By Robert Sampson
WKU Athletic Communications/Marketing Assistant
One of the rewards for enduring the difficult transition from the Football Championship Subdivison to the Football Bowl Subdivision for Western Kentucky University Football has finally arrived. WKU is headed to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit on Dec. 26.
After enduring a 26-game losing streak that ended in 2010, WKU has been able to find the regular season traction in 2011 and 2012 to earn the bid to the bowl game, a major step forward for the program that recently made the FBS transition.
WKU is one of 19 teams to make the transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision from what was previously called I-AA. Every team that has made the transition has gone on to make a bowl game eventually, including two for the first time in 2012, WKU and Louisiana-Monroe (19 seasons between transition and bowl).
Former head coach Willie Taggart was a key player in guiding WKU from a 20-game losing streak when he was hired to earning the bowl berth in just his third season at the helm. It is a great opportunity to take a step forward for the program.
"I couldn't be happier for this football team - and especially this group of seniors - to be able to conclude our 2012 season with a bowl game," said Taggart at a press conference to announce the bowl bid. "This is a great day for our football program, but it is also huge for our fans and alumni. We're excited for the opportunity, but we aren't just happy to be in a bowl game. We're going to this game to win it."
Guiding WKU to a possible bowl win in just their fourth year of FBS play will be on the plate of interim head coach Lance Guidry.
"I have a chance to lead these young men to a bowl game and try to get this bowl victory that they deserve and WKU deserves," said Guidry.
Those who have been at WKU throughout the transition include senior tight end Jack Doyle, who came to WKU a year before the first year of eligibility in the FBS.
"(The coaching staff) sold us on the fact that we could be part of something special, that we could be part of going to a bowl game after a year of redshirting," said Doyle. "We have made the transition by going to a bowl game and now it is something for the program to build on."
It is all part of the progress that new head football coach Bobby Petrino envisions for WKU Football. A win by Guidry and the Hilltoppers in Detroit is part of the first steps in gaining a reputation as a national player in college football.
"My vision for Western Kentucky University's football program is to take it to the next level," said Petrino during his introductory press conference on Dec. 10. "Just like you do as a football coach, everything works in a progression where you work from step A to step B. You crawl before you walk, you walk before you run. This is what I see us doing here at WKU. We need to consistently, every year go to a bowl game. We need to win a conference championship, we need to every single year. We need to get in a position where we are ranked in the top 25 and get in a position where we can compete to be in a BCS bowl game. That is where we see our program going. When you look at the Boise State's of the world and the teams that have been able to do that, that is our expectation."
No one has been more successful in that transition than Boise State.
The team made the transition in 1996 and made their first bowl appearance in 1999. The four-year span in making the transition is identical to the one made by WKU as it moved into the FBS. WKU is one of eight teams that have made the FBS transition since 1987 to make a bowl game within the first four years of bowl eligibility.
For Boise State, the transition to Football Bowl Subdivision came to a culmination in 2006 when the Broncos played Oklahoma in the Tostito's Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona. Boise State won the game 43-42 in overtime, giving the Broncos a BCS win in their first ever appearance.
With a BCS bowl appearance in the future vision of WKU that Petrino holds, WKU may soon see its name in the same breath as Boise State and Northern Illinois in the nation's biggest spotlight.
Teams Transitioning to FBS Since 1987
Team | 1st Year | Year to Make Bowl | Number of Years to Reach Bowl |
Akron | 1987 | 2005 | 19th Season |
Arkansas State | 1992 | 2005 | 14th Season |
Buffalo | 1999 | 2009 | 11th Season |
Boise State | 1996 | 1999 | 4th Season |
Central Florida | 1996 | 2005 | 10th Season |
Connecticut | 2000 | 2004 | 5th Season |
Florida Atlantic | 2005 | 2007 | 3rd Season |
Florida International | 2004 | 2010 | 7th Season |
Idaho | 1996 | 1998 | 3rd Season |
Louisiana-Monroe | 1994 | 2012 | 19th Season |
Louisiana Tech | 1989 | 1990 | 2nd Season |
Marshall | 1997 | 1997 | 1st Season |
Middle Tennessee | 1999 | 2006 | 8th Season |
Nevada | 1992 | 1992 | 1st Season |
North Texas | 1995 | 2001 | 7th Season |
South Florida | 2001 | 2005 | 5th Season |
Troy | 2001 | 2004 | 4th Season |
UAB | 1996 | 2004 | 9th Season |
WKU | 2009 | 2012 | 4th Season |