RUSTON, La. -- WKU jumped out to a 23-point lead and never looked back as the HIlltoppers (3-9, 2-6 C-USA) capped their 2018 season with the program's first-ever victory over Louisiana Tech in Ruston. The Hilltoppers have played the Bulldogs at home three times since 1940 - including twice since joining Conference USA in 2014 - and had never come away with a victory until Saturday.
For the second consecutive week, the Hilltoppers raced out to a wide lead and never looked back. Last week against UTEP, WKU turned an FBS-era record five interceptions into a 40-0 halftime lead. On Saturday in Ruston, it was a 23-0 advantage before the Bulldogs were able to scratch the scoreboard.
WKU opened the game on fire with an 11-play, 82-yard scoring drive that ended with an 18-yard end around from wide receiver Lucky Jackson. On LA Tech's first play of their opening drive, quarterback J'Mar Smith sailed a pass over the middle and for the second consecutive week, WKU intercepted the first pass attempt of the day as sophomore safety Devon Key came down with the football. A 10-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Steven Duncan to senior tight end Mik'Quan Deane pushed the first quarter lead to 14-0.
The defenses locked in from that point on, but even so, it was still WKU's day as sophomore defensive end DeAngelo Malone came around Smith's blindside for the sack in the endzone to get the defensive unit in one the scoring. It was WKU's first safety since the 2016 season opener and pushed the lead to 16-0.
On the ensuing kickoff, safety Drell Green turned in his career-long return with a 37-yard effort to set the Hilltoppers up for another short field scoring opportunity. With just 44 yards to work with, a double-reverse flea flicker from Duncan to Deane got WKU inside the one yard line, and senior D'Andre Ferby powered it through one-play later.
The Bulldogs mounted a slight rally as they scored the next 15 points to make it a one-score ballgame, but this senior day belonged to those in the Red and White.
Greene sacked Smith into a fourth-and-long situation, and after a turnover on downs, Ferby stepped up again.
The senior, playing his last game as a Hilltopper, took the carry off right tackle and found daylight with a career-long 36-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 30-15 and put the game totally out of reach.
Junior linebacker Ben Holt ended the day with nine total tackles, pushing his season total to 116. At 9.7 tackles per game, Holt broke WKU's FBS-era record for tackles per game, previously set by Andrew Jackson in 2012 (9.38). Freshman defensive end Juwuan Jones also added a solo sack to push his season total to 5.0, breaking a tie he previously held for the most sacks by a freshman in WKU's FBS-era. Running back Josh Samuel's 641 rushing yards in 2018 were also the second-most by a freshman in WKU's FBS-era and fourth-most all-time.
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