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WKU (2-2, 0-1 C-USA) at UTEP (0-5, 0-1 C-USA)
Saturday, Oct. 7 | Sun Bowl | 7 p.m. CT
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Saturday, Oct. 7 | Sun Bowl | 7 p.m. CT
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The Matchup
WKU heads west to take on UTEP in El Paso for the first time in school history. The Miners and Hilltoppers played during WKU's inaugural season in the league in 2014 but have not played since.
The Hilltoppers don't travel west for games often. Since 1975, WKU has traveled west of Dallas, Texas just twice - both for postseason games: in 1975 (Sacramento, Calif. - Division II Championship Game) and in 1997 (Spokane, Wash. - 1-AA Playoffs). WKU has never - in school history - played this far west for a regular season game.
With UTEP's interim head coach Mike Price, it marks the third consecutive season WKU has faced an opponent with an interim head coach (North Texas, 2015; FIU, 2016; UTEP, 2017).
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
Extra Time
A common line of thought across college football is that with more time to prepare for an opponent, the better chance of victory, but is that really true? Well, for the Hilltoppers, the math works in their favor. Since 2014, WKU is 11-4 when having more than a week to prepare - including a 10-1 mark against Group of Five and Conference USA foes and four straight.
Don't Mess With Texas?
Dating back to WKU's days in the Sun Belt, beginning in 2009, the Hilltoppers have fared particularly well against Texas-based teams. WKU is 10-2 since 2009 vs. Texas schools and last fell to one in 2010. The Hilltoppers have not lost in Texas since 2009.
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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The 2017 WKU Football season is presented by LifeSkills, a part of your community for the last 50 years.  As a non-profit, community mental health center, LifeSkills supports people who experience mental illness, addictions and developmental disabilities as they build meaningful and independent lives. With the widest array of services for both adults and children in south central Kentucky, LifeSkills gives you greater choice, easy access, and proven quality. When it comes to your health, experience matters.
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