Predictions: WKU Football in Boca to Take on JMU Wednesday
Roundtable: The Tops wrap up their 2024 Football season with a really tough test against James Madison. Can the Tops avoid the distraction of the Transfer Portal and recent losses and put on a show?
Western Kentucky Football takes on James Madison today in the Boca Raton Bowl. Fair warning, if you want to get fired up, unless you’re a player reading bulletin board material, this is probably not your article. Sorry, but when your star quarterback just so happens to be playing in the stadium that he is interested in playing in next year, that’s one strike. Losing three of four, another strike. 10,000 players in the portal, a final strike on us truly believing WKU is going to win this one.
Throw in that JMU is really good and probably would be favored in just about every scenario other than WKU winning Conference USA and the Tops really need an incredible performance to beat James Madison.
Then again, there is some room for optimism, as well. Tyson Helton is really good in bowl games. He’s also really good at getting his players to play despite being committed elsewhere, distracted, or shopping in the NCAA Transfer Portal. And the Tops are only touchdown underdogs and JMU is banged up and dealing with some of the same issues (quarterback out due to injury, for example).
You never know how deeply the teams are motivated, but hopefully the Tops are pissed at how the season ended and they’re ready to go fight for it and make themselves as a brotherhood proud, as well as the WKU fan base and alumni.
And to be clear, this is not WKU fans turning on the Tops. Everybody wants the Tops to win. But we held on to optimism for a really long time for this team. We believed all the way through the Conference USA Championship, but getting trounced by Jacksonville State really, really put a damper on things and made us conclusively realize that this team’s overall chemistry drastically regressed from its mid-October form when they looked like (at minimum) one of the clear favorites in CUSA for two or three weeks.
Predictions
Matt McCay
Yeah as a Topper Football alum, I’m all-in on how important this game is and what it means. It means something to me every time we win. No question. I would have gone down to Boca if I could have, but it just didn’t make sense this year. But this just does not feel like a good recipe for a win. JMU is good, first of all. Even if WKU was fully engage, had zero people in the transfer portal, and were completely healthy, the Tops would still be battling in a 50/50 showdown. Even if JMU is hobbled, they’re still capable of winning.
Also, we’ve heard Easton Messer may not play. Jayden Loving is still hurt. We’ve heard a DB or two may come back from injury. How many players sit out? We believe most seniors should definitely play, and a few of them may have plans to sit if they get injured at all if they have NFL prospects. The good news is the core of the team is playing as far as we know. Barring absolute lying from everyone, the Tops are going to play to win, Tyson Helton isn’t going anywhere, and the Tops should play hard and have a chance to win.
Going down to the New Orleans Bowl in 2022, there wasn’t a ton of optimism in that one, either. 44-23 Tops. So who freaking knows? But for me, if I’m being intellectually honest, this feels like an absolute dud. I mean it could be like JSU all over again. I’m torn about whether I should go full 52-12 type of prediction, but I’m definitely not thinking this one is going to be that close. I do think the defense will acquit itself decently, but JMU breaks the dam at some point. I really struggle to think the WKU offense will be incredible, which it needs to be in order to win this one.
JMU 27-WKU 13
Alex Sherfield
With most of the football world favoring James Madison, it’s a perfect spot for the Tops to play spoiler and finish the season strong. Hopefully, the defense will have a better showing than in the CUSA Championship Game but it’s not going to easy as the Dukes are efficient on both sides of the ball. One takeaway is that running back James Pettway will have to be contained in order for the Tops defense to force the Dukes to beat them through the air.
Bowl games are always chaotic and unpredictable. Let’s hope this ends in our favor, especially with Caden Veltkamp coming to play.
Give me WKU 34-JMU 27
P.S. It’s gonna be a weird one but something tells me we’re bullsh***ing a win today (LOL).
Jake Gary
Its just really hard to see this Hilltoppers team being ready for James Madison. After that pathetic CUSA Championship performance, there is plenty of tape on how to beat the Tops. They are reeling down the stretch, losing 3 of 4, with most of those game being offensive nightmares to watch. Expect James Madison to send pressure early and often. Expect James Madison to torch the Tops through the air. Hope I’m wrong, because JMU has dropped their last two games. But they still had a good showing against future Sun Belt champions Marshall, only losing in double overtime. Might be a game to fade the Tops, even with a -7.5 spread currently on the board. First time I’ll predict a loss for the Tops since Bama.
James Madison 34 - Western Kentucky 21
But sometimes you just have to be honest! It is still #GoTops
Devin Stewart
JMU is gonna beat WKU. Not trying to be a hater, but whatever mojo the Tops had, they’ve lost faster than Austin Powers. JMU 42-14
David McCay
We get annihilated 42-7.
Editor Note: Yikes, David! Short, not sweet, and definitely blunt.
Bret Combest
I think we will win the bowl game. We got to score more than 30 and (try to) hold them to under 25. Let’s say 30-27 Tops.
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GO TOPS!!!!