WKU Athletic Communications/Marketing Assistant
With the final day of final exams ending Friday, players will turn their focus to football for the winter break. The team will practice on Saturday before taking Sunday off, the final full off-day before the bowl game.
"The guys are excited to be out here and have fun," said quarterback Kawaun Jakes before Thursday's practice. "It's about football (now)."
Jakes earned honorable mention All-Sun Belt Conference honors in 2012 and set a single-season record with 21 touchdown passes during his senior season. He threw at least three touchdown passes in five games. He now has over 7, 300 career passing yards and 50 touchdown passes.
"There is a lot of energy," said Jakes. "We are competing everyday. Coach Guidry's personality translates to practice, it is more high energy and a lot faster."
"Coach Guidry has done a good job of keeping the energy up and keeping us focused," said lineman Cole Tischer.
Tischer had 28 tackles this season, including six for loss. He had three tackles in the senior day win over North Texas.
WKU and the NFL: WKU will face a new postseason reality when the team takes to the playing surface of Ford Field on Dec. 26 in Detroit for the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. The venue and spotlight of a FBS bowl game will be a major shift from WKU's last postseason game in the 2004 Division I-AA playoffs, played in Huntsville, Texas.
WKU's bowl game with Central Michigan will mark the second of three straight seasons that WKU will play in an NFL venue. The Hilltoppers nearly escaped L.P. Field in Nashville with a win over Southeastern Conference foe Kentucky in 2011, will face Central Michigan in Ford Field on Dec. 26 and return to L.P. Field in 2013 to open the season against Kentucky, looking for their second straight win over the Wildcats.
Playing in NFL stadiums is not the only place where connections between the NFL and WKU can be seen. With former Hilltopper running back Bobby Rainey earning a free agent contract with the Baltimore Ravens in 2012 and several departing seniors will likely have a chance to either be drafted or earn a chance in training camp for free agent opportunities.
WKU In The Television Spotlight: Not only will WKU be under the bright lights of an NFL stadium at the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, but it will be on the national television spotlight as the only college football game on Dec. 26. WKU's game against Central Michigan is the only college football game to be played on the day following Christmas and will be televised by ESPN with Mark Neely, Ray Bentley and Jemele Hill on the call. WKU was a fixture on national television in 2012 with every game being on the ESPN family of networks, including three games on ESPNU and a game on the SEC Network.
