WKU HILLTOPPERS (1-2, 1-0) vs. MARSHALL THUNDERING HERD (2-0, 0-0)
Saturday, October 10 | 6:30 p.m. CT | Houchens-Smith Stadium | Bowling Green, Ky.
Saturday, October 10 | 6:30 p.m. CT | Houchens-Smith Stadium | Bowling Green, Ky.
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| WKU AIMS TO HALT THREE-GAME LOSING SKID TO RIVAL MARSHALL ON HOMECOMING Hilltoppers and Thundering Herd face off for seventh time in Conference USA, with each team winning three times |
NOTING THE GAME - WKU vs. MARSHALL
- This will be the 12th all-time meeting between the Hilltoppers and Thundering Herd. The teams faced off four times from 1941-1951, once in 1996, and most recently in each of the past six years, starting with the thriller in 2014.
- In 2014, 2015 and 2016, WKU and Marshall played each other in the final week of the regular season, and the Hilltoppers came out on top all three times. That included the 67-66 win by WKU on Nov. 28, 2014, when Brandon Doughty hit Willie McNeal for the game-winning two-point conversion in overtime to beat No. 19 Marshall. The Hilltoppers defeated the previously 11-0 Thundering Herd with 491 yards passing and a C-USA-record 8 touchdowns from Doughty.
- On Nov. 26, 2016, WKU went into Huntington and routed Marshall by a score of 60-6. It was the Thundering Herd's worst-ever loss at Joan C. Edwards Stadium (opened in 1991). Kylen Towner retuned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown and the Hilltoppers cruised following a 41-0 lead at halftime.
NUMBERS TO WATCH
- 13 — The past 3 matchups in the head-to-head series (all wins by Marshall) have been decided by 13 total points. The previous meeting in 2016, WKU beat the Herd 60-6.
- 89 — This will be WKU's 89th Homecoming game in program history. The Hilltoppers boast a 55-30-3 record all-time in such contests, including a win last season vs. Charlotte.
- 327 — The Hilltoppers' 25-man senior class brings 327 career starts of experience going into Game 4 of the year. Safety Devon Key leads WKU with 40 career starts on The Hill.
GAME 3 at MIDDLE TENNESSEE GAME NOTES
- WKU's team captain for the game was redshirt senior defensive tackle Jeremy Darvin.
- WKU won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The Hilltoppers have won 2-of-3 coin tosses this season.
- There was an attendance of 6,500 in Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium for the 4:05 p.m. CT kick off. The game lasted 3:03, which matched WKU's first game of the season at Louisville.
- WKU improved to 34-35-1 all-time against Middle Tennessee, including 14-20-1 in Murfreesboro. The Hilltoppers also improved to 8-5-1 all-time in games played on Oct. 3 – including four straight wins.
- With 37 combined points, it was the lowest-scoring game in the head-to-head series since a 21-10 win by Middle Tennessee in 2008.
- With a three-point margin of victory, eight of the past 10 head-to-head matchups have been decided by five points or fewer.
- Middle Tennessee fell to 54-25-2 all-time in homecoming games.
- WKU won the time of possession battle 31:35-to-28:25 over Middle Tennessee. It was the first time this season the Hilltoppers had an advantage in time of possession.
- WKU allowed only 319 total yards to Middle Tennessee, the lowest total for the defense this season.
- WKU gained 326 yards of offense – including 138 rush yards and 188 pass yards – all three are the highest totals for the Hilltoppers this season.
- WKU improved to 9-3 when following a bye week dating back to 2012. The Hilltoppers have held their opponent to 17 points or fewer in seven of the last eight such games – all wins.
- WKU improved to 5-5 while wearing white jersey tops and black pants, dating back to 2013. The Hilltoppers are 4-1 in such games over the past two seasons.
- Xavier Lane led WKU with 7 catches, 73 yards and 1 touchdown, including a career-long catch of 26 yards in the second quarter. The 7 receptions were a career-high, and the touchdown was his first career score at WKU.
- Brayden Narveson went 2-for-2 in field goal attempts, hitting from 47 and 53 yards. The 53-yarder is the third-longest in WKU's 102-season program history, and is tied for the fifth-longest field goal make in FBS this season.
GAME 2 vs. LIBERTY GAME NOTES
- WKU's team captain for the game was redshirt senior punter John Haggerty.
- Liberty won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The Hilltoppers had won three consecutive coin tosses dating back to last season.
- There was an attendance of 4,276 in Houchens-Smith Stadium for the 11:02 a.m. CT kick off. The game lasted 3:14, which was above WKU's first game time of 3:03 at Louisville.
- WKU fell to 0-3 all-time against Liberty, including 0-2 in Bowling Green. The Hilltoppers also fell to 6-7 all-time in games played on Sept. 19.
- WKU was out-scored 10-0 in the first quarter, while out-scoring Liberty 24-20 in the other three quarters combined.
- Liberty won the time of possession battle 34:59-to-25:01 over WKU, a week after Louisville won the time of possession battle 32:33-to-27:27 over the Hilltoppers. Last season, WKU averaged a 32-to-28 time of possession advantage in 13 games.
- Liberty rushed for 354 yards, marking only the sixth time WKU has given up over 350 rush yards in the team's FBS Era (since 2009). Most recently the Hilltoppers allowed 368 rush yards in a 42-28 loss vs. Florida Atlantic on Oct. 28, 2017.
- WKU committed only 2 penalties for 19 yards, compared to Liberty's 8 for 89 yards. Through two games, the Hilltoppers have only committed 6 penalties for 42 yards. Last season, WKU ranked 11th in FBS with only 39.5 penalty yards per game on 4.1 infractions.
- WKU's loss to Liberty was only the team's fifth to a non-conference, non-Power Five team dating back to 2012. The Hilltoppers are 19-5 in such games over the past eight-plus seasons, but 5-4 since 2017.
- WKU fell to 7-4 while wearing red jersey tops and red pants, dating back to 2013. Since 2016, the Hilltoppers are 2-3 in such games.
- Devon Key led WKU with a career-high 15 tackles (7 solo, 8 assisted) for his 8th-career double-digit tackle game. He forced a fumble of Liberty QB Malik Willis in the second quarter that was not recovered by WKU, his first collegiate forced fumble.
- Dionté Ruffin led WKU with 3 pass breakups, which tied a career-high from last season in a 20-13 win vs. UAB on Sept. 28.
GAME 1 at LOUISVILLE NOTES
- WKU's team captain for the game was redshirt senior safety Devon Key.
- WKU won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The Hilltoppers have won three consecutive coin tosses dating back to last season.
- There was an attendance of 11,179 in Cardinal Stadium for the 8:05 p.m. ET kick off. The game lasted 3:03, which was slightly below WKU's average game time of 3:08 last season.
- In the 102nd season of WKU Football, the Hilltoppers fell to 60-36-6 all-time in season-opening games. WKU also fell to 1-4 all-time in games played on Sept. 12.
- WKU fell to 12-22 all-time against Louisville, including 12 consecutive matchups dating back to the Hilltoppers' last win in the series in 1975. That total includes a 4-19 record on games played in Louisville.
- WKU was out-scored 21-0 in the second quarter, while out-scoring Louisville 21-14 in the other three quarters combined. It was a similar story in last season's matchup between the two teams, as WKU was out-scored 24-7 in the second quarter, while tying Louisville 14-14 in the other three quarters combined.
- WKU allowed only 7 points in the second half, continuing the team's trend from last season. Over the final 12 games of 2019, the Hilltoppers allowed an average of only 6.9 points in the second half.
- Louisville converted 9-of-16 (56%) of third downs against WKU. Last season, the Hilltopper defense ranked 7th in FBS by allowing a third-down conversion rate of only 30%.
- Louisville won the time of possession battle 32:33-to-27:27 over WKU, which included a 18:55-to-11:05 advantage in the first half.
- WKU recorded 10 tackles for loss as a team, which was more than the Hilltoppers had in any game last season. In all, nine different WKU defenders had at least 0.5 tackles for loss.
- WKU fell to 4-5 while wearing white jersey tops and black pants, dating back to 2013. The Hilltoppers had won three consecutive games in the combination at the tail end of the 2019 season.
- Omari Alexander had a Swiss Army Knife-type performance, with a fumble recovery on a muffed punt, a blocked punt, an interception, a tackle for loss and 5 total tackles (3 solo, 2 assisted).
OMARI ALEXANDER'S SWISS ARMY KNIFE GAME
- Returning to his home city of Louisville, senior defensive back Omari Alexander had one of the most unique performances you will ever see on a football field. He racked up a fumble recovery on a muffed punt, a blocked punt, an interception, a tackle for loss and 5 total tackles (3 solo, 2 assisted).
- According to ESPN Stats & Info, Alexander was only 1-of-2 FBS players (Tyler Murray of Charlotte) with an interception, fumble recovery and tackle for loss in the same game in 2020, while only 10 players did that in all of 2019. Note: ESPN Stats & Info has difficulty researching any individual games with blocked punts.
- In addition, he was the first Hilltopper to block a punt since A.J. Brathwaite, Jr. on Oct. 19, 2019 vs. Charlotte.
YOUTH MOVEMENT —> EXPERIENCED GROUP
- Following the 2016 season, in which WKU repeated as Conference USA Champions and wrapped up a two-year stretch with a 23-5 record and a pair of bowl victories, the Hilltoppers were in the midst of a youth movement. In 2017, 24 players earned their first career start as Hilltoppers on offense or defense, the fourth-most nationally, and 11 true freshman saw game action.
- Going into the 2020 campaign, WKU returns 350 career starts – 280 of them from seniors. Of those seniors, most were either redshirting as freshmen during the 2016 season (153 starts) or were brought to the Hill for their true freshman campaigns in 2017 (88 starts). The other 39 starts in the 2020 senior class were made by transfers.
- The Hilltoppers return 52-of-65 starts on their offensive line from a year ago, with 2019 All-Conference USA First Teamer RT Miles Pate as the only departed starter. Four full-time starters return, who combined for 100 career starts at WKU entering the 2020 season.
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