BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Football will welcome Eastern Kentucky to Houchens-Smith Stadium on Saturday for the 2024 home opener. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.
GAME INFO
- EKU (0-1) at WKU (0-1)
- Saturday, Sept. 7 | 6 p.m. CT | Houchens-Smith Stadium | Bowling Green, Ky.
- Watch: ESPN+ (PxP: Steve Schlanger | Analyst: Terry Obee)
- Listen: SAM 100.7 FM/Varsity Network (PxP: Randy Lee | Analyst: Jared Holland | Reporter: Mike Cleff)/SiriusXM App
- Social: @WKUFootball | @WKUSports
- Live Stats: wkusports.com/sidearmstats/football/summary
- Game Notes: WKU | EKU
AT THE GAME
- Purchase tickets to Saturday's game against EKU HERE.
- Purchase WKU Football season tickets HERE.
- Ticket booths at Houchens-Smith Stadium will open starting at 3 p.m. CT. Gates will open 90 minutes prior to kickoff.
- 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 3:40 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 4 p.m. CT on South Lawn.
- Saturday's game against EKU will be a white out. Fans are encouraged to wear white to Houchens-Smith Stadium to cheer on the Tops.
- The first 1,000 students will receive WKU construction hard hats.
- Saturday's game will feature the annual Big Red Rush. The Class of 2028 will have the opportunity to rush the field prior to the Hilltoppers taking the field. Big Red Rush shirts will be given out to the first 500 freshmen.
- The full 2024 WKU Football promotional schedule can be found HERE.
ABOUT THE TOPS
- The Hilltoppers opened the 2024 season on Saturday, Aug. 31, against No. 5 Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. WKU was hurt by two early turnovers and quick strikes by the Crimson Tide and eventually fell 63-0. It was the program's first game against Alabama since the 2016 season, when the Hilltoppers also fell, but later went on to claim the Conference USA crown and win the Boca Raton Bowl.
- WKU will play its first home game of the season when EKU comes to town on Saturday. The Hilltoppers hold a 200-100-4 record in games at Houchens-Smith Stadium, after picking up win number 200 in their home stadium by beating 28-23 in the home finale last season. WKU has won three straight home openers and is 19-10 overall in home games under Head Coach Tyson Helton.
- Saturday's game between WKU and EKU will be the first for the Hilltoppers on the new turf at Houchens-Smith Stadium. The brand new, state-of-the-art FieldTurf Vertex CORE surface on Feix Field was placed this spring. The newest addition to the field design is Big Red, WKU's lovable mascot, on each 25-yard line opposite the Conference USA logo. The end zones remain black, with white "Hilltoppers" block text outlined in red instead of the "WKU" red block text outlined in white on the most recent surface, which was installed before the 2014 season. The WKU red towel primary logo remains at midfield, while the "Feix Field" text moves to each sideline on the new turf.
- WKU has become accustomed to using the transfer portal to build teams under Head Coach Tyson Helton and that is no different this season. The Hilltoppers have a total of 53 new players in the program that were not with the team in 2023. That group includes 24 offensive players and 23 defensive players. Of the 53, 33 arrived via the transfer portal and 20 are true freshmen. Of the 33 transfers, 14 are offensive players, 15 are defensive players and 23 have been on an FBS roster at some point in their collegiate career. Of the 20 true freshmen, 10 are offensive players and eight are defensive players.
- WKU capped off the 2023 season with a dramatic come-from-behind 38-35 overtime victory over Old Dominion in the Famous Toastery Bowl – the fourth-largest comeback ever in a bowl game. WKU became one of one of only 16 teams to play in a bowl game each of the last five seasons, and became one of only seven programs to win a bowl game in each of the last three years. Only Alabama, Georgia and Wisconsin have more bowl wins than WKU over the past 10 years.
QUOTABLE
- "Very excited to get back home and have our first home game. It should be a great atmosphere. Looking forward to a big white out game. Got a really good opponent in EKU. Coach (Walt) Wells, their head coach, I know him very well, good coach, good team. I'm very familiar with Coach Wells and their staff and there's a lot of connections to Western Kentucky and EKU. It should be a really, really good game. It's just great to get back home and get an opportunity to play this first home game." – WKU Football Head Coach Tyson Helton, on Saturday's home opener against EKU.
- "We are nowhere near where we want to be yet. I think we have the ability to have a good football team. We just have to improve. You've got to go from Week 1 to Week 2 and you want to improve. The goal of this team all year long is to get better every week, and both rushing and throwing the football we have to be better. We have to be able to do both." – WKU Football Offensive Coordinator Will Friend, on making improvements after Week 1.
- "I think, like I told the players even in the locker room after the game, during halftime and again looking at it (Sunday), it was a game where we've got to create some opportunities and we've got to create some momentum. We weren't able to do that. … In games like that, you've got to be able to have some momentum and we weren't ever able to really gain that." – WKU Football Defensive Coordinator Tyson Summers, on the loss to No. 5 Alabama in the season opener.
SERIES INFORMATION
- WKU leads the all-time series against Eastern Kentucky 48-35-3.
- The Hilltoppers have won three straight meetings with the Colonels, with the last meeting coming in the 2017 season – a 31-17 WKU victory.
- WKU has faced the former Ohio Valley Conference foe more than any other program, despite having played just once during WKU's FBS era (since 2009).
- Saturday's meeting will be the first for the Hilltoppers under current Head Coach Tyson Helton.
- WKU holds a 33-13-1 record when the two teams meet in Bowling Green.
SCOUTING THE COLONELS
- EKU opened the 2024 season on Saturday, Aug. 31, with a 56-7 loss to Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi.
- The Colonels were quarterbacked by Matt Morrissey, who threw for 169 yards and one touchdown on 22-of-38 passing with one interception. Joshua Carter led EKU on the ground with 75 yards on 19 attempts.
- EKU is coached by Walt Wells, who is in his fifth season leading the program. The Colonels have gone 22-22 under Wells.
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