AutoNation Cure Bowl Practice Report - December 12 - Western Kentucky University Athletics

Interviews: DC White | OC Adams | DB Ward | OL Witt

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Defensive back Marcus Ward and this class of WKU Football seniors head into the 2017 AutoNation Cure Bowl with 37 overall wins and three consecutive bowl game victories. They will have a chance to add one more on top of each of those numbers with a 1:30 p.m. CT kickoff Saturday, Dec. 16, and the Birmingham, Ala., native is not downplaying the importance of that opportunity.

"It's a big deal. I've been packing to go home and I put all my bowl rings on my hand the other night ... and I was thinking just getting another one would be so cool," Ward said. "Other than the hardware and everything, but to get another team win and keep this legacy up that we've have here the last few years."

Whether it is a fifth-year senior like Ward or offensive coordinator Junior Adams, who joined the program with head coach Mike Sanford last December, being a part of four consecutive bowl victories would be unprecedented in WKU program history.

"That's pretty special to have the opportunity to be a part of something like that," Adams said. "We're very fortunate to be in this situation. We understand why we're going there and what we're playing for: to win this ball game."

With a 6-6 record, WKU knew a 41-17 loss at FIU in the regular-season finale could be the team's last game of the 2017 season. But with the program's fourth-consecutive bowl berth announced Dec. 3, the Hilltoppers decided then and there they were not going to take for granted another shot.

"Coach Sanford talks about it a lot, for the seniors that wasn't a great way to go out at FIU," offensive lineman Tyler Witt said. "There was kind of a moment with the entire team, that if we get this chance we have to go capitalize on it, send these seniors off right and send this program off right on a high note."

Defensive coordinator Clayton White perhaps said it best, in terms of the gravity of a final collegiate game for a handful of Hilltoppers: "All the seniors, it's their last opportunity to go out and showcase their talents. When each senior walks off the field, for some of those guys that's going to be it and it's on to the real world."

Graduate senior Mike White and the WKU offense will face a Panther team that uses primarily a 3-4 front, but like to get to four-down at times. Leading the country with seven consecutive games of 300-plus passing yards, the quarterback will go up against the 55th-ranked scoring defense in the nation.

"They kind of try to confuse the offensive line and get them thinking too much," Witt said. "We just have to simplify everything so we can do our jobs as quickly and as powerfully as possible.

Adams added, "They're very sound, they do a good job in their schemes, they play very hard, they play fast and they don't make many mistakes."

Back to Ward, the graduate senior defensive leader was asked if he might have made a mistake coming back for a 2017 campaign in which he has only played seven games. But to him, the decision was about more than just that, and he would make the same one again in a heartbeat.

"It has definitely been kind of a roller coaster, but it has been one that I went through in my head before I decided to come back," Ward said. "I had a lot of stuff going for me outside of football, but I came back for reasons that were important to me.

"The main reason I came back was for my teammates, so it's one last time to go out there and play with those guys. Looking to get another 'W' and get another bowl win, it's going to be fun."

AutoNation Cure Bowl Practice Report - December 12

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Marcus Ward

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