WKU (1-2) vs. Ball State (2-1)
Saturday, Sept. 23 | Houchens-Smith Stadium | 6 p.m.
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Saturday, Sept. 23 | Houchens-Smith Stadium | 6 p.m.
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The Matchup
WKU welcomes Ball State to Bowling Green for just the third time in program history though the teams are separated by just four and a half hours. Ball State defensive coordinator David Elson was WKU's head coach from 2003-09, posting a 39-44 (.469) record and sheparded WKU through the transition to the FBS. Elson also served as an assistant coach under Jack Harbaugh from 1996-2002 and was the defensive coordinator for WKU's 2002 national championship team.
It is the second time in the FBS era the Hilltoppers have faced a team with a former head coach on staff. WKU defeated Willie Taggart's South Florida team 45-35 in the 2015 Miami Beach Bowl.
WKU steps back out of conference this week. Since 2012, the Hilltoppers are 18-9 against non-conference opponents and 15-1 against non-conference opponents from outside the Power 5 conferences and have won 13 in a row since losing to Central Michigan in the 2012 Little Caesar's Bowl. Over that span against the Mid American Conference, WKU is 4-1.
WKU sits at 1-2 for the third time since the 2013 season.
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 Houchens-Smith Stadium, where they have tallied an 18-3 record, only losing to UAB (2014), Vanderbilt (2016), and LA Tech (2017) over that span.
WKU has averaged 48.5 points at home since 2014 (1,020 points over 21 games) and holds opponents to just 22.6 points. Between the UAB and Vanderbilt losses, the Hilltoppers won 11 straight. WKU has won 11 consecutive games at home just four times in program history and more than 11 just twice.
One and Two. Not Comfortable, but Not Unusual
For the third time since 2013, the Hilltoppers sit at 1-2 in the overall record. In the 2013, 2014, and now 2017 Â seasons, the Hilltoppers opened up with a non-conference road loss at a Power 5 opponent followed by a loss in their conference opener. In both the 2013 and 2014 seasons, which also coincided with the first year under Bobby Petrino and Jeff Brohm, respectively, the Hilltoppers rallied with a victory over a non-conference 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 commerates with a wrapped candy as a helmet sticker. To commerate 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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