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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Football beat UTEP 44-17 on Thursday at Houchens-Smith Stadium to move to 3-0 at home this season and 2-0 in Conference USA play.
The Hilltoppers (4-2 overall, 2-0 CUSA), wearing Big Red-inspired uniforms, put up nearly 300 yards of offense in the first half as they built a 27-7 lead over the visiting Miners (0-6, 0-3), before eventually finishing off the 27-point victory to move to 5-0 all-time against UTEP.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- WKU scored first on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Caden Veltkamp to Dalvin Smith with 7:40 remaining in the first quarter.
- The Miners responded with a quick strike, firing a 76-yard touchdown pass to even the score two plays later.
- The Hilltoppers scored 20 consecutive points to end the half, starting with a 12-yard touchdown rush from Michael Mathison with 2:18 remaining in the first. The play was set up by an interception and 38-yard return from Demarko Williams.
- Lucas Carneiro connected on a 25-yard field goal to make it a 17-7 Hilltopper lead with 10:55 to play in the opening half.
- Veltkamp recorded his fourth rushing touchdown of the season with 5:32 remaining in the second quarter, punching the ball in from 2 yards out to give WKU a 24-7 lead.
- Carneiro made a 42-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to put the Hilltoppers ahead 27-7.
- UTEP scored on a 100-yard kickoff return to open the second half, making it 27-14.
- Mathison extended WKU's lead to 34-17 with a 14-yard touchdown reception from Veltkamp with 4:32 to play in the third.
- Mathison scored his third touchdown on a 3-yard reception from Veltkamp with 12:27 remaining, making it a 41-17 Hilltopper lead.
- Carneiro capped off the scoring in the 44-17 win with a career-long 54-yard field goal with 4:49 to play.
NOTABLES
- The 44 points WKU scored were the second-most the team has scored in a game this season, behind only the 49 points the Hilltoppers put up at Middle Tennessee in Week 3.
- WKU's 218 yards rushing are the most the team has accumulated in a game this season.
- Mike Mathison finished with three total touchdowns on four touches. The receiver had two carries for 16 yards and one touchdown, and also had 17 yards and two touchdowns on two catches. It was Mathison's first time finding the end zone since Nov. 5, 2022, at Charlotte. The three touchdowns are a career high for Mathison, as are the two touchdown receptions.
- Mathison's three touchdowns mark the first time a Hilltopper has scored three touchdowns in a single game this season. The last player to do it was Dalvin Smith, who had three touchdown receptions in the 2023 Famous Toastery Bowl.
- Caden Veltkamp finished with 264 yards and three touchdowns on 18-of-27 passing with one interception, and added 29 yards and one score on 13 rushing attempts.
- Elijah Young led the team in rushing with 60 yards on 16 attempts.
- Four WKU players caught multiple passes in the game, led by Easton Messer's 106 yards on six receptions. Kisean Johnson added 82 yards on five receptions, and Dalvin Smith had 39 yards and a touchdown on two catches.
- Smith now has 19 touchdown receptions in his career, which ranks tied for seventh all time in program history.
- WKU's eight tackles for loss and three sacks both tied for season highs. Sebastian Benjamin accounted for a team-high 1.5 sacks and Upton Stout had a team-high two tackles for loss.
- Twenty Hilltoppers recorded multiple tackles in the win, led by seven tackles each from Benjamin and Terreance Ellis.
- Demarko Williams' interception in the first quarter was the first interception of his collegiate career.
- Carneiro's 54-yard field goal in the fourth quarter was a career long and was tied for the second-longest field goal made in program history. The longest was a 57-yard attempt made by Dick Herron at Middle Tennessee in 1971. The three field goals made are a single-game career high for Carneiro.
- The win marks the second straight season WKU has started 3-0 at home. The last 4-0 start at home came in the 2015 season, when the Hilltoppers finished 6-0 in games at Houchens-Smith Stadium, including a win in the CUSA Championship.
- WKU is now 5-0 all-time against UTEP, with three of those wins coming at Houchens-Smith Stadium.
- WKU wore Big Red-inspired uniforms for the game. The uniforms, designed to look like WKU's Hall of Fame mascot, featured red pants, red jerseys and red helmets with decals resembling Big Red's eyes on the sides. The facemask for the helmets is black to represent Big Red's mouth. The game also marked the return of WKU's red helmets, which were last worn in the mid-2000s. WKU had worn a variation of Big Red helmets three times prior to Thursday's game, but the game against the Miners was the first time with this decal.
- WKU's captains for the game were Quantavious Leslie, Chandler Matthews and Devonte' Mathews.
QUOTABLES
- "Good conference win tonight. A lot of things we can build off of for sure. At times, it was not pretty. We've got a quick turnaround coming up with Sam Houston, so we've got to turn this page and get going with them. Celebrate all wins. We're very happy to win this game, but we need to get a lot better and we need to get a lot better real fast in every area. There wasn't all three phases, at times we could've played a lot better. I know one thing about our guys – they play extremely hard, they've got great camaraderie, they love to compete, and so long as you've got that, you've got a chance to win every game." – WKU Football Head Coach Tyson Helton, on Thursday's 44-17 win over UTEP.
- "Honestly, I was just trying to make the most of every opportunity that I'm getting out there. Just being kind of limited because of coming back from injury and all that, (I was) just trying to take it in and make the most of every play." – WKU Football wide receiver Mike Mathison, on his three-touchdown performance against UTEP.
- "It was alright. We came out in the second half and said, 'We need to clean some things up.' We played a little sloppy in the first half. I know we put up (27) points, but the defense set us up with a pick and there were a couple times in the red zone we didn't execute and that was a point of emphasis for us this week. We need to be better in that area again next week because we're going to have to score points because Sam Houston's got a good team." – WKU Football quarterback Caden Veltkamp, on the offense's performance in the win over UTEP.
- "I think we played well. We've obviously got some things that we need to clean up, so going into practice this week we're going to focus on all the little things that we missed out there today. I think we just did a good job flying to the ball and playing with good effort." – WKU Football defensive tackle Dallas Walker, on the defense's performance against UTEP.
- "It was cool. It was fun to me. It was energetic. The fans came out and showed out early today and it was just fun having a different type of logo that nobody in the nation got on their helmet." – WKU Football defensive back Upton Stout, on WKU's Red Out uniform.
NEXT UP
- The Hilltoppers will have a short week to prepare for their trip to Huntsville, Texas, for a Wednesday, Oct. 16, game at Sam Houston. Kickoff at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
For all the latest on WKU Football, follow @WKUFootball on Twitter and Instagram, and like the WKU Football Facebook page.
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