WKU (0-0) vs. Eastern Kentucky (0-0)
Saturday, Sept. 2 | Houchens-Smith Stadium | 6 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 2 | Houchens-Smith Stadium | 6 p.m.
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WKU begins the Mike Sanford era at home against 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.
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 Matchup
"The Battle of the Bluegrass" - the series name for WKU vs. Eastern Kentucky - is back after an eight-year hiatus, the longest break in the series since it originally began in 1914. The Hilltoppers and Colonels played every year from 1946-2000 before a two-year break and resumed the series from 2003-08.
WKU vs. EKU is the most-played game between two Kentucky schools, having been played 85 times (WKU leads the series 47-35-3) since 1914. WKU claims a 1-0 forfeit win in 1932 while EKU does not recognize the game. Louisville and Kentucky first played in 1912, making that the oldest in-state matchup with just 29 meetings.
The Hilltoppers are 58-33-6 all-time in season openers and have opened five consecutive seasons with a win, the longest streak since winning five openers from 1996 to 2000. Over the last 20 years, WKU is 17-3 in home openers and 71-21-5 all-time.
WKU is riding an eight-game winning streak, the longest in the program's FBS era and longest since winning 13 consecutive games between the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
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
Hilltoppers at Home
Since 2014, the Hilltoppers have been nearly unstoppable inside the confines of Houchens-Smith Stadium, where they have tallied an 17-2 record, only losing to UAB (2014) and Vanderbilt (2016) over that span.
WKU has averaged 50.9 points at home since 2014 (967 points over 19 games) and holds opponents to just 25.5 points. Between those two losses, the Hilltoppers won 11 straight and have an active home winning streak of five games entering the 2017 season. WKU has won 11 consecutive games at home just four times in program history and more than 11 just twice.
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.
