WKU (5-3) at Vanderbilt (3-5)
Saturday, Nov. 4 | Vanderbilt Stadium | 11 a.m. CT
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Saturday, Nov. 4 | Vanderbilt Stadium | 11 a.m. CT
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| HILLTOPPERS AT COMMODORES WKU completes a three-game series at Vanderbilt on Saturday. |
The Matchup
The Hilltoppers step out of conference play for the final time in 2017, looking to go better than .500 against non-conference foes in the regular season for the first time since 2014 when the Hilltoppers posted a 3-1 regular season mark vs. non-conference opponents (2-2 in 2015 and 2016). Saturday's game concludes a three-game series with the Commodores and serves as the rubber game in the series as the visitor has won the match-up the previous two times. Since 2012, the Hilltoppers are 19-9 against non-conference opponents including a 16-1 mark against opponents from outside the Power 5 conferences.
Head coaches Mike Sanford and Derek Mason are no strangers after they each worked under David Shaw at Stanford from 2011-13. The two were also neighbors during their time together in Palo Alto.
Legendary Vanderbilt head coach Dan McGugin - namesake of Vanderbilt's athletic administration building - would ride the train from Nashville to Bowling Green three days a week to coach the very first football squad at Southern Normal School, now WKU, in 1905.
Scouting Vanderbilt
After playing each other each of the previous two seasons, players from both sides are no strangers to each other. However, both squads looking quite different compared to the prior editions of this matchup between schools just 70 miles apart.
For the Commodores, the rugged rushing attack headlined by Ralph Webb has been replaced with more of an aerial attack this season on the strength of the arm of quarterback Kyle Shurmur. A season ago, Shurmur threw for just nine touchdowns to 10 interceptions but has flipped those numbers upside down in 2017 where he has thrown 18 touchdowns to just three interceptions. Conversely, Webb, who averaged 19 rushes and nearly 100 yards per game last season, is averaging just under 15 carries and 55 yards per game this season. The Commodores are averaging 23 points per game and are highly efficient in the redzone, scoring on 87 percent of their trips inside the opposition's 20-yard line.
Defense is where Mason has made his name, and the Commodores are no slouches there. Through the air, Mason's defense is allowing just 170 yards passing per game. On third down, opponents are converting just 35 percent of the time against them. Defensive back LaDarius Wiley leads the team in tackles with over eight per game, and defensive lineman Dare Odeyingbo paces all tacklers with eight tackles per loss - an area where Vanderbilt averages six TFLs per game.
Vanderbilt is looking to snap a five-game losing streak, all against Southeastern Conference opponents, which includes losses to No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Alabama. Prior to their five-game skid, the Commodores took down then-No. 18 Kansas State in Nashville.
Against SEC Opponents
Since their first full season in the FBS (2009), the Hilltoppers have played at an SEC foe nine times and 12 times overall. The Hilltoppers are 3-9 overall against the SEC with two victories coming in SEC stadiums (at Kentucky, 2012; at Vanderbilt, 2015) and one at a neutral site (Nissan Stadium vs. Kentucky, 2013).
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, 22 players have earned their first career start as Hilltoppers on offense or defense, the fourth-most nationally, and nine true freshman have seen game action. WKU trails Illinois (27), Baylor (25), Ball State (23) and Utah State (23) for the most first-time starters while Connecticut (21), East Carolina (21), and LSU (21) are the only others with 20 or more first-time starters.Â
Of that group, only WKU and LSU currently have winning records.Â
Additionally, 10 true freshman have seen game action: Kyle Bailey, Roger Cray, Antwon Kincade, DeAngelo Malone, Jakairi Moses, Ben Reeder, Latheron Rodgers-Anderson, Dionte Ruffin, Jacquez Sloan, and Steven Witchoskey.
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 175 points through eight games, the fewest through eight since 2007 (169 points). The 2,952 total yards allowed are the fewest since 2013. Clayton White's crew also averages 4.63 three-and-outs per game, the 20th best mark nationally or 37 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.
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