Another Fourth Quarter Collapse

Paducah, KY native Corey Robinson carved up the Hilltopper defense going 26 of 39 for 304 yards and 2 touchdowns. Robinson completed a 47 yard bomb to wide out Chip Reeves with 12:39 left in the game that broke a 14-14 tie. The final score was Troy 28, WKU 14.

Trying to figure out why the David Elson coaching regime did not heavily recruit this kid? He only set the national record with 91 touchdown passes his senior season at Lone Oak and he lives in your state.

Bobby Rainey once again put in a stellar performance with 27 rushes for 157 yards, accounting for both Hilltopper touchdowns.

On the flip side, Kawaun Jakes continues to be consistently inconsistent going 10 of 23 for only 81 yards. Really, just 81 yards! The quarterback situation needs to be assessed during the off season. WKU cannot depend on Bobby Rainey to be 85% of the offense every game.

The defense had another hard time putting together a complete game effort, playing well for three quarters but collapsing in the fourth.

The season ends with a record of 2-10, better than 0-12!

We're Getting Closer...USF 24, WKU 12

RECAP

- The defense put together their best effort so far this year only allowing 283 yards of total offense to USF. We were able to sack QB B.J. Daniels three times and only allowed 57 yards through the air.

- Congratulations to safety Kiante Young for hauling in the Hilltoppers first interception in seven games. We have gone seven games without a defensive interception? When breaking negative streaks it is important to start off slowly.

- Although USF failed to move the ball through the air, they exploited our weakness in the run defense gaining 226 yards on the ground. Running back Demetris Murray led the way for the Bulls with 15 carries for 115 yards.

- Special teams allowed another big punt return of 67 yards by USF's Terrence Mitchell to set up a touchdown run by Daniels.

- Punter Hendrix Brakefield had a good game averaging 43.3 yards per punt on four attempts for the Hilltoppers. He has stepped up his game since the beginning of the season.

- Speaking of the kicking game, Casey Tinius had a game to forget missing on his field goal attempts (47, 50, and 45) and an extra point attempt. I know those are long field goal attempts but leaving points off the board after the offense puts together a good drive is a momentum killer.

- The Hilltoppers offense out gained South Florida 314 to 283 yards on the night that included Bobby Rainey being held to only 64 yards on 21 carries.

- Dreams do come true as Kawaun Jakes passed for 221 yards on 19-37 through the air. The coaching staff established the passing game early realizing the Bulls game plan was to stop Bobby Rainey.

- Tight end Jack Doyle had a career game with 7 receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown. He was involved early and often in the offense and scored on a 25 yard touchdown pass late in the fourth.

CONCLUSION

- Overall the offense showed their ability to move the ball throughout the entire ball game. WKU put together good drives early but could not capitalize due to missed field goals by Casey Tinius.

- The defense gave their best effort tonight by getting three sacks, an interception, and allowing USF punter Justin Brockhaus-Kahn to make a couple of cameo appearances.

- The Hilltoppers get a well deserved week off after a tough four game stretch to open the season. Now it is time for Sun Belt Conference play and victory is just around the corner but maybe a couple of blocks up!

END THE STREAK AND GO TOPS!

South Florida Preview

- USF is coming off a bye week after putting up a good fight against the Florida Gators two weeks ago. It was a 7-7 game in the middle of the 3rd quarter before the Gators pulled away.

- The Bulls return a veteran offensive line from an 8-4 team a year ago which will bold well for the rushing game and play making ability of quarterback B.J. Daniels.

- Speaking of B.J. Daniels, he is coming off a terrible passing performance against the Gators going 5 for 20 for only 86 yards and 4 interceptions. However, he countered that with 107 yards on the ground which proves how versatile and athletic he is.

- The defensive unit for the Bulls lost a lot of talent from last year's team, like George Selvie and Jason Pierre-Paul who are currently on NFL rosters. But they still obviously have great athletes on defense after holding the Florida offense in check for two and a half quarters.

- Look for USF to establish the passing game early with an experienced offensive line that will give Daniels time to pick apart the Hilltoppers secondary.

- The Hilltopper secondary may be suffering this weekend as they are awaiting the status of junior safety Mark Santoro after injuring his neck against Indiana.

- According to Coach Taggart, freshmen defensive backs Arius Wright and Tyree Robinson will get significant playing time Saturday against USF after performing well in the second half against the Hoosiers. At this point, I'll take anybody that wants to make plays especially on defense.

- The losing streak will continue as I expect B.J. Daniels to bounce back and have a monster game passing and running. I don't see WKU's defensive line gaining a lot of pressure against another bigger, stronger, and more athletic offensive line.

- The offense will be playing from behind yet again and need to establish Cooper, Vasquez, and Doyle into a more vertical passing game. Kawaun Jakes is bound to throw for over 200 yards sometime this season. We all know Bobby Rainey will get his yards.

- WKU at South Florida, September 25th at Raymond James Stadium

- Go Tops!

The Streak Continues: Indiana 38, WKU 21

THE RECAP:

- Defense, Defense, Defense...where are you? I miss you!

- Pass defense was terrible again as the Hoosiers had two receivers with at least eight receptions in Demarlo Belcher and Terrance Turner.

- The 4-3 defense is still not getting any pressure on the quarterback, we only had one sack on the day and Hoosier QB Ben Chappell passed for a career high 366 yards because he had enough time to set up a tent in the pocket.

- The Hoosiers are probably in the top ten in third down conversion percentage after going a scorching 10-12 on third downs, only punting once.

- I noticed the WKU defense taking bad angles, especially in the secondary, which is contributing to our tackling woes.

- Bobby Rainey had 21 rushes for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns on the day. Great players show consistency, can't wait to see him against Sun Belt competition.

- Like last week, we jumped off to a great start with a 10 play 91 yard drive where Rainey gained 62 of his yards and capped it off with a trip to the end zone.

- After the great start the offense sputtered, managing only 197 yards after the initial drive.

- Kawaun Jakes had his best game so far, completing 13 of 20 passes for 144 yards and a touchdown. Still want to see a more vertical passing strategy early in the game but was happy to see Jack Doyle utilized, albeit late in the game.

- Wide Receiver Marcus Vasquez made a highlight reel catch for a 31 yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter. I was amazed at how he was able to get his foot down in the field of play the way his body was contorted.

- Many complaints about concessions during the game and after missing the whole second quarter standing in line for a drink, I was one of the complainers. Total lack of concessions preparation by the staff, especially on a hot day where there were four people in my section that suffered from heat exhaustion and needed medical attention.

- Please WKU lets supply more water to your fans, have vendors sell drinks in the stands, and have more concession stands set up that only sell drinks. Lines were way too long and it was ridiculous to be running out of bottled water in the first half when people are laying on the ground suffering from the heat!

- The losing streak is at 23 now and next week the Tops are at South Florida, where the streak will grow to 24 unfortunately. With each game comes more experience, more confidence in the ability to compete, and the hope that there will be one game where it will all come together. Soon I hope, very soon.

END THE STREAK

Nebraska Cruises Against The Hilltoppers 49-10

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.

Western Kentucky Football - Two A Days Begin

Two a days begin today and with a morning practice session and with almost a week of practice behind them the Tops are making strides in being more efficient on both sides of the ball. The quarterback competition looks to be more of a two way race now as Pelesasa and Jakes are getting the majority of the reps.

Freshman Brandon Doughty has the biggest arm of all three but is inaccurate at times, especially out of the pocket, as he threw a couple of groundballs to receivers in the morning session.

Pelesasa seems to be getting more confident in running the offense and made some good throws this morning. Although he did severely overthrow a very wide open (6’6” tight end) Jack Doyle in the end zone on a ball that Manute Bol with a jet pack would not have hops to catch!

On goal line drills from the three yard line the offense and defense were battling it out with each other with the offense winning the war when the dust settled. Both sides of the ball were rowdy after big plays were made with each side chanting at one another, making the goal line plays very competitive. When the offense would pump the ball in the end zone the Hilltopper Fight Song would ignite from all the offensive players.

Coach Taggart and his staff are working well together in creating an environment of encouragement, excitement, and discipline. You will often see a coach sprinting through the sea of pads and helmets after the whistle has blown to praise a player for a great effort and rewarding them with multiple taps on the helmet. They are also not afraid to get in a player’s face when need be. There seems to be a good vibe amongst the players and coaches during the flow of practice.

Wide receiver Willie McNeal did not help himself in winning the punt return job today by letting a punt bounce over his head, then jumping to swat the ball with one hand, touching it which makes it a live ball, then chasing after it and fumbling it some more. Yeah, the ball won that battle which resulted in Mr. McNeal getting yelled at and running a penalty lap around the field. Hopefully this will serve as a reminder for him to practice his shot blocking on a basketball court.

In other news, a player (not sure who) was stopped midway in his trot to the Gatorade break and was forced to return to the sidelines by coaches in order to show more hustle to the Gatorade break! How awesome is that? Which got me thinking, a Gatorade break for them is like recess. In grade school, I don’t recall ever walking to recess, I always ran because the faster I got there, the more time I had to play duck, duck, goose or annoy some girl I had a crush on. Most of the time the girl would annoy me.

Western Kentucky Football Training Camp Day 1 Review

Whistles were blowing, coaches were yelling, players were throwing up, and gatorade was being consumed by the gallons...yes, it is time for football! The Hilltoppers first day of practice was based around the usual offensive and defensive individual drills, red zone offense, toss and hand offs, and the first and second team offensive and defensive units battling each other throughout the night. Coaches were focused on getting the players acclimated to the new styles on both sides of the ball.

The quarterback situation looks to be up in the air each candidate brings their own special skill set to the team, however tonight each seemed to struggle a bit with accuracy. JUCO transfer Matt Pelesasa is very shifty with his feet and has the quickest release of all three. During drills against the defense Coach Taggart got frustrated with Pelesasa and pulled him from running the offense for a while. Kawaun Jakes was good with mid range passes but struggled with handling snaps and fumbled the ball on a couple of occasions during designed run plays. After each fumble a coach was in his ear as he walked back to the huddle. Brandon Doughty has a big arm and can make the deep passes but struggled with short range passes at times as he received a few lessons on throwing motions from Coach Taggart.

This was the first day of practice so obviously there is a lot of rust to work out, especially for the wide receivers. They looked sloppy in individual drills, but a receiver that stood out to me was local product Blake Ayers. He has a great set of hands and is a consistent route runner, knowing when to use his burst of speed during the play to break open from the defenders. Running back Braxton Miller was another stand out player during practice, he is a hard runner and has excellent cutting ability.

The first day of training camp is complete, on to the next day.