Tony Samuel has known two breeds of Missouri Tiger.

As a defensive end for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Samuel played against Al Onofrio’s talent-rich teams of the 1970s and went 2-2 against the Tigers from 1974-77.

"That’s when they had Phil Bradley, Gerry Ellis, Kellen Winslow. That whole bunch," Samuel said this week. "I’ve seen some great Mizzou teams over the years,"

Not so much during his second stint with the Huskers. In 1986, Samuel joined Tom Osborne’s Nebraska coaching staff and spent the next 11 years embarrassing the Tigers. Nebraska was 11-0 against Missouri during Samuel’s run as a defensive assistant.

Now in his fourth decade in college football, Samuel confronts Missouri assuming a drastically different role: colossal underdog. The third-year coach of Southeast Missouri State brings his team to Columbia tomorrow for what could be a thrashing similar to the ones Samuel’s Huskers regularly dispensed on Faurot Field.

"We’re just practicing to get better, bottom line," said Samuel, whose Redhawks (1-0) from Cape Girardeau visit No. 6 Missouri (1-0) at 6 p.m. tomorrow. "We’re going to go in there and just work at playing our game and see if we can execute against that kind of high-caliber team."

Since 1992, when it joined the Football Championship Subdivision ranks - formerly known as Division I-AA - SEMO has gone 1-12 against Football Bowl Subdivision teams. The lone win came against Middle Tennessee State in 2002. In their last two games against FBS opponents, the Redhawks were outscored 122-10 by Arkansas (2006) and Cincinnati (2007).

SEMO hasn’t fared much better against teams from its own division. Samuel is 8-15 since taking over the program in 2006. After last season’s ninth-place finish in the 10-team Ohio Valley Conference, the Redhawks were picked to finish last this year.

Samuel’s third season at the helm almost began disastrously Aug. 28 when the Redhawks trailed Southwest Baptist by 14 points in the fourth quarter before rallying to win 35-28 in overtime. That would be Division II Southwest Baptist, a team coming off a winless 2007.

In other words, if Missouri scheduled SEMO with the sole purpose of guaranteeing itself a victory, its $250,000 should be well spent. That’s how much MU agreed to pay the Redhawks program in exchange for one visit to Columbia. The Tigers are 7-0 against FCS teams, including 4-0 under Gary Pinkel.

As his team prepared for tomorrow’s challenge, Samuel was unapologetic in preferring to discuss his team’s upcoming OVC opener rather than tomorrow’s likely bloodletting. Next Thursday, the Redhawks host Tennessee Tech in a game ESPNU will televise nationally from Cape Girardeau.

"We’re just trying to get better," he said. "We’ve never had a national TV game here before, so that’s a critical thing for us. We’re going to try and see what we can do to get better, cover our bases and go from there."

After starting two years for Osborne’s Blackshirts, Samuel took on assistant coaching positions at Western Michigan (1982-83) and Stanford (1984-85) before returning to his alma mater to coach outside linebackers and rush ends from 1986-96. At Nebraska, Samuel was part of two national championship staffs and coached six All-Americans, including Trev Alberts, Mike Rucker and Grant Wistrom.

From Lincoln, Neb., Samuel’s coaching career took him to Las Cruces, N.M., where in 1997 he took over one of the country’s woebegone programs at New Mexico State. In eight years there, Samuel’s Aggies had only two winning seasons but produced what’s considered the program’s greatest upset, a 35-7 victory at No. 22 Arizona State in 1999.

Samuel was fired after the 2004 season and spent the next year coaching defensive linemen at Purdue. Then, SEMO came calling. Samuel has put together a Cornhusker reunion in the Bootheel, building a staff that includes six former Nebraska players, including All-American linebacker Troy Dumas, who coaches the same position for the Redhawks.

To no surprise, Samuel considers Osborne his most influential mentor. What has he learned from the former Huskers coach?

"Well, just about everything," Samuel said. "How to deal with the kids, the academic aspect, treating them fairly, understanding how to teach. The whole nine yards."

Unfortunately for SEMO, Osborne’s sterling record against Missouri - 21-4 - will be of no use to the Redhawks tomorrow night.

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