BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Football will be on the road to face Conference USA opponent Sam Houston on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium in Huntsville, Texas. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
GAME INFO
- WKU (2-4 overall, 1-1 CUSA) at Sam Houston (1-4 overall, 0-1 CUSA)
- Wednesday, Oct. 14 | 7 p.m. CT | Elliott T. Bowers Stadium | Huntsville, Texas
- Watch: ESPN (PxP: Clay Matvick | Analyst: Rocky Boiman)
- Listen: BG 100.7 FM/Varsity Network (PxP: Randy Lee | Analyst: Terry Obee | Reporter: Jared Holland)
- Social: @WKUFootball | @WKUSports
- Live Stats: wku.statbroadcast.com
- Game Notes: WKU | Sam Houston | CUSA
ABOUT THE TOPS
- LAST TIME OUT: WKU Football used an all-around strong team performance to defeat Missouri State 34-13 on Thursday, Oct. 8, at Houchens-Smith Stadium. The Hilltoppers scored first and led for the remainder of the game to improve to 1-1 in Conference USA play and 2-4 overall with the win over the Bears. The Hilltoppers racked up 464 yards of offense – 233 rushing and 231 passing – marking WKU's WKU's first win in which it had more rushing yards than passing yards since the 21-13 victory at UTEP on Nov. 4, 2023.Brock Glenn threw for 231 yards and a touchdown on 20-35-0 passing and added 95 yards and one touchdown on 15 rushing attempts. Running back Ajay Allen led WKU on the ground with 105 yards and two scores on 13 carries.
- STAFFORD CONTINUES STRONG START: True freshman Jonathan Stafford Jr. has started his college career strong and enters the week after winning three consecutive CUSA Freshman of the Week awards. He leads the team with 332 yards on 36 receptions this season. The 36 receptions moved Stafford into a tie for fourth on WKU's freshman receiving list with Jake Gaebler and Marvis Parrish. Only Malachi Corley (73 receptions, 2021), Easton Messer (42 receptions, 2023) and Jack Doyle (37 receptions, 2009) are above Stafford on WKU's freshman receiving records list. He ranks third among FBS freshmen this season in receptions, and his 36 receptions are third-most by a CUSA freshman through a team's first six games of a season since 2010, according to Stats Perform. He led WKU with 72 yards and one touchdown on six receptions in the win over Missouri State, after posting 10 receptions for 108 yards in the loss at New Mexico State. Both marks against the Aggies were career highs, and the score against the Bears was the first of his career. It marked the first time a Hilltopper player had 10 receptions in a game since Malachi Corley caught 10 passes in a 28-23 win over Sam Houston on Nov. 18, 2023. It was the only 100-yard receiving game for a WKU player this season and the first since Matthew Henry recorded 126 yards receiving in the win over Southern Miss in the 2025 New Orleans Bowl.
- ALLEN'S FOURTH-QUARTER FINISHING: Running back Ajay Allen has nine rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter in his career, tied for second-most among active FBS players (Cam Edwards, 10), according to Stats Perform. Allen's career average of 6.75 yards per carry in the fourth quarter is 10th-best among active FBS players (min. 50 rushes in 4th).
- CUSA COMPETITION: WKU Football has gone 41-16 in regular-season CUSA games since Tyson Helton took over the program in 2019. The Hilltoppers have gone 6-2 in CUSA play the last two seasons leading into 2026 and have finished with a winning record in conference play in each of the seven seasons under Helton. WKU is 245-152-9 all-time against conference opponents in its history.
- TESTED ON THE ROAD: WKU started off the 2026 campaign with three straight road games – at Nevada on Sept. 5, at No. 2 Georgia on Sept. 12 and at No. 4 Indiana on Sept. 19 – and also played at New Mexico State on Oct. 1. The game against the Bearkats marks WKU's fifth game on the road in seven weeks to start the 2026 campaign. The Hilltoppers played in four different time zones through the first five weeks of the season. The Hilltoppers are one of only five programs nationally with three straight road games this season, and they are the only school that had three straight road games without a bye week during that stretch. The Hilltoppers are also the only FBS program scheduled to play multiple nonconference games against teams that were ranked in the Top 10 of the AP Preseason Poll. The rest of CUSA has one such game combined. With the 2026 games at No. 2 Georgia and No. 4 Indiana, WKU has now faced multiple ranked FBS teams in the AP poll during the same season for the second time in program history – the Hilltoppers faced three teams in the AP Top 25 during the 2008 season at the time of the meeting.
QUOTABLE
- "I'd like to think that everything that has happened to us so far this season, we'll benefit from as the season progresses. We've learned more about ourselves from week to week. I like where our football team is currently at. I like the challenge of what we've got to go do – we've got to go get a big road win. We've learned a lot from all those road games that we've played, and hopefully that will help us in this game so we can go put it all together." – WKU Football Head Coach Tyson Helton, on this week's matchup against Sam Houston.
SERIES HISTORY
- Wednesday's game between WKU and Sam Houston will be the fifth meeting between the two all-time. The Hilltoppers lead 3-1 in the series, with victories in each of the last three meetings since the Bearkats joined CUSA ahead of the 2023 season. WKU took down Sam Houston 41-24 last season in Bowling Green in a Week 0 contest. The series is tied 1-1 in games played in Huntsville, Texas.
SCOUTING THE BEARKATS
- Sam Houston enters Wednesday's game with a 1-4 overall record. The Bearkats have a 59-0 win over Nicholls, and losses to Troy, Tulsa and Texas Tech. Sam Houston lost its first CUSA game 35-3 against Liberty last week in Lynchburg, Virginia.
- The Bearkats are led by Phil Longo, who enters his second season as head coach.
- Sam Houston ranks fourth in CUSA offensively with 22.8 points per game. The Bearkats rank seventh defensively with 26.2 points allowed per game.
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