WKU (6-5, 4-3) at FIU (6-4, 4-3)
Friday, Nov. 17 | Riccardo Silva Stadium | 6 p.m. CT
Friday, Nov. 17 | Riccardo Silva Stadium | 6 p.m. CT
| GAME LINKS |
| Watch | Listen | Tickets | Live Stats | Official WKU Store
|
| HILLTOPPERS LOOK TO SECURE SEVENTH-STRAIGHT WINNING SEASON WKU is bowl eligible for the seventh consecutive year. |
The Matchup
WKU travels to FIU to close out the 2017 regular season having reached bowl eligibility for a Conference USA-best seventh consecutive season. The Hilltoppers are riding a four-game winning streak over FIU, tying for the longest streak either way in the series. FIU had four-straight wins over WKU from 2005-10.
Friday's game will be WKU's third Friday night game of the season. WKU has won their last six games played on Friday night. Since 2013, WKU is 15-3 in the month of November and has won 11 of their last 13 November games dating back to 2014. Including bowl games, WKU has won their previous four games in the state of Florida.
FIU Head Coach Butch Davis will be the third former NFL head coach WKU has faced this year - Lovie Smith (Illinois/Chicago Bears) and Lane Kiffin (FAU/Oakland Raiders) are the others.
WKU is aiming to win their regular season finale for the seventh consecutive season.
Scouting FIU
Next to WKU signal caller Mike White, FIU senior quarterback Alex McGough may present the best NFL-ready quarterback option in all of Conference USA. The talented 6-foot-3 McGough missed the final games of 2016 and did not face the Hilltoppers last season, but he has returned to form in his final campaign where he is competing 64 percent of his passes (194 of 303) for 2,269 yards with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
However, 59 of those completions and six of those touchdowns went to receiver Thomas Owens who missed the last game due to injury. Tight end Pharoah McKever is an All-Conference USA caliber tight end who can present problems in the passing game.
Running back Alex Gardner carries the load for the Panthers' running game as evidenced by his 146 carries on the year. As a team, the Panthers rush for 148 yards per game and throw for 231.
On defense, all-conference linebacker Anthony Wint leads the team in tackles with 68 (including six tackles for loss) while Treyvon Williams is keeping pace with 67. Up front, defensive lineman Fermin Silva has a team-high 12.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. The Panthers are surrendering 216 yards per game through the air and 188 on the ground.
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
Youth Movement
For the year, 24 players have earned their first career start as Hilltoppers on offense or defense, the fourth-most nationally, and 11 true freshman have seen game action. WKU trails Ball State (33), Illinois (31), Baylor (27), and Coastal Carolina (25) for the most first-time starters while East Carolina (24) and Utah State (24) have as many.
The 11 true freshman who have seen game action include: Kyle Bailey, Roger Cray, Antwon Kincade, DeAngelo Malone, Jakairi Moses, LA Rogers-Anderson, Ben Reeder, Dionte Ruffin, Cole Spencer, Jacquez Sloan, and Steven Witchoskey.
Take Your Pick
Offensively, the Hilltoppers are one of 11 teams nationally with five or more receivers with 25 or more receptions. Washington State and Connecticut lead the nation with eight and six receivers, respectively.
4-2-5 Defense Proving Stout
Removing three opposing defensive scores on the year, the Hilltopper defense has allowed just 260 points through 11 games, the fewest through 11 since 2007 (223 points). Clayton White's crew also averages 4.18 three-and-outs per game, the 16th best mark nationally or 34.6 percent of drives.
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.
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.
