Southeast Missouri’s first play Saturday against Eastern will probably be a run.

Expect another run play after that.

And after that, another run is anticipated.

“There’s no secrets about it,” said SEMO head coach Tony Samuel. “It will be a nice, short game I expect because the clock doesn’t stop on the run.”

Samuel, in his second-year at Southeast Missouri, has brought in an entirely new offensive philosophy to Cape Girardeau, Mo.

The Redhawks employed a pass-happy offense under former head coach Tim Billings. But Samuel reversed philosophies when he arrived at SEMO after the 2005 season.

For the former Nebraska wide receiver, who played and coached under legendary coach Tom Osborne, having an offense based around the run isn’t a surprise.

SEMO has averaged 222.8 yards rushing through its first four games, which is best in the OVC and 16th in the nation.

“I’m the coach so I’m always finding things wrong with it,” Samuel said. “I think we could improve drastically with our rushing attack. When we get it really up and running, I’m going to be an excited guy.”

The Panthers (2-2, 1-0 Ohio Valley Conference) will get a chance to stop SEMO’s run-first, pass-later mentality at 6 p.m. on Saturday night at Houck Field.

The Redhawks (2-2, 0-1) are led on the ground by junior Timmy Holloman (86 carries for 522 yards). The 6-foot, 190-pound Holloman averages 130.5 yards on the ground, good for second in the conference and seventh in the nation.

Eastern senior middle linebacker Donald Thomas said Holloman reminds him of former teammate and the Panthers second all-time leading rusher Vincent Webb Jr.

“He can go downhill and he has great vision,” he said. “If he sees a hole, he’s going to take it. He sees the cutback, he’s going to take it. He is a very good football player.”

Add to the fact that SEMO is starting a mobile quarterback in 6-2, 215-pound Victor Anderson (46 carries for 218 yards, 18-of-46 for 177 passing yards) and stopping the run will be crucial for Eastern.

“Anderson, he’s electric with the ball in his hands,” said Eastern defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni. “They’ll run some option, quarterback-type stuff that Indiana State ran last week. And then their best pass is when they drop back and he takes off scrambling. He’s a really, really effective scrambler.”

Anderson started SEMO’s first three games, but was replaced by Houston Lillard in the Redhawks’ OVC opener at Samford last week.

Lillard, who is more of a drop-back passer than Anderson, injured his ribs last Saturday and won’t play against Eastern, Samuel said.

The Panthers got a crash course in defending a mobile quarterback in last week’s win at Indiana State. The Sycamores used backup Charles Dowdell in place of starter Reilly Murphy for the majority of the game. Dowdell was more of a running threat than a passing threat against the Panthers.

He operated out of ISU’s shotgun formation with the option to either hand the ball off to the running back or run it himself on most plays.

Eastern senior defensive tackle Tim Kelly said watching film of SEMO shows them in more traditional sets, with Anderson under the center and two running backs. But they’ve also shown the ability to line up in the shotgun formation and make zone read runs, with Anderson either keeping the ball or handing it off.

“The people who saw the game on Saturday, if they thought (Dowdell) was an athlete, I think this kid is a much better athlete,” Kelly said. “I don’t think he’s going to hurt us throwing the ball, but he can sure as hell hurt us running the ball.”

Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said the Panthers go into every game trying to stop the run first.

“That’s just part of our usual routine,” he said. “So we’ll defend the run first and hope we have to force them into a throwing game. Which then we’ll have to contend with that.”

Thomas was all over the field against Indiana State en route to a team-high 12 tackles. He expects more of the same this week.

“Last week we played a great second half but it’s only the start for us,” Thomas said. “We’re trying to get back to the dominating defense that we’re used to having here at Eastern.”