Conference USA’s Western Kentucky comes to town for a noon kickoff this weekend. WKU is also 3-1 on the season and coming off a narrow comeback win over Toledo a few days ago. Their sole loss came in week 1 against Alabama 63-0. Former Hilltopper Kye Robichaux might not be able to take the field for the Eagles, but let’s see what his former team is putting out there.
Offense
Redshirt sophomore Caden Veltkamp began quarterbacking the Hilltoppers early in the third game of the season against Middle Tennessee. He came off the bench when the starter went down and led the team on route to a CUSA Offensive Player of the Week honor. Veltkamp is a huge 6-6 and a physical runner. He came on and performed heroics in a bowl victory last year and is willing to sling it.
Against a Toledo team fresh off a win over Mississippi State, he was quiet for much of the game. But when it mattered most in the fourth quarter he executed perfectly to cement the comeback. Overall he went 20/30 for 242 yards, throwing one touchdown and running in for two more in the fourth. Similar to Chiles last week though, his gunslinger mentality led to two interceptions and a fumble that nearly cost the game.
The WKU offense was poor on third down going 3 for 12, and hasn’t been great on the season converting only 38% (playing Bama doesn’t help). They have excelled through the air (20th), but the ground game has been rather limited to 2.4 yards per carry. Their line has held up very well allowing only one sack a game, but still very little outside of Veltkamp rushing. Elijah Young has been the team’s leading rusher this season and last, but was held under 500 yards in 23’ and just over 100 through these four games. He is very capable out of the backfield though.
Receiver Kisean Johnson has been the main target 336 yards and three touchdowns. The senior transferred over from Alabama State after dominating the FCS. He was briefly committed to Vanderbilt and even had an offer from BC. Another speedster inside Easton Messer is second on the team in receiving.
Timely Takeaways
Focusing again on the Toledo game as the best comp, Western Kentucky’s defense has been a little bend don’t break similar to BC. They allowed two possessions in the final minute of the game inside their own 10, but both were picked off by defensive back Devonte Mathews. At 53% they have the nation’s fourth best red zone defense. They’re also top-10 in fumbles recovered with four.
The defense has been solid at getting pressure on opposing passers. Against a high flying Rockets offense, they had six TFLs including two sacks and six hurries. They’ve done serviceable against the run so far, but it was a major issue last season. This year they have a few more depth pieces along the line with a number of players showing pass rush results.
Mathews is the do-it-all safety leading the team in tackles as well. Along with him, the secondary is full of transfers who have played solid to date. Still they could be sharper on third down allowing 10-18 and 1-3 on fourth.
In the past two games, tight ends have had some room to operate mismatches against this defense. For that reason, I’m going to take Kamari Morales to score a touchdown as my best bet. Hate to infringe on Curran’s domain, but I nailed some Lewis Bond alts last week so here we are.
Field Flippers
Punter Cole Maynard has been booting exceptionally averaging nearly 50 yards per punt. The coverage unit as a whole has pinning back opposing offenses and even set up a safety against Toledo courtesy of the former Tar Heel and son of an NFL punter.
The Hilltoppers have had a lot of success over the past few years and have taken out several Power 5 teams in the process. The Eagles can not take this game lightly.
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Publish date : 2024-09-25 04:00:00
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