WKU Game Notes
ASU Game Notes
Sun Belt Conference Weekly Notes
Monday Press Conference Transcript
Press Conference Audio - Coach Taggart
Press Conference Audio - Bobby Rainey, Thomas Majors
After two straight home games, the Western Kentucky University football team head back out on the road to visit Arkansas State Saturday at ASU Stadium in Jonesboro. WKU is looking to bounce back from a one-point home loss to Florida Atlantic last week, while the Red Wolves are coming off an impressive 51-24 home victory over Middle Tennessee last Tuesday night.
Rainey Reaches 1,000 - Thanks to his 152-yard performance against Florida Atlantic on Saturday, junior running back Bobby Rainey became the 14th player in WKU Football history - and the first since the move to the Football Bowl Subdivision - to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Rainey enters this week's game with 1,090 yards on the year - an average 121.1 yards per game. He is now the eighth leading rusher in the nation in 2010, and his total rushing yards rank tenth on WKU's single-season list. He enters the last three games of the season needing 324 yards to move into the top three on the Sun Belt Conference's single-season rushing list.
Majors Has Career Day on D - Senior linebacker Thomas Majors continues to see his total tackles near 100 for the second straight season. He helped that effort tremendously on Saturday, recording a career-high 15 stops against Florida Atlantic. He also posted a career-best 4.5 tackles for loss, giving him 12.5 stops behind the line this season. That is more than 25 percent of WKU's stops in the backfield this season. Majors' 79 total tackles are 29 more than anyone else on the Hilltopper defense. His efforts against FAU earned him honorable mention Linebacker-of-the-Week accolades from the College Football Performance Awards.
Entire Defense Steps Up - With Majors leading the way, the entire Topper defense put together their best performance of the 2010 season, giving up a season low in points (16) and total yards (215). WKU now ranks third in the Sun Belt Conference in total defense, allowing 379.4 yards per game.
So Close - WKU's one-point loss to Florida Atlantic was yet another close call for the Hilltoppers during the 2010 conference season. Three of the Hilltoppers' four conference losses - FIU, ULM and FAU - have been decided by a total of 13 points. In both the ULM and FAU games, WKU held the lead going into the fourth quarter.
Ball Hogs - In eight of WKU's nine games this season, the Hilltoppers have won the time-of-possession battle. The only time it did not record at least 30 minutes of possession was the second game of the season at Kentucky. On the season, the Hilltoppers are averaging 31:41 in possession each game. That average ranks third in the Sun Belt and 20th in the nation.
WKU-MTSU Game To Appear on TV - WKU's home finale on Nov. 20 against Middle Tennessee has been selected as the Sun Belt Network Game of the Week. Kickoff has been moved to 3:15 p.m. (CST) - 15 minutes earlier than the original start time of 3:30 p.m. This will mark the sixth time WKU will appear on television in the 2010 season.
