more yards and give McCrum his field goal try.

That drive was the only one of the game where Southeast didn’t end up punting or turning the ball over.

Junior punter Alex Knight punted the ball for Southeast 10 out of its 12 punts in the game, with two of them coming from Bender.

Bender’s first punt went for 23 yards and out-of-bounds at Missouri’s 36 yard line, but his second punt of the game wasn’t as successful.

Missouri’s senior outside linebacker Kentrell Brothers blocked Bender’s punt and the ball was picked up by junior cornerback Aarion Penton and ran back for a 41-yard touchdown.

Brothers was also one of the reasons why Southeast only averaged 3.5 yards per carry on 42 rushing attempts by registering a game-high 16 tackles. He also tied for a team-high 1.5 tackles for a loss.

Eight other Missouri defenders also tackled a Southeast ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage with defensive ends Charles Harris and Nate Howard each having 1.5 tackles for a combined 11 yards lost.

Southeast only allowed two sack in the game, with one of them being a technicality, despite having a first-year offensive tackle on each end of the line, and it was senior cornerback Kenya Davis who brought Bender down for a 10-yard loss.

Bender ended up leading Southeast in its spread offensive attack with 69 yards on 14 carries. He had 22 passing attempts in his first career game as a Redhawk and completed 12 of them for a total of 56 yards.

Over half of Bender’s passing yards went to McRoberts who racked up 40 of them, one of them being a 21-yard gain on Southeast’s only scoring drive of the game.

Only two other wide receivers caught a pass from Bender in the game with sophomore Adrian Davis and junior Darrius Darden-Box making those catches.

The rest of Bender’s 12 completions went to running backs senior DeMichael Jackson, junior Tremane McCullough and senior fullback Lewis Washington.

Jackson led Southeast in carries with 18, but didn’t gain 43 of his total 57 rushing yards until the second half when he busted off a 15 and 19-yard run in the third quarter.

Missouri outgained Southeast in the passing attack by having 319 passing yards between quarterbacks Maty Mauk and Drew Lock.

Mauk started the game for the Tigers and went 12 for 22 with 181 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and threw the only interception of the game, which was caught by senior strong safety Eriq Moore.

Another Southeast defender almost came up with a second interception from Mauk in the fourth quarter when it appeared that junior cornerback Jamarl Holloway came up with pick.

After further review, the play was overturned as it was shown that the ball hit the turf before Holloway secured the interception.

Mauk’s only touchdowns of the game came in the first quarter on Missouri’s first and third drives of the game when he found wide receivers J’Mon Moore and Nate Brown in the end zone for 20-plus yard completions.

Lock came onto the field for Missouri at quarterback early in the second quarter and led the Tigers to a field goal while going 4 for 5 with 51 passing yards passing.

He got 78 of his total 138 passing yards on one play when he found a wide open man in senior running back Tyler Hunt for a 78-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter for the final score of the game.

Defensively, the Redhawks allowed 417 yards with Missouri’s offense averaging 6.4 yards per play.

Senior running back Russell Hansbrough, who was Missouri’s leading rusher last season with 1,084 yards and 10 touchdowns, only had two carries in the game for the Tigers. He was knocked out of the game with an ankle injury when he was pushed out of bounds by junior inside linebacker Roper Garrett in the first quarter.

Garrett was tied for third for Southeast in tackles with five and it was junior outside linebacker Chad Meredith who registered a team-high eight tackles in the season opener.

Meredith also led the team in tackles for a loss with two.

Southeast, now 0-1 on the year, will return to play at Houck Stadium this Saturday for Family Weekend when the team will face SIU Carbondale, who lost its first game 48-47 against Indiana.