(10-24-2019 05:00 PM)HogDawg Wrote: IMO, WKU is the story of the year...at least so far.
The Toppers only average 21 pts per game against FBS competition. WKU has miraculously won 5 FBS games by an average margin of only 11 pts per game. And they now boast a very respectable record of 5-1 against those 6 FBS opponents.
HOW IN THE HELL DO YOU DO THAT?
Seriously folks......this is a miracle. It's very hard to win like this. WKU hasn't blown anyone out, but they keep winning. Their biggest win margin is over ODU, 20-3. Word is, Blood Pressure medicine sales in Bowling Green have peaked.
But I think the party ends this Saturday in Huntington. Playing Marshall, --at home in John Denver country-- ain't no picnic.
Marshall 30
WKU 21 (of course)
I was in Weescahnsun for a wedding when we played FIU but was able to sneak out during the reception and catch the last part of the game on Tune-In Radio app. It was a nail biter down the stretch.
Louieville was ugly early but we came back and had a good second half with Duncan playing on a broken foot/ankle.
The UAB game was definitely nick and tuck but the second half we held them to a field goal and it never seemed like they were in danger of scoring a bunch on us. We just felt good to be in a game tied up with a quarter to play. We scored a touchdown to go ahead and UAB never really threatened. But still a nail biter just from us being Western fans knowing we can Western it at any time.
ODU was never really in the game. They just flat out couldn’t move the ball.
We played lights out defensively against Army. It was a shutout with 4:05 to go. We went into a prevent and they started slinging it to get their only score. I never felt Army would beat us that day. No nail biter there.
Charlotte came out and ate up half a quarter on a clean drive to open up the game with a touchdown. We scored back to back touchdowns to go up 14-7. They got us good on a toss to LeMay for a ~50 yard touchdown to tie it up 14-14. They never moved the ball the second half. No nail biter.
I watched the Marshall vs FAU game last week and was impressed with both of them. Right now Helton is playing fairly conservative trying to eat up clock. That said we scored two touchdowns on trick plays last week. We’ve used them before but they didn’t hit. The first one was a flea flicker where Walker took the handoff and pitched it back to Storey who threw a perfect bomb to Lucky Jackson who actually didn’t drop it. Lucky has been known to be unlucky on drops at times. The second one also involved Lucky. Storey handed off to the left wide receiver going right. He tossed it to Lucky who had lined up right and now heading left. Storey had continued running after handing off the first end around and Lucky (who is left handed) tossed a dying quail to Storey for the touchdown reception.
So we do use some trickeration. But we’re not scoring in 53 seconds like we did under Brohm. We have had some quickies. That flea flicker was 69 yards. Came on a 1:11 drive for 80 yards total. That is the exception. We’ve had really good drives starting the 4th quarter in several of these game that ate up over 6 minutes and ended up with scores.
Controlling the clock has helped the defense. We lost 2 of our best defensive tackles against Army’s cheap shot artists. Fortunately we’re fairly deep at tackle. Our defensive ends are really good. DeAngelo Malone is a speed rusher that is as good as anyone in this conference. His motor never stops. He’s not just a sack specialist. He gets a ton of tackles and probably leads the conferences in tackles for loss. Our dee line is the best we’ve had in many, many years. This really helps out our defensive backs in our 4–2-5 defense.
Charlotte’s quarterback was a quick shifty kid with moxie. When he got us on those two first half drives I thought well we’re back to the old dee. They surprised me. They flat out shut him and LeMay down the entire second half.
I thought Marshall’s offense was explosive against FAU. I hope Clayton White has something dialed up to slow it down. Another area of worry is Marshall has been sacking like they work at Publix lately. I expect them to load up on our running game and pressure Storey to beat them. He’s been getting better every game. His biggest problem is eating sacks at the worst time. When we’re in field goal range and the defense sends a blitz. He doesn’t throw it away quick enough. But his throws are usually to where only our guy can get it. So far he hasn’t just thrown them up for whoever wants it.