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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Football will kick off its Weekday CUSA slate with a Red Out game against UTEP on Thursday. Kickoff at Houchens-Smith Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.
GAME INFO
- UTEP (0-5 overall, 0-2 CUSA) at WKU (3-2 overall, 1-0 CUSA)
- Thursday, Oct. 10 | 7 p.m. CT | Houchens-Smith Stadium | Bowling Green, Ky.
- Watch: ESPNU (PxP: Mike Corey | Analyst: Rene Ingoglia)
- Listen: SAM 100.7 FM/Varsity Network (PXP: Randy Lee | Analyst: Terry Obee | Reporter: Jared Holland)
- Social: @WKUFootball | @WKUSports
- Live Stats: wkusports.com/sidearmstats/football/summary
- Game Notes: WKU | UTEP
AT THE GAME
- Purchase tickets to Thursday's game against UTEP HERE.
- Ticket booths at Houchens-Smith Stadium will open starting at 4 p.m. CT. Gates will open 90 minutes prior to kickoff.
- For the full WKU Football Gameday Guide, click HERE.
- Fans are encouraged to wear red for the Red Out game. The Hilltoppers will be wearing special edition Big Red uniforms, and the first 5,000 fans at Houchens-Smith Stadium will receive a free red towel featuring the Big Red eyes decal that the Hilltoppers will wear on their helmets.
- Topper Walk, a tradition where the football team arrives at PS1 and walks down Avenue of Champions to Feix Field led by the band and spirit groups, will begin at 4:40 p.m. CT.
- The Topper Tailgate Show – a live pregame radio show that fans can watch and listen to from the tailgate area – will begin two hours prior to kickoff at 5 p.m. CT on South Lawn.
- The full 2024 WKU Football promotional schedule can be found HERE.
ABOUT THE TOPS
- The Hilltoppers will wear special Big Red-inspired uniforms on Thursday. The uniforms, designed to look like WKU's Hall of Fame mascot, will feature red pants, red jerseys and red helmets with decals resembling Big Red's eyes. The facemask for the helmets is black to represent Big Red's mouth. The game will mark the return of WKU's red helmets, which were last worn in the mid-2000s. WKU has worn a variation of Big Red helmets three times prior to Thursday's game. The program debuted Big Red helmets in 2022 for a 45-10 victory over Rice. That game featured only the Big Red quarterback decal. Last season, WKU wore helmets featuring seven different Big Red logos based on position groups against Liberty. Both sets of decals were worn on black helmets. For the game against Toledo earlier this year, the Hilltoppers again wore the Big Red quarterback helmet, but wore it on white helmets. Thursday's game will be a Red Out, and fans are encouraged to wear red to Houchens-Smith Stadium for the game. There will be 5,000 red towels given away to fans in attendance.
- WKU is coming off a 21-20 loss in a close contest against Boston College at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, on Saturday, Sept. 28. The Hilltoppers led the Eagles for much of the game, before falling to the power conference team on the road.
- The Hilltoppers will start Weekday CUSA action behind only Liberty and Sam Houston in the league standings. The Flames and Bearkats both own a 2-0 record against conference opponents so far this season. Liberty is 4-0 overall and Sam Houston is 5-1. WKU, FIU and Jax State are all 1-0 in CUSA play, while the Hilltoppers are the only one of the three with a winning record overall – the other two are 2-3. Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State, Kennesaw State and UTEP are all searching for their first win in CUSA play.
- WKU's defense has played a major role in the team's success since the loss in the season opener at Alabama. Over the last four games, WKU has allowed only 15.8 points per game with eight turnovers gained. WKU's opponents have only scored 54% of the time they've reached the end zone during that stretch. For the season, WKU's red zone defense ranks first in CUSA and fifth nationally.
- WKU wide receiver Kisean Johnson has recorded at least one touchdown reception in each of WKU's last three games.
- Punter Cole Maynard has been a big player on special teams this fall. He ranks first in CUSA and fifth nationally in average yards per punt with 47.5 per attempt on 18 attempts. He's had eight punts travel 50-plus yards, with a long of 60 yards, and has landed three inside the 20-yard line. He was named CUSA Special Teams Player of the Week on Sept. 23. WKU's single-season record for average yards per punt is 45.9 yards, held by John Haggerty in the 2019 season.
QUOTABLE
- "Excited about the Thursday matchup against UTEP. Get to come back home. Looking forward to a great crowd. About to get in the thick of the midweek conference games, so we need to be at our best. I see a UTEP team that's getting better every single week. They compete extremely hard. I know they're well coached. I know their head coach and he does a great job of getting those guys ready to play. We need to play our best game. We need to play our best game. We need to have a championship mentality about us and make sure we do everything right if we want to win this football game. Our guys will be excited to get back on the field after having a bye week and to get back into conference play." – WKU Football Head Coach Tyson Helton, on Thursday's game against UTEP.
SERIES INFORMATION
- WKU is a perfect 4-0 against UTEP. The Hilltoppers have two wins over the Miners in Bowling Green – a 40-16 victory in 2018 and a 35-27 win in 2014. The two teams played last season, marking the first meeting since that 2018 game in Bowling Green, and WKU claimed a 21-13 win against the Miners at the Sun Bowl. The Hilltoppers were shut out in the first half of the most recent meeting, but scored three touchdowns in the second half and were led offensively by Elijah Young, who finished with 139 yards and two touchdowns on 12 rushing attempts in the game.
SCOUTING THE MINERS
- UTEP enters Thursday's game with an 0-5 overall record and an 0-2 mark in CUSA play. The Miners' two league losses came at Liberty, 28-10, and against Sam Houston, 41-21.
- The Miners are led by first-year head coach Scotty Walden, who was named the program's 27th head coach on Dec. 4, 2023. He was previously the head coach at Austin Peay, where he led the Governors to a 26-14 record with two conference championships in four seasons.
- UTEP is averaging 15.8 points per game, the ninth-best mark in CUSA, and has allowed an average of 32.6 points per game, the sixth-best number in the league.
For all the latest on WKU Football, follow @WKUFootball on Twitter and Instagram, and like the WKU Football Facebook page.
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