MIAMI – Malachi Corley broke the WKU Football career receptions record, the WKU defense forced three turnovers, and the Hilltoppers concluded the regular season with a 41-28 win over FIU on Saturday at FIU Stadium.
WKU closes the regular season with a 7-5 overall record and 5-3 mark in Conference USA play with the win.
"It was a great way to finish out the regular season," WKU Head Coach Tyson Helton said. "I was very proud of our football team. They did a great job tonight. It was a complete team win. We've been talking about it for a while. We just hadn't had a complete team win. It was good to get that win tonight, and now we get ready for a bowl."
WKU finished with 407 yards of offense in the victory, with 333 coming through the air. Starting quarterback Austin Reed threw for 280 yards and four touchdowns on 26-of-35 passing in three quarters of action.
Corley caught six passes for 52 yards and a touchdown, and passed Taywan Taylor for the program's career record for receptions. Corley now has 255 catches as a Hilltopper.
"It's been a surreal journey to get to this point," Corley said. "It's so many trials and tribulations, ups and downs, playing with so many different teammates. It's been an overall amazing experience, and being able to do something like this, it feels like my life's body of work leading up to this point has been completed and I've accomplished all I can do for what I've done so far. My next step is obviously going to the NFL and trying to do something similar.
"Being a Hilltopper and playing for a team, and not only a team, but an organization and school that's so family oriented and so tight-knit, it feels like I'm not only doing this for me, but doing this for the city of Bowling Green as well as Campbellsville."
Easton Messer added 38 yards and a touchdown on four catches, Jimmy Holiday had 45 yards and a touchdown on two catches, Craig Burt Jr. had 42 yards and a score on two receptions, and K.D. Hutchinson caught a touchdown pass. Dalvin Smith also threw a touchdown pass on a trick play.
Upton Stout recorded his second defensive touchdown of the season on a scoop and score in the first half – it came off of Kendrick Simpkins' fourth strip sack of the season. Talique Allen and Alex Ford had interceptions in the win. Kylan Guidry and Niko Cooper each finished with a team-high five tackles.
"I feel like everybody was just playing as one and everybody was just trying to put it all on the line for the seniors," Stout said. "It's the last regular-season game and we're in Florida and we have a whole bunch of Florida people on the team, so I feel like everybody just played together, played as one and just put it on FIU."
The Hilltoppers didn't take long to get on the board and build the lead against the host Panthers (4-8 overall, 1-7 CUSA). WKU scored on the game's opening drive, which was capped off by a 2-yard reception by Corley from Reed for the quick 7-0 advantage.
WKU added a 39-yard strike from Holiday in the final minute of the first quarter for a 14-0 lead, and on the final play of the first quarter, Simpkins' strip sack was recovered by Stout and returned 16 yards for a touchdown.
FIU scored its first touchdown with 10:28 to play in the first half on a 3-yard pass, but WKU added back-to-back scores – a 16-yard pass from Reed to Messer and a trick play that resulted in a 32-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Burt – to make it a 34-7 game at halftime.
The Panthers scored on their first possession of the second half with a 5-yard pass, making it a 34-14 game.
Reed capped off his day with a 45-yard touchdown strike to Hutchinson to make it a 41-14 game.
FIU recovered a fumble and returned it 84 yards with 8:46 to play, and the Panthers added a 19-yard touchdown pass with 55 seconds left to close out the scoring in WKU's 41-28 win.
WKU will now prepare for its 10th bowl game in the last 12 seasons, and the fifth in five seasons under Helton.
For all the latest on WKU Football, follow @WKUFootball on Twitter and Instagram, and like the WKU Football Facebook page.
Western Kentucky University Athletics
- Champions Climb Here
- WKU Athletics
- Athletic Director
- Academic Services
- Annual Report
- Athletic Communications
- Athletic Hall of Fame
- Athletic Training
- Big Red
- CLIMB Program - NIL
- Compliance
- Facilities
- Financial Reports
- For Students
- Student Employment
- Forms/Requests
- Book Big Red
- Donation Requests
- Site Feedback
- For Fans
- Hilltopper Highlights
- Gameday Promotions
- Alumni Tailgates
- Big Red's Rascals
- Basketball Gameday
- Football Gameday
- Mobile Tickets
- Travel Center
- Tickets
- Give
