WKU (4-2, 2-1 C-USA) at Old Dominion (2-4, 0-2 C-USA)
Friday, Oct. 20 | S.B. Ballard Stadium | 5Â p.m. CT
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Friday, Oct. 20 | S.B. Ballard Stadium | 5Â p.m. CT
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The Matchup
The Hilltoppers travel to Norfolk in a game that has proven to be full of fireworks since the series began in 2014. In three games, the average scoring margin has been 60-35. The Hilltoppers are seeking to move to at least 3-1 in conference play for the third consecutive season.Â
Friday's trip marks just the fourth time in school history WKU has played in Virginia. WKU in 1-2 all-time in the commonwealth with a victory over ODU in 2015 and losses at No. 20 Virginia Tech (2008) and Liberty (1995). WKU and ODU are playing each other on Friday, the most-common non-Saturday day for the Hilltoppers to play. In the history of the program, the Hilltoppers have played 43 games on Friday, posting a 20-21-2 mark in those games. WKU last played on Friday when they hosted Marshall in 2015, and the Hilltoppers have won four-straight Friday games dating back to 2002. It is the first of three Friday night games this season.
ODU Director of Athletics Dr. Camden Wood Selig previously served as WKU's Director of Athletics and hired current WKU Director of Athletics Todd Stewart.
Scouting Old Dominion
Offensively, Old Dominion is led by running back Jeremy Cox and quarterback Steven Wililams, Jr. Williams is the second-youngest starting quarterback in FBS history at just 17 years old and is one of seven true freshman quarterbacks to start a game in the FBS this season. The Monarchs average 287 yards of total offense per game with 131 yards per game coming on the ground.
Defensively, ODU features Conference USA's best tandem of pass rushers in Oshane Zimines (7.5 tackles for loss) and Bunmi Rotimi (4.0 tackles for loss). The Monarchs have tallied a league-best 7.33 tackles for loss per game, and five Monarchs have at least four tackles for loss through six games. ODU is surrendering 436.8 yards of total offense and 34.7 points per game.
Head coach Bobby Wilder is the program's only head coach in its nine-year history and will be looking to snap a four-game losing streak in which the Monarchs have been outscored by an average of 32.8 points per game.
2017 Team Captains
WKU's season-long team captains were voted on at the end of fall camp, entirely by the players. Under Sanford, the team has one offensive captain, one defensive captain, one "trenches" captain (from either offensive or defensive line) and a rotating special teams captain.
Offenive Captain: QB Mike White
Defensive Captain: LB Joel Iyiegbuniwe
Trenches Captain: DL Derik Overstreet
4-2-5 Defense Proving Stout
WKU's move to a 4-2-5 defense has paid off so far in 2017. Removing a pick-six allowed by the offense at Illinois, the Hilltopper defense has allowed just 102 points through six games, the fewest through six since 2003 (96 points). The 2,043 total yards allowed and 5.2 yard per play average are also the fewest through six since 2012 (1,828/4.8).
A Complete Performance Against Charlotte
WKU founds its offensive rhythm in a big way against Charlotte as the Hilltoppers churned out 627 yards of total offense, including 506 yards through the air, both season-highs by far. It was arguably the most complete performance this season by the team, just six games in to the installation of new offensive and defensive schemes.
Other marks of note included:
- Mike White's monster day (398 passing yards, 5 TDs, 1 rush TD) can stand by itself, but he's the only quarterback in the FBS this season to hit those marks while also completing 70-percent of his passes in a victory.
- The 398 yards are the second-most by a Conference USA passer this season and the most by a C-USA quarterback in a conference game.
- As a team, WKU's 506 yards passing were the fifth-most in a single game in school history.
- WKU ran 92 plays in the game, the eighth-most in a single game in school history.
- The 22 first downs via the pass tied for the second-most in a game in school history while the 34 first downs overall tied for fourth-most in a game in school history.
- The Hilltoppers 4-2-5 defense allowed just 61 yards passing, the fewest allowed to a conference opponent in the program's FBS history.
- Charlotte tallied just nine first downs overall, the fifth-fewest allowed to an opponent in WKU's FBS history. Of those nine first downs, just two came via the pass, the fewest ever allowed to an FBS opponent.
Season Helmet Stickers
WKU will wear a pair of helmet stickers this season, honoring two former Hilltoppers who passed away during the offseason: former assistant coach Butch Gilbert and former tight end Mitchell Henry.
Gilbert regularly passed out butterscotch candies to players and coaches during his visits to practice, which WKU commemorates with a wrapped candy as a helmet sticker. To commemorate Henry, WKU has an "MH" sticker on the helmet.
Who's Next?
With the graduation of Forrest Lamp, Darrell Williams, Max Halpin, Taywan Taylor, Anthony Wales, and Nicholas Norris, the opportunity to make a name for yourself is wide open for the 2017 Hilltoppers. All six had NFL opportunities following their senior campaign and three (Lamp, Taylor, and Williams) made rosters. Between the three offensive lineman (Lamp, Williams, and Halpin), they combined for 140 games played and 129 starts - nearly all of them together. Wales tallied 1,621 rushing yards and led the nation in scoring and touchdowns, while Taylor and Norris combined for over 7,000 receiving yards for their careers as they went 1-2 in the record books in every major receiving category both season and career.
All totaled, those six played in 289 combined games with a staggering 209 combined starts.
The Sanford Era Begins
WKU is in the first season of the Mike Sanford era which began at home with a 31-17 victory over Eastern Kentucky. The nation's second-youngest head coach, Sanford's youth is deceptive. When he was hired on December 14, Sanford was, in fact, more experienced at that point in his coaching career than either of WKU's previous two "first-timers" in Jeff Brohm and Willie Taggart. He was one of just four rookie head coaches (out of 10) in 2017 to win his debut and one of only 12 new coaches overall (out of 24) to win his season opener.
Sanford has 12 years of FBS coaching experience while his predecessors had just 11 when they landed their first head coaching job on The Hill. Additionally, the head Hilltopper has been to five Bowl Championship Series (BCS) or New Year's Six bowl games, compared to just one combined with the previous two first-timers.
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