NORFOLK, Va. — Leading into this past Saturday's game against UAB, the WKU Football team felt like it had something to prove. With extra time to prepare coming off a bye week, 21 days removed from their last win and welcoming the defending Conference USA champions into Houchens-Smith Stadium, the Hilltoppers played hungry football and grinded out a 20-13 win over the Blazers to improve to 2-0 in league play.
The upcoming opponent for WKU, Old Dominion, has a similar chip on its shoulder. The Monarchs sit at 1-3 on the season - in the midst of a three-game losing streak - but relish the challenge of facing the 2019 C-USA leaders in their own home venue. Kickoff on Saturday, Oct. 5 is set for 5 p.m. CT in S.B. Ballard Stadium in Norfolk, Va.
"I think any time you're motivated to go prove something, it gives you just a little bit of an edge and we have to be able to match that - we have to have an edge of our own," head coach Tyson Helton said on Thursday. "It's going to be a dogfight again this week. I expect an Old Dominion team that's ready to go. The first conference game for them, they'll be just like us last week - trying to have something to prove."
Some numbers that jump out for Old Dominion are their defensive statistics and time of possession advantage. The Monarchs rank second in C-USA with only 306 total yards and 15.5 first downs allowed per game. Meanwhile, their 34:04-to-25:56 time of possession advantage leads the league and ranks 11th in FBS.
What has hurt the Monarchs in their three straight losses has partly been the strength of their opposition, suffering defeats at the hands of now-No. 22 Virginia and Virginia Tech of the ACC, as well as an East Carolina squad that regularly competes among the best in the AAC.
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Watching defensive coordinator Clayton White's bunch, it's hard not to realize a tall, tenacious player wearing No. 10 on his back, junior defensive end DeAngelo Malone. Through Week 5, Malone ranks third in FBS with 9.0 tackles for loss and ranks tied for second in C-USA with 4.0 sacks.
But the most astonishing number of Malone's is 9.3; that's how many total tackles he's averaging per game, which ranks tied for 31st in FBS. The next-best defensive lineman is Kenny Willekes of Michigan State, who is tied for 155th in FBS with 6.8 per game.
When he was made aware of his accomplishments during a post-practice interview on Wednesday, Malone's eyes got wide. The soft-spoken Atlanta native let out a "For real?" and reflected on what that news meant to him.
"As a kid growing up, you always dream about doing things like that. So it's just a blessing," he said. "I feel good about it, but I'm not doing it for me I'm doing it for the team - whatever for the team. The team depends on me to do my job and I can't let them down."
Between Malone and redshirt sophomore Juwuan Jones, defensive ends coach Jimmy Lindsey may just have one of the best tandems in the country. Through four games, the dynamic duo has combined for 14.0 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks.
"Juwuan's a powerful dude, I'm more like a speed guy," Malone said. "We have a tremendous bond, we're like brothers. We just say: 'I'll meet you back there in the backfield and let's get it.'
"Everything's translating from the summer, Coach Lindsey got us right and we're just using those techniques."
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After WKU lost a fumble on a lateral pass attempt on the first play of the game, Storey finished the evening by completing 15-of-24 attempts for 189 yards passing, with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also rushed 13 times for 26 yards, proving to be a threat in the quarterback run game.
"I think everybody responded well, we did our best to kind of make things easy for him," redshirt senior wide receiver Lucky Jackson said of Storey's debut. "But he's not new to the game - he's a vet - and he came in and made some plays just like a vet's supposed to do. I feel like he was very comfortable back there."
Leading into the matchup against Old Dominion, Helton likes the way Storey has prepared and continued to get better.
"Ty's doing a good job, getting more reps this week has helped him, obviously, and having a win gives you confidence and all those things," Helton said. "He's making good decisions and doing a nice job of leading the team, so I look forward to him starting his second game and hopefully he'll play even better."
That has been a constant theme for the Hilltoppers this week: Not being satisfied with where they are, but continuing to work towards what they can become.
"No matter how many games we win, [Coach Helton] is going to coach us consistently the same, if not harder," redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Cole Spencer said on Tuesday. "We can always get better, and just because we beat the defending Conference USA champs, doesn't mean we can kind of [relax]. We're going to get coached harder every time because we still have work to improve."
