Tops Invade SEC Country to Challenge Auburn

Game #12

WKU (7-4, 5-2 C-USA) at Auburn (4-6, 2-5 SEC)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 19
Kickoff: 3 p.m. CT
Location: Auburn, Ala. (Jordan-Hare Stadium)
Watch: SEC Network
Listen: WKLX (SAM 100.7 FM) and WWKU (ESPN Radio 102.7 FM) in Bowling Green
Social: @WKUFootball | @WKUSports
Game Notes: WKU | Auburn

NOTES & QUOTES

Saturday's contest at Auburn will mark the first time WKU has played a November nonconference game since 2019 when the Tops traveled to Arkansas and won, 45-19. WKU also played a late nonconference game in 2020 when they faced BYU on Halloween night.

With WKU's win over Rice on Saturday, the Hilltoppers are bowl eligible this season. Due to playing 13 games this year with their week-one trip to Hawaii, WKU needed to win seven games instead of the regular six in order to become bowl eligible. WKU has been bowl eligible for 11 of the last 12 seasons, and have been to bowl games in seven of the past eight years, including four-straight postseason trips under Tyson Helton.

Western Kentucky sports of the best defenses in the entire country as the tops lead college football in forced turnovers (30), defensive touchdowns (6) and interceptions (17). The Hilltoppers have jumped on 13 fumbles which is second most in the nation, and have a turnover margin of +13 which ranks third in all of college football. WKU is closing on its total of 31 takeaways from a season ago, which ranked second in all of college football.

Wide receiver Jaylen Hall took a Rice punt 46 yards for a touchdown on Saturday, marking the first time a Hilltopper has returned a punt for a touchdown since the 2016 season.

Daewood Davis recorded his 100th reception in a WKU uniform Saturday against Rice. He also surpassed 1,600 receiving yards, and now has 15 touchdowns for his WKU career.

The Western Kentucky offense ranks fifth in all of college football in first downs. The Hilltoppers have moved the chains 265 times this season. Only Oregon, UTSA, Texas Tech and Washington have reached the first-down marker more than the Tops this year.

"Auburn week. Really excited for the opportunity to travel down there and play them. What a great environment, what a great fan base. Had the opportunity to go down there and be a part of a lot of football games. Just a great place to play. Very motivated football team down there right now, very impressed with what they've done the past two weeks. You can tell they are playing with a lot of passion and the staff there has done a fantastic job of getting those guys going and there is just tremendous pride and honor there. So, I know our players will be really excited for the opportunity to play down there and really looking forward to a really good competitive game"

-Tyson Helton on the matchup at Auburn this weekend

"Well, I have liked how we've responded. You know, when you have a tough loss like we had with North Texas, you need to respond in the right way and I feel like that's what we've done the past two weeks. We're playing at a high level. There are certainly a lot of things we can fix. We're not there yet and we need to play our best game this week. That's what it's going to take to beat Auburn. We've got to hit all three phases and play at a high level. We're close, we're not there yet, but I have been very impressed with the performance the past two weeks. But we got a lot of football left to play and we need to keep getting better for sure."

-Helton on whether WKU is playing its best football of the season right now

"I think we have limited the penalties. That was a huge part of it. We've got to continue to do that. We killed ourselves against North Texas with penalties that just killed our drives, so the past couple weeks we've cleaned that up and then we played complimentary football. If the offense is hitting and scoring, the defense follows that back up with getting turnovers and giving it back to the offense. So, we have just been playing complimentary football for the past couple weeks and I felt like our special teams has given us good field position and you know we had a punt return for a touchdown last week that was a huge, big momentum changer for us. So just a lot of good things over the past couple weeks happened that have added up for us."

-Helton on what has clicked for the Hilltoppers the past few weeks

LAST TIME OUT

WKU won its seventh game of the season to clinch bowl eligibility when it defeated Rice, 45-10, in its final home game of the season. Austin Reed threw three touchdowns and rushed for another. Two of those touchdown passes were to Jaylen Hall, who also scored on a punt return in the second half. The WKU defense forced six turnovers on the day, including a 14-yard scoop and score by linebacker JaQues Evans.

SERIES HISTORY

The Hilltoppers and Tigers have met twice in series history with Auburn claiming victory in both meetings in 2005 and 2003. The two schools have yet to play when WKU has been at the FBS level.

FOLLOW US

For all the latest on WKU Football, follow @WKUFootball on Twitter and Instagram, and like the WKU Football Facebook page.

Next Event

Related Videos