| BOWL GAME: WKU (7-5) vs. Central Michigan (7-5) | ||
| Game Notes | ||
| Watch/Listen | ||
| TV: ESPN | Radio: IMG Network | |
| Follow Live! | ||
The Matchup:
WKU vs. Central Michigan
Popeyes Bahamas Bowl
Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014, 11 a.m. CT
Thomas A Robinson National Stadium (15,000), Nassau, Bahamas
TV: ESPN
Steve Levy (Play-by-Play)
Mark May (Analyst)
Lou Holtz (Analyst)
Laura Rutledge (Sideline)
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Saturday's game will be nationally televised on ESPN and can be seen in more than 110 million homes.
Radio: IMG Sports Network | WKU Gameday App (Google | iPhone | TuneIn)
What to Watch For: WKU Bowl Guide | Marshall Game Notes
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WKU is in its 96th season of football and first under head coach Jeff Brohm, who became the school's 19th head coach on Jan. 10, 2014.
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WKU enters its first season as members of Conference USA after a five-year run as full FBS members in the Sun Belt Conference. The Hilltoppers are also in year six of their membership in the FBS.
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WKU has tallied 528 points in 2014, a new school-record, surpassing the 432 scored by the 2002 team which played 15 games. They are also the only team in school history to score 30+ points in seven-straight games to open a season.
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The Hilltoppers are in the midst of their toughest schedule at the FBS level in their first season as C-USA members. Currently, WKU's complete schedule is 72-69 (.510). The 2009 schedule finished an even .500 (75-75) while last season's schedule finished 65-82 (.442).
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WKU has now closed consecutive regular seasons with four-game winning streaks and only defending national champion Florida State and Big 10 division champions Ohio State and Wisconsin have won more games in November over the past two seasons than WKU's eight.
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With their win over previously-unbeaten Marshall, the Hilltoppers secured their first ever victory over a ranked opponent at the FBS level. They snapped a nearly three-year long home winning streak for the Thundering Herd and secured a bowl bid in the process.
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For the fourth consecutive season, the Hilltoppers are bowl-eligible and have at least seven wins. It is the longest active streak in Conference USA, both in bowl eligibility and consecutive winning seasons, and WKU is one of just nine `Group of Five' schools to post such a streak.
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Brandon Doughty leads the FBS with 44 touchdown passes and his 44 TDs are tied for the 16th most in single-season FBS history, passing the likes of Peyton Manning (1997), Drew Brees (1998) and Danny Wuerffel (1996). Doughty's 24 TD passes at home would have broken the single-season school record on their own, which stood at 22. More on Doughty on page 16 and 17.
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Leon Allen's 345 yards against Army established a new Conference USA and WKU single-game record and is the 16th-highest output in FBS history. His 345-yard day was just the seventh 300-yard outing in league history and the second in Hilltopper history, erasing Eddie Thompson's 22-year old record of 309 yards versus Southern Illinois on Oct. 29, 1992.
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With just 10 yards in the bowl game, Leon Allen would become the fifth-consecutive WKU running back to surpass 1,500 rushing yards - a mark just one other team in FBS history has ever established (Northern Illinois, 2002-06).
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If Allen establishes himself as a 1,500 yard rusher and Brandon Doughty can toss for 156 yards (eclipsing 4,500 yards), WKU would become the first program in FBS history with both a 4,500 yard passer and 1,500 rusher in the same season.
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WKU now owns the C-USA single game record for passing (Brandon Doughty, 593) and rushing yardage (Leon Allen, 345) in their first season as C-USA members. They are the first program in 17 years to break their league's single-game passing and rushing record in the same season (Kent State, MAC, 1997).
About the Game:
- The Hilltoppers are searching for their first bowl victory since moving to the FBS in 2009. WKU fell to Central Michigan in their only other bowl appearance in 2012, despite being bowl-eligible in four consecutive seasons.
- Of the eight rookie head coaches to take over a program in 2014, only Jeff Brohm and Blake Anderson (Arkansas State) will take their programs to the postseason. Only nine of the 20 coaches in their first year at their respective program are going bowling.
- 1 -With a victory in the bowl game, WKU would earn their first victory in a bowl since moving to the FBS in 2009.
- 8 - WKU would have eight wins, tying an FBS record, in consecutive seasons. The Hilltoppers have not have consecutive seasons with eight or more wins since 2003-2004.
- 2 - With two touchdown passes in the bowl game, WKU quarterback Brandon Doughty would rank Top 10 all-time in FBS single-season touchdown passes with 46
- 3 - Redshirt senior wide receiver Willie McNeal needs three catches to become WKU's all-time leader in receptions and redshirt junior wide receiver Jared Dangerfield needs three grabs to become WKU's single-season reception leader.
- 7 - Junior kicker Garrett Schwettman is seven points shy of breaking WKU's single-season points record of 117 set by Matt Lange in 2003
The Group of...Nine.
WKU is one of nine `Group of Five' programs to reach bowl eligibility in four-straight seasons and one of just 29 teams in the FBS to win seven or more games in four consecutive seasons.
The others are Cincinatti, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Ohio, Boise State, San Diego State, Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette.
Holiday Season Victories
WKU enters the 2014 postseason with a four-game winning streak. Dating to 1975, it is the fourth time amongst the last 11 postseason appearances that WKU will enter the postseason with a streak of four wins or more.
WKU is 13-10 all-time in games played in December. However, the Hilltoppers are on a four-game slide in the month and last won a December game when they defeated McNeese State for the 2002 I-AA National Championship.
Youth + Experience
The Hilltoppers feature one of the youngest teams in the country - and Conference USA's youngest - as they have 67 freshmen and sophomores making up their 105 fall camp roster. That mark is No. 25 nationally and the highest in C-USA.
However, head coach Jeff Brohm has countered this with the league's most experienced collegiate coaching staff, tallying 238 years of combined experience. The next closest - Middle Tennessee with 187.
| Conference USA Coaching Staff Experience | ||
| Team | Head Coach | Comb. Years of Experience |
| WKU | Jeff Brohm | 238 |
| Middle Tennessee | Rick Stockstill | 187 |
| North Texas | Dan McCarney | 180 |
One More Game, Many More Records
Familiarity in a Rematch
Just two years ago, the Hilltoppers and Chippewas squared off and more than a few Hilltoppers remember the sting of defeat in WKU's first FBS bowl game.
Below is a list of players who participated in the 2012 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl for WKU:
Rico Brown, Cameron Clemmons, Tim Gorski, Mitchell Henry, Willie McNeal, Daqual Randall, Gavin Rocker, Garrett Schwettman, Ricardo Singh, TJ Smith, Cam Thomas, Terran Williams.
Conference USA vs. MAC
Regular Season:
In 2014, Conference USA has been the dominant Group of Five league, going 13-2 vs. teams from the other Group of Five conferences including a 5-0 mark vs. the MAC. Including WKU's season opening 59-31 victory over Bowling Green, C-USA teams have outscored the MAC 42-18.4 on the year.
Postseason:
Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference have a long history of postseason competition, combining to play 17 games against each other since the 1998 Motor City Bowl when Louisiville - then a member of C-USA - took on Marshall - then a member of the MAC. After beginning the series on an 0-7 run vs. the league, C-USA teams have won eight consecutive postseason games against the MAC.
WKU Bowl History
While this year's bowl game is just the second in the FBS era for WKU, it continues a historical trend for a program that was a I-AA and II power for most of it's existence, under coaches like Jack Harbaugh and Jimmy Feix.
WKU won the 1952 Refrigerator Bowl (Arkansas State, 34-19), 1963 Tangerine Bowl (Coast Guard, 27-0), 1973 Grantland Rice Bowl (Grambling State, 28-20) and 1975 Grantland Rice Bowl (New Hampshire, 14-3). The Tops also participated in the 1973 and 1975 Camelia Bowl.
A Human Record Book
Brandon Doughty's 2014 campaign has been nothing short of remarkable - and he has re-written a record book that had not seen any movement in many categories for nearly 30 seasons.
All totaled, Doughty has broken or tied 17 conference or program records and set an FBS record with Marshall's Rakeem Cato for the most touchdowns thrown in a game with 15.
Third Down Dominance
On third down this season, few quarterbacks in the country are better than Brandon Doughty. He is 73-of-117 for 876 yards, eight touchdowns and no INTs on third down this year. Of those 73 completions, 52 have been converted for first downs and 21 have gone for longer than 15 yards.
- Doughty is the only QB in the country with more than 850 yards passing on third down without an interception and one of five full-time starters overall without an interception on third down.
