BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Football shut out Eastern Kentucky 31-0 in the home opener at Houchens-Smith Stadium on Saturday.
The shutout was the first for the Hilltoppers (1-1 overall, 0-0 Conference USA) since blanking FIU 73-0 during the 2022 season, and it was the first shutout win against the in-state rival since beating the Colonels 35-0 in Richmond during the 1973 season. WKU is now 49-35-3 all-time against EKU.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The WKU defense held the EKU offense in check, allowing only 266 yards and holding the Colonels off the scoreboard. The Hilltoppers had one sack, eight tackles for loss and forced one turnover in the win.
- WKU kicker Lucas Carneiro got WKU on the board with a 29-yard field goal with 12:11 left in the first quarter to cap off a 10-play, 64-yard drive.
- The Hilltoppers collected their first touchdown of the season when Elijah Young dove over a group of players from a yard out with 22 seconds to play in the first quarter. The play was set up by a 17-yard pass from TJ Finley to River Helms the play before.
- L.T. Sanders scored his first career touchdown with a 2-yard run with 3:41 to play in the second quarter to give WKU a 17-0 lead.
- Young added a 9-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to make it a 24-0 Hilltopper lead.
- TJ Finley threw his first touchdown pass as a Hilltopper – a 12-yard score to Dalvin Smith – with 2:38 to play to cap off the 31-0 victory.
NOTABLES
- Finley threw for 351 yards and one touchdown on 27-of-39 passing.
- The Hilltoppers rushed for 116 yards and three touchdowns, led by a 52-yard, two-score effort from Young. He had 13 rushing attempts in the game.
- Sanders scored the first touchdown of his WKU career with a 2-yard rush in the second quarter. He finished with 28 yards on four attempts.
- In his first game at Houchens-Smith Stadium, Kisean Johnson led Hilltopper receivers with 119 yards on six receptions, with a long of 42 yards.
- Seven different Hilltopper receivers posted multi-catch games.
- Devonte' Mathews led the WKU defense with eight tackles, including 0.5 for loss.
- Seven Hilltoppers had at least five tackles in the win.
- Darius Thomas recorded the only sack in the game, forcing a fumble on the play. It was recovered by Terrion Thompson – the second fumble recovery of his career.
- Carneiro's 29-yard field goal in the first quarter marked his first made field goal of the season. He was 4-for-4 on PATs in the win.
- Announced attendance was 16,712 for the team's annual white out game.
QUOTABLE
- "Just happy for our football team. Excited to come home in the home opener and get a win like we did tonight. Really proud of our defense. It's hard to pitch a shutout. Those don't come too often and Coach (Tyson) Summers, defensive staff and players did a fantastic job. I really thought we moved the ball really well on offense. The obvious is we've got to finish drives, got to put the ball in the end zone. Had a couple of fourth-down stops there in the red zone, but saw a lot of great things as a team tonight, a lot of players made plays and that was good to see. Got a bad taste out of our mouth from the week before and feeling good about ourselves, and we needed to do that tonight. Start conference play next week with a great opponent in Middle Tennessee, a rivalry game, so it was good to get this win and get the momentum going to get ready for next week." – WKU Football Head Coach Tyson Helton, on the 31-0 win over EKU on Saturday.
- "We had our ups and downs and what I told the guys in the fourth quarter after we scored that last touchdown was this was a great game for us as far as building chemistry. We went through what we went through at Alabama with going scoreless. To see that first touchdown for the 2024 season for us was big. I told the guys also we had a little adversity, right? We got to the red zone three or four times and came up with zero points in the first half and told those guys we have to continue to improve in that area if we want to win this conference. I think we did a good job toward the latter part of the game getting down there and actually putting some points on the board. It was a good win for us." – WKU Football quarterback TJ Finley, on the offense in Saturday's win over EKU.
- "Shout out to the defense for sure. We was telling them all week, 'Y'all got this. We don't want to see nothing on the board at all.' Really, to see them actually doing that and telling them that they've got to believe in each other, it just showed that it pays off." – WKU Football running back Elijah Young, on the defensive effort helping the team in Saturday's win over EKU.
- "It was third down. They came out in a two-by-two, so I disguised it and I baited it up. It all fell into place." – WKU Football linebacker Darius Thomas, on his sack and forced fumble in WKU's win over EKU on Saturday.
- "We want defense to set the tone, always. That way, we can get offense going with that tempo." – WKU Football defensive back Devonte' Mathews, on WKU's defensive identity.
NEXT UP
- The Hilltoppers will head to Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to take on "100 Miles of Hate" rival Middle Tennessee (1-1) in the first Conference USA game of the season for both teams. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT.
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