The dust has settled for a tough opening game for the Hilltoppers with a 49-10 loss against the eighth ranked team in the country, the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Nebraska had control of this game from the beginning scoring with ease on their first two drives and putting the contest out of hand early. Despite the final score there are a lot of positives to take away from this game for the Hilltopper program on both the offensive and defensive sides.
Offensive Line Solid
The offensive line appeared solid in contributing to 299 yards of total offense against a highly touted Blackshirt defense. This included 179 yards rushing and 120 yards passing and only allowing one sack of quarterback Kawaun Jakes, who went 12 -22 passing for 120 yards and only one interception.
Raining Supreme
Running back Bobby Rainey had a career day as he rushed for 155 yards on a workman like 30 carries and scored the lone touchdown for the Hilltoppers. Rainey almost had another touchdown before being stripped at the goal line after a 47-yard run; the fumble was recovered by Nebraska in the end zone for a touchback.
Defense Showing Effort
Okay, Nebraska had 536 yards of total offense so you might wonder why I would brag about the WKU defense. After allowing 107 yards on the first two Nebraska drives to start the game, the Hilltoppers stepped up and only allowed 83 yards the rest of the first half. Despite the yardage, the new 4-3 defense for the Hilltoppers showed great effort by creating two turnovers and forcing the Cornhusker offense into three and out drives.
Offensive Production
The offense took some time to get into the flow of the game as they gained 219 of their 299 total yards in the second half. Coach Taggart kept the focus on the running game as it accounted for 179 yards and they kept feeding Bobby Rainey the ball with 30 carries for a career high 155 yards on the ground. They were able to put together a solid 80 yard drive in the fourth quarter which was capped off by a 5 yard touchdown run by Rainey. The offense had 14 total first downs and averaged 4.8 yards per play on 62 total offensive plays.
The Conclusion
This was a typical opening weekend talent mismatch and squash game for a BCS contender in the Cornhuskers but this allowed the Hilltoppers to develop their talent as well and get ready for Sun Belt play. I was impressed with the offensive production and the focus on the running game. The defense made some plays and forced some turnovers. The biggest thing the Hilltoppers need work on are tackling, I saw a lot of missed tackles in what highlights I did see and Coach Taggart did stress that in post game interviews. The main thing to take away from this game is that WKU competed in front of a crowd of 85,000 plus and with one game in the books, the comfort level is better and the team has more experience to run the new offensive and defensive schemes.
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