My two cents and not that it matters what I think or hope for, but here's to the Hilltoppers beating UTSA like Southern Miss beat Houston back in the day.
Beat them like a drum Hilltoppers!

I'm thinking about attending the CUSA title game Saturday. It should be a pretty good game really.

(this was in our local paper, the Houston Chronicle)

(11-29-2021 08:00 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

I'm thinking about attending the CUSA title game Saturday. It should be a pretty good game really.

(this was in our local paper, the Houston Chronicle)

.
Lackadaisical editing, shoddy journalism, or inept sports writers?

(11-29-2021 08:16 PM)Franko Wrote:  

(11-29-2021 08:00 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

I'm thinking about attending the CUSA title game Saturday. It should be a pretty good game really.

(this was in our local paper, the Houston Chronicle)

.
Lackadaisical editing, shoddy journalism, or inept sports writers?

Answer: (D) All of the above.

The money raised by the UTSA community for our students to attend the championship game free of charge is now over $96K. Again, any extra amount would go toward our bowl game. Good stuff, but we're gonna need it because WKU has been an absolute buzz saw since we survived them in Bowling Green in early October. They haven't really even been challenged since.

The only negative I see so far is that they've had 3 close games this year (Army, Indiana, and UTSA) and came up short in all of them, whereas we've won all our close games. All such things come to an end though sooner or later, so I'm not even sure that will play a factor in the game. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't very nervous.

I will be pulling for our Western Division Champion, but they have not played well as of late. My hunch is that WKU takes this one. Hopefully I am wrong…

What kind of crowd are you expecting?

(12-01-2021 12:16 AM)CrushMI Wrote:  What kind of crowd are you expecting?

I wanna say that at least 40k tickets have sold so far as of today.

UTSA announced that 27,000 tickets had been sold by Tuesday. That does not include student tickets and, perhaps, ticket giveaways. I think we're guaranteed 35K with 40K as a possibility. It will be our largest crowd of the year (previous high was 35,147), as it should be.

I don’t think wku defense can hold it’s to under 40. So I’m guessing it’ll take us scoring 45+ to win.

(12-01-2021 02:37 PM)Rowdys Castle Wrote:  UTSA announced that 27,000 tickets had been sold by Tuesday. That does not include student tickets and, perhaps, ticket giveaways. I think we're guaranteed 35K with 40K as a possibility. It will be our largest crowd of the year (previous high was 35,147), as it should be.

Beacuse we are the worst conference on the planet I head CUSA squashed UTSA fans and boosters purchasing student tickets for the CUSA game. This was after me and everyone else donated to get to 100K. Think the crowd will be less impacting.

(12-01-2021 03:18 PM)Jack Bauer Wrote:  I don’t think wku defense can hold it’s to under 40. So I’m guessing it’ll take us scoring 45+ to win.

So you dont think a defense that hasnt gave up more than 21 points in the last 7 games. That's only 3 times and all 3 scored a 4th qt td after the game was no longer in doubt...

can't hold a team that's scored 34, 27, 23 last 3 games under 40. You still having flash backs to when Western's defense was making Frank Harris look like Tom Brady dropping 30 yard passes on a dime.

I think the Western defense has improved a lot since then. A lot as in only giving up 18.5 ppg and 3 yards a carry both best in CUSA. Unless Western turns the ball over a few times I dont see UTSA scoring 30 points...

which is 9 points more than the last 7 CUSA teams did vs Western. Including Marshall that was averaging 35ppg

At this point in the season this is Westerns game to lose because if both played to their avg since that first game....

Western going to win and over the past few games Western has been above their avg on offense and defense. While UTSA has be below on offense and above on defense

UTSA 35-20.7
Western 45-18.5

Of course the Western defense could once again make the UTSA qb look like Tom Brady at his prime. If that happens who knows

(12-01-2021 03:48 PM)Digi368 Wrote:  

(12-01-2021 02:37 PM)Rowdys Castle Wrote:  UTSA announced that 27,000 tickets had been sold by Tuesday. That does not include student tickets and, perhaps, ticket giveaways. I think we're guaranteed 35K with 40K as a possibility. It will be our largest crowd of the year (previous high was 35,147), as it should be.

Beacuse we are the worst conference on the planet I head CUSA squashed UTSA fans and boosters purchasing student tickets for the CUSA game. This was after me and everyone else donated to get to 100K. Think the crowd will be less impacting.

I looked back to when Western hosted and I was wrong on the price of a student ticket. I thought it was $25 and it was only $15. At that price 100k adds 6,600 students. The conference does not control what people donate to pay for student tickets. So what is that all about? That just doesnt sound correct so unless you have a link I think someone is feeding you wrong info on that.

(12-01-2021 03:56 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(12-01-2021 03:18 PM)Jack Bauer Wrote:  I don’t think wku defense can hold it’s to under 40. So I’m guessing it’ll take us scoring 45+ to win.

So you dont think a defense that hasnt gave up more than 21 points in the last 7 games. That's only 3 times and all 3 scored a 4th qt td after the game was no longer in doubt...

can't hold a team that's scored 34, 27, 23 last 3 games under 40. You still having flash backs to when Western's defense was making Frank Harris look like Tom Brady dropping 30 yard passes on a dime.

I think the Western defense has improved a lot since then. A lot as in only giving up 18.5 ppg and 3 yards a carry both best in CUSA. Unless Western turns the ball over a few times I dont see UTSA scoring 30 points...

which is 9 points more than the last 7 CUSA teams did vs Western. Including Marshall that was averaging 35ppg

At this point in the season this is Westerns game to lose because if both played to their avg since that first game....

Western going to win and over the past few games Western has been above their avg on offense and defense. While UTSA has be below on offense and above on defense

UTSA 35-20.7
Western 45-18.5

Of course the Western defense could once again make the UTSA qb look like Tom Brady at his prime. If that happens who knows

Frank Harris is a really good Quarterback. Not like Zappe but he can do magical things with his arm and feet. It's all speculation at this point. Both teams are gonna want it and will come out with the intensity that a championship game deserves (hopefully)

I was actually waiting for the CUSA awards to drop. Think Zappe will be MVP and Frank OPOY. Who knows what they will do.

(12-01-2021 03:56 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(12-01-2021 03:18 PM)Jack Bauer Wrote:  I don’t think wku defense can hold it’s to under 40. So I’m guessing it’ll take us scoring 45+ to win.

So you dont think a defense that hasnt gave up more than 21 points in the last 7 games. That's only 3 times and all 3 scored a 4th qt td after the game was no longer in doubt...

can't hold a team that's scored 34, 27, 23 last 3 games under 40. You still having flash backs to when Western's defense was making Frank Harris look like Tom Brady dropping 30 yard passes on a dime.

I think the Western defense has improved a lot since then. A lot as in only giving up 18.5 ppg and 3 yards a carry both best in CUSA. Unless Western turns the ball over a few times I dont see UTSA scoring 30 points...

which is 9 points more than the last 7 CUSA teams did vs Western. Including Marshall that was averaging 35ppg

At this point in the season this is Westerns game to lose because if both played to their avg since that first game....

Western going to win and over the past few games Western has been above their avg on offense and defense. While UTSA has be below on offense and above on defense

UTSA 35-20.7
Western 45-18.5

Of course the Western defense could once again make the UTSA qb look like Tom Brady at his prime. If that happens who knows

There are two dangers here for WKU:

1) UTSA is massively pissed off and ready to rumble after a final season drubbing (See; Marshall 2014)

2) WKU blew its emotional wad against Marshall last week and has an adrenaline dump.

Personally, I think Western wins this one going away, but that is why we play the games.

(12-01-2021 08:02 PM)THUNDERStruck73 Wrote:  

(12-01-2021 03:56 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(12-01-2021 03:18 PM)Jack Bauer Wrote:  I don’t think wku defense can hold it’s to under 40. So I’m guessing it’ll take us scoring 45+ to win.

So you dont think a defense that hasnt gave up more than 21 points in the last 7 games. That's only 3 times and all 3 scored a 4th qt td after the game was no longer in doubt...

can't hold a team that's scored 34, 27, 23 last 3 games under 40. You still having flash backs to when Western's defense was making Frank Harris look like Tom Brady dropping 30 yard passes on a dime.

I think the Western defense has improved a lot since then. A lot as in only giving up 18.5 ppg and 3 yards a carry both best in CUSA. Unless Western turns the ball over a few times I dont see UTSA scoring 30 points...

which is 9 points more than the last 7 CUSA teams did vs Western. Including Marshall that was averaging 35ppg

At this point in the season this is Westerns game to lose because if both played to their avg since that first game....

Western going to win and over the past few games Western has been above their avg on offense and defense. While UTSA has be below on offense and above on defense

UTSA 35-20.7
Western 45-18.5

Of course the Western defense could once again make the UTSA qb look like Tom Brady at his prime. If that happens who knows

There are two dangers here for WKU:

1) UTSA is massively pissed off and ready to rumble after a final season drubbing (See; Marshall 2014)

2) WKU blew its emotional wad against Marshall last week and has an adrenaline dump.

Personally, I think Western wins this one going away, but that is why we play the games.

A 32-point win doesn't exhaust your emotions. Not to make excuses, but a last-second win to secure your program's first ever division title could to some extent though.

One thing is for sure the best two teams will be playing I wont be shocked if UTSA wins. But to be honest I thought (said so) early on in the season that when Western started clicking on both side I expected them to win #3. This offense has been constant from game 1 and I still dont think they reached their peak. I think Helton kind of held it back at points during games. I understand the why in doing so but I still think we haven't seen a complete game yet. Might not over the next two but if its in the championship. It could get ugly. While the defense struggled the first 5 games they have got better each game they played. Now they are one of the better defensives in CUSA.

On the other side up till the last few weeks the same things could be said for UTSA. Thats why I'm confident in a Western win. Its more so about the progress the Western defense has made while UTSA has slipped some and I believe peaked too soon.

But like most games turnovers can play spoiler and as good as Zappe is he sometimes gets locked in on a WR and makes a mistake.

(12-01-2021 09:20 PM)WKUYG Wrote:  One thing is for sure the best two teams will be playing I wont be shocked if UTSA wins. But to be honest I thought (said so) early on in the season that when Western started clicking on both side I expected them to win #3. This offense has been constant from game 1 and I still dont think they reached their peak. I think Helton kind of held it back at points during games. I understand the why in doing so but I still think we haven't seen a complete game yet. Might not over the next two but if its in the championship. It could get ugly. While the defense struggled the first 5 games they have got better each game they played. Now they are one of the better defensives in CUSA.

On the other side up till the last few weeks the same things could be said for UTSA. Thats why I'm confident in a Western win. Its more so about the progress the Western defense has made while UTSA has slipped some and I believe peaked too soon.

But like most games turnovers can play spoiler and as good as Zappe is he sometimes gets locked in on a WR and makes a mistake.

Thats fair. Personally, I think Western is going to win. The UNT game.was really an anomaly. They got punched in the gut early and just gave up (both coaches and players) Really odd considering the same thing happened @ Memphis when UTSA was down 21-0 and fought back. For whatever reason, this is not the same team.

Really this game is going to come down to UTSA oline. The last several games they have played like absolute garbage and Sincere has nowhere to go or Frank is constantly running for his life. If they can finally clean that up and have success running the ball and with the playaction they have a shot. They need to keep Zappe off the field. It's cliche but true in this game. Zappe is just too good and gets rid of the ball too fast. Relying on interceptions is not an effective defensive strategy. If the line continues to struggle, I just dont like the odds in a shootout again. Frank surprises me almost every game but him throwing it 35 times is not our optimal offense. With this being the last game of the year, expect Frank to run a lot more. They have been holding that back this year since Frank is being held together by duct tape but we saw glimpses of that in the UNT game when he had the 69 yard TD run and took some big hits trying to extend drives.

(11-28-2021 10:25 AM)CrushMI Wrote:  Line UTSA -2.5

Line now WKU -3

22 hours from kick off! I’m ready for this game!