GAME 7
WKU (4-2 Overall, 2-0 Conference USA) at Jacksonville State (5-2 Overall, 3-1 Conference USA)
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 17
Kickoff: 6:30 p.m. CT
Location: Jacksonville, Alabama (Burgess-Snow Field at JSU Stadium)
Watch: ESPNU
Listen: WKLX (SAM 100.7 FM) and WWKU (ESPN Radio 102.7 FM) in Bowling Green
Social: @WKUFootball | @WKUSports
Game Notes: WKU Notes | Jax State Notes
NOTES
- WKU is off to a 2-0 start in Conference USA play for the first time since beating FIU and UAB in its first two league games of the 2019 season – the first year under head coach Tyson Helton. Liberty sits atop the CUSA standings currently with a 4-0 record against conference foes, after taking down Jax State 31-13 on Tuesday. WKU is second with a 2-0 record, and Jax State is third at 3-1. Jax State and Sam Houston are ineligible for the 2023 CUSA Championship Game and bowl games due to their transition from FCS.
- WKU wide receiver Malachi Corley was named CUSA Offensive Player of the Week, Senior Bowl Co-Offensive Player of the Week, East-West Shrine Bowl Offensive Breakout Player of the Week, to PFF's Team of the Week, and as one of ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit's top performers after a standout game at Louisiana Tech WKU's last time out. Corley recorded 207 receiving yards – with 142 coming after the catch, after leading the country in the category last season – and three touchdowns on eight receptions. The 207 yards were a career high for the junior and marked the third 200-yard receiving game in program history. Corley's three touchdowns also tied a career high. With his first catch of the game – a 70-yard touchdown reception – Corley claimed sole possession of second place on WKU's career receptions list. He now has 217 catches in his career. He also had touchdown receptions of 48 and 29 yards, and moved into third place on the program's career touchdown receptions list with 23.
- WKU quarterback Austin Reed has thrown for 1,665 yards and 14 touchdowns on 150-of-246 passing with three interception through six games this season. Reed, the nation's leader in passing yards in 2022, has also rushed for 71 yards and three scores on 24 attempts. Corley, the nation's leading returning receiver from 2022, leads WKU with 538 yards and five touchdowns on 37 receptions in five games this fall.
- Austin Reed is two completions from moving into the top five in WKU history in career completions. He would tie Justin Haddix with 541.
- The "Takeaway Tops" are back this season after tying for the best marks in the nation with 32 forced turnovers and six defensive touchdowns in 2022. WKU has 16 turnovers gained so far this fall – the most in the country – with defensive touchdowns scored against USF and Houston Christian. WKU is tied for seventh nationally with two defensive touchdowns this season, while six teams have three defensive scores.
- Cory Munson has been starting as WKU's kickoff specialist since 2019 – for 59 games. Defensive lineman Juwuan Jones has the program's career starts record with 60.
QUOTES
- "Another big conference game this week. Going on the road against an excellent opponent in Jacksonville State. Very, very well-coached football team. Know their head football coach – Coach Rich Rod – does a fantastic job of getting those guys ready to play. Watched them against Liberty, who's another really, really good football team. They battled extremely hard. It'll take everything we've got to go down there and go win the game, but this is the time of year, if you're going to try to make that run, you've got to go on the road and win. You're going to have two highly-motivated football teams play on a Tuesday night on national TV – should make for a really, really good game, and I expect it to go down to the wire." – WKU Head Coach Tyson Helton, on Tuesday's game against Jax State.
- "Never done a Tuesday before, but done some Thursdays, so you treat it similarly as far as trying to structure practice that way. Coming off the bye week, had three practices – three really good practices – and feel good about where our team's at, just their mindset and getting ready to hit the stretch run here. I think the bye week came at the right time – literally halfway through the season. Getting some guys that are nicked up, getting them back healthy and ready to head on this stretch run and just to reset the clock, reset the mind, reset the body and to get them going. Feel good about where we are right now." – WKU Offensive Coordinator Drew Hollingshead, on preparing for Tuesday game against Jax State.
- "They're going to be a huge challenge. Coach Rodriguez has been coaching football a long time, and has been very, very successful. They're the 16th-top rushing team in the country. I think they're either the fastest or right there within a tenth of a second of being one of the fastest tempo teams in the country. A lot of times you play teams that are tempo and there's a lot of passing and things like that. These are guys that are trying to run it at you. They involve the quarterback, so whatever you do in coverage, you really – in some cases one, in some cases two times – are two bodies short in the run game, so a lot of challenges. … They're going to be tough, they're going to be gritty, they're going to be disciplined, they're going to be mean, so we're going to have to be able to go play disciplined football with them and we're going to have to be able to handle the tempo at the same time knowing that they're going to look for explosive passes off the offense they have." – WKU Defensive Coordinator Tyson Summers, on Jax State's offense.
LAST TIME OUT
- Malachi Corley had a career game, Anthony Johnson Jr. had a game-clinching interception and WKU moved to 2-0 in Conference USA play by holding on for a 35-28 win over Louisiana Tech on Oct. 5 at Joe Aillet Stadium. The Hilltoppers turned the ball over on the game's opening possession and the Bulldogs capitalized with an early touchdown, but WKU reeled off 35 unanswered points to take a 35-7 lead into halftime. The Hilltoppers held off LA Tech's second-half rally, with the help of Johnson's interception with 1:40 left, which allowed WKU to run out the clock and stay unbeaten in CUSA play.
ABOUT JAX STATE
- Jax State has gotten off to a strong start in its first season of FBS play. The Gamecocks won five of their first six games as an FBS program, including three to start CUSA play, before suffering a setback last week against league-leading Liberty. Jax State is led by veteran coach Rich Rodriguez, who is in his second season with the program and led the Gamecocks to a 9-2 overall record and perfect 5-0 mark in ASUN play last year.
SERIES HISTORY
- Tuesday's game will mark the sixth meeting between WKU and Jacksonville State. The Hilltoppers own a 4-1 lead in the series. It has been nearly two decades since the two programs last met, with WKU winning in Bowling Green 45-7 on Nov. 29, 2003, the last time they played. Jax State's only win in the series was in 1996, when the Gamecocks took down the Hilltoppers 34-20 in Jacksonville, Alabama. The two teams played each season from 1993-1996, with the Hilltoppers winning the first three of those meetings.
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