2005 Season Summary
The Southeast Missouri State Redhawks finished the 2004-05 season with a record of 15-14 straight up, which included an Ohio Valley Conference record of 9-7, which placed them in a three way tie for fifth place in the league.
Against the spread SE Mo State Redhawks finished a stellar 17-7, as one of the most valuable teams on the board. Interestingly enough, however, they didn’t retain much value at the end of the season as they limped home with just two payoffs in their final six games in a classic demonstration of how a hot team can lose board value is it attracts more attention from the mainstream gambling public.
That slowdown at the end of the season served as a potential portent of things to come as SE Mo State Redhawks was performing at a level against the board that simply couldn’t be sustained and it was likely that they would continue to struggle, at least at the start of 2005-06, because gamblers are loathe to forget about a team that was able to consistently get the cash, as the Red Hawks were in 2004-05.
Sluggish start
Southeast Missouri State opened the 2005-06 season with three consecutive unlined games beginning with a 59-56 home win over Truman State. That was then followed by a 64-65 home loss to IUPU-Ft. Wayne and then a 75-68 win at South Dakota State.
In their lined opener at Nebraska, the Red Hawks scored a 54-69 loss/push as 15-point dogs. That was then followed by a 60-72 loss at Tennessee-Martin as 5.5-point dogs. Next came a 70-69 home win over Tennessee State as 1-point dogs, which was then followed by a 65-79 home loss to Tennessee Tech as 4-point dogs. The Red Hawks then took a break from the board and scored an 81-49 home win over Central Methodist.
Back on the board at Samford, The Red Hawks lost a 53-68 decision as 8.5-point dogs, which was then followed by a 72-82 loss at Jacksonville State as 7-point dogs fir a sluggish start of 1-4-1 against the spread.
Brief bargains
As was expected, the Red Hawks’ value slid down to a level in which they actually began to level off into bargains, beginning with a 64-89 loss/cover at Illinois as whopping 32-point dogs. That was then followed by a 68-62 home win over Eastern Kentucky as 1-point chalks, followed by a 72-60 win at Eastern Illinois as 3-point dogs. The Red Hawks then scored a fourth straight cover with a 68-81 loss at Murray State as 17.5-point chalks to end a nice stretch as brief bargains.
Unable to sustain success
The Red Hawks proved unable to sustain success against the board, however, starting with a 56-63 home loss to Austin Peay in a pick’em affair. That was then followed by a 63-68 loss/cover at Tennessee State as 7.5-point dogs, which was to be the last payoff for the Red Hawks for quite some time to come.
Free fall
Southeast Missouri State began a full fledged free fall against the board beginning with a 62-73 loss at Austin Peay as 9-point dogs. That was then followed by a 55-66 home loss to Tennessee Martin in a pick’em affair. Next came a 59-62 loss at Morehead State as 1-point dogs, followed by a 51-80 blowout loss at Eastern Kentucky as 8-point dogs.
There was no relief in site for the Red Hawks, who were in the midst of a total collapse. Southeast Missouri State next lost at home to Eastern Illinois 49-60 as 3-point chalks, which was then followed by a 61-69 loss at UC Riverside as 4-point dogs for a sixth consecutive loss against the college basketball gambling lines.
The red ink finally stopped flowing, albeit temporarily, as the Red Hawks beat Samford 63-52 as 8-point home dogs, before they returned to form and lost at home to Jacksonville State 67-80 as 1.5-point dogs to finish a dreadful season.