BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Football will look to bounce back from its first loss in Conference USA play this season and keep its championship hopes alive when it heads to Liberty to face the Flames on Saturday, Nov. 23. Kickoff at Williams Stadium in Lynchburg, Virginia, is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
GAME INFO
- WKU (7-3 overall, 5-1 CUSA) at Liberty (7-2 overall, 4-2 CUSA)
- Saturday, Nov. 23 | 12 p.m. CT | Williams Stadium | Lynchburg, Va.
- Watch: ESPN+ (PxP: Matt Warner | Analyst: Joe Jauch | Reporter: Emily Austen)
- Listen: SAM 100.7 FM/Varsity Network (PXP: Randy Lee | Analyst: Terry Obee | Reporter: Jared Holland)/SiriusXM App
- Social: @WKUFootball | @WKUSports
- Live Stats: liberty.statbroadcast.com
- Game Notes: WKU | Liberty | CUSA
ABOUT THE TOPS
- WKU Football lost its first CUSA game and first home game of the season last week, falling to Louisiana Tech 12-7 at Houchens-Smith Stadium. The Hilltoppers didn't allow a touchdown in a game for the second time this season, but could only produce one touchdown – a 7-yard run from Elijah Young.
- The Hilltoppers are one of two teams with a 5-1 record in CUSA play, while Jax State is the long unbeaten team with a 6-0 league record. Sam Houston, who WKU beat 31-14 on Oct. 16 in Huntsville, Texas, is the other 5-1 team in league play. The other program in CUSA in the hunt still for the league title is Liberty with a 4-2 record against CUSA competition.
- WKU became bowl eligible for the sixth time in six seasons under Tyson Helton with its 31-14 win over Kennesaw State. The win marked the first time WKU has become bowl eligible before November under Helton and the first time the program has become bowl eligible before November since 2016. WKU became bowl eligible in October three times before – in 2012, 2015 and 2016. WKU is one of only 16 programs that played in a bowl game each of the five seasons from 2019-23, and one of only seven programs to win a bowl game each year from 2021-23.
- WKU is 16-5 under Tyson Helton in games played in November, including a 15-4 record against CUSA competition. The Hilltoppers have not lost back-to-back games under Helton during the month of November.
- WKU has been stout since the season-opening loss at Alabama. The Hilltoppers are allowing only 16.4 points per game over their last nine games, and have allowed more than 21 points in a game during that stretch only once. There have been two games in the last nine games where the Hilltoppers have not allowed a touchdown – against Louisiana Tech and against Eastern Kentucky. WKU has been especially good in the red zone all season, allowing scores just 66.7% of the time. The Hilltoppers rank first in CUSA and third nationally entering this week's games in the category. WKU ranks second in CUSA and 25th nationally in passing yards allowed per game, and have had three games this season allowing less than 100 yards through the air.
- WKU is one of the least penalized teams in the nation this season. The Hilltoppers rank first in CUSA and tied for third nationally in fewest penalties and fewest penalties per game, having just had 38 this season. Only Air Force and Iowa have been penalized less this season than WKU. The Hilltoppers did not have a penalty in the win over Kennesaw State, which marked their first penalty-free game since playing Marshall on Oct. 10, 2020 – a span of 57 games. They had one at New Mexico State.
- WKU kicker Lucas Carneiro has made 11 consecutive field goals, which is tied for a program record, and he is 3-for-3 from 50-plus yards. On Tuesday, he was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award.
- Dalvin Smith has 19 touchdown receptions in his WKU career after catching a 30-yard scoring pass in the win over UTEP. The 19 touchdown receptions are tied for seventh most in program history with Jared Dangerfield, Curtis Hamilton and Jay Davis. Taywan Taylor holds the program record with 41 touchdown receptions.
QUOTABLE
- "Back on the road this week. Big conference game. Going to Liberty. A really good team that we'll play in Liberty. We've got to bounce back from last week. This time of year you want to be in the hunt and we're in the hunt. We don't have time to think in the past. We've got to be getting ready for the future. Our guys have got a good look in their eye. I had a chance to meet with them. We're ready to get back to work and try to get back in that win column." – WKU Football Head Coach Tyson Helton, on Saturday's game at Liberty.
- "I wasn't here last year and didn't really see them a lot last year, but the first thing that jumps out is there's a lot of guys that were on that team that went to the Fiesta Bowl, so they've got a lot of good players and they've got a good scheme. Any time you've got a good scheme and good players, you've got a chance to be pretty good. We're going to have to play a lot better than what we did and we're going to have to have a good ball game and a good week of preparation. Playing a good team on the road is tough, but we've got to be ready for the challenge." – WKU Football Offensive Coordinator Will Friend, on Saturday's game at Liberty.
- "Like we always talk about, and we talked with them about it in here last week, you want to win, bottom line, end of story. The good, I thought no touchdowns. Forcing four field goals is obviously a big deal and blocking a field goal at the end of the game I thought was really, really important. The bad, we've got to do two things better – we've got to figure out how to get more three-and-outs and we've got to get some takeaways. A large part of our success is creating the takeaways and being able to put our team in a position to score points off those takeaways. We really weren't able to do that. We probably had two opportunities the other day to do it and that's one of the things we've got to improve. The ugly part is we lost. It hurts. It stinks. Nobody feels good about it. The awesome about it is everything's in front of us. We've got a football game to play this week. We've got a good record, we've got great players, we've got a great room of young men, we've got a good staff, everybody is still happy, you know what I mean? So everything is still in front of us and I think, like anything, knowing the moment and knowing the opportunity, I think all those things are really, really good. We had a lot of guys stand out and play really well." – WKU Football Defensive Coordinator, on the good, the bad, the ugly and the awesome heading into Saturday's game at Liberty.
SERIES INFORMATION
- WKU and Liberty will meet for the fifth time ever when the two programs face on off Saturday. The Hilltoppers have never beaten the Flames, and fell in the most recent meeting between the two, 42-29, last season in Bowling Green. Saturday's meeting will mark WKU's first trip to Lynchburg, Virginia, in nearly three decades, when the series started with a 49-36 Liberty victory on its home field.
SCOUTING THE FLAMES
- Liberty is 7-2 overall and sits in fourth place in CUSA with a 4-2 mark against league teams.
- The Flames won CUSA last season in their first year in the league. Liberty earned a berth in the Fiesta Bowl after going undefeated through the regular season and claiming the CUSA crown.
- Liberty was picked first in the CUSA predicted order of finish in July, receiving 18 of 20 possible first place votes. WKU was second and received the other two first place votes.
- Liberty is in its second season under Jamey Chadwell, who has a 20-3 record with the Flames, a 51-9 coaching record dating back to the start of the 2020 season, and a 119-60 overall head coaching record.
- The Flames rank second in CUSA offensively, scoring 31.3 points per game. Liberty ranks fourth in the conference defensively with 23.9 points allowed per game.
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