WKU Football: 2018 Schedule Released

After a 2017 season to forget and a few weeks of the college football offseason, WKU’s 2018 football schedule was released on Tuesday…

After a 2017 season to forget and a few weeks of the college football offseason, WKU’s 2018 football schedule was released on Tuesday afternoon.

While we already knew the opponents and some of the dates prior to today, we now can finally start analyzing WKU’s schedule in what shapes up to be a crucial second season in the Mike Sanford era.

Here are some thoughts about the 2018 schedule:

Tougher Non Conference Schedule

Prior to today we already knew that WKU would be trading Illinois and Vanderbilt for Wisconsin and Louisville. That takes away two winnable Power 5 opponents (though those opportunities were squandered) and trades them for two that are much harder to beat. Wisconsin has been consistently projected to be a top 10 team for 2018, returning quarterback Alex Hornibrook and stud running back Jonathan Taylor just to name a few impact players. Breaking in a new quarterback in Camp Randall will be WKU’s toughest road test since traveling to Alabama in 2016. Louisville’s program will still be in the early stages of replacing Lamar Jackson at quarterback but the trip up I-65 will definitely be more formidable than traveling to Champaign last year and even Ball State should be much tougher on the road with several impact players returning from injury. It will be a tough task improving on 2017’s 2–2 mark out of conference.

Early Moonshine Throwdown

WKU’s annual game with Marshall has been thrown all over the map. From initially being the last game of the season it has moved all they way up to the conference opener. While this may help with the atmosphere at the game (I’d image the Herd will travel well with potentially good weather). As we’ve discussed on twitter, it would be nice to have some continuity with our rivalry games year to year.

Closing On The Road

Just like last season, WKU will have a favorable attendance boost by not having to play after Thanksgiving. This year they’ll finish up their rivalry against Louisiana Tech for the foreseeable future in a game that might decide bowl eligibility for Mike Sanford’s squad.

Toughest Stretch

Besides obvious answer of the first three games (since they’re playing two P5 teams). I’m going to go with the stretch from FIU to FAU. Having to play Butch Davis’s team that manhandled the Tops last season followed by Brent Stockstill’s last Middle Tennessee squad and finishing up with the defending conference champs (FAU) could quickly take away any midseason momentum that Sanford might have built before the stretch. Last season WKU was 5–2 heading into the last five games. If the team isn’t ready at this point things could go south in a hurry.

Easiest Stretch

Luckily the Tops will have a chance to build momentum before that crucial stretch as Ball State, Marshall and Charlotte should give the Tops ample opportunity for a wins. Ball State and Charlotte combined for just 3 wins last season and Marshall will have to replace Chase Litton and several other key playmakers. If WKU handles this stretch accordingly. They’ll sit at 4–2 at the midway point of the season.

Way Too Early Record Prediction

With only four probable wins (Maine, Charlotte, UTEP & Ball State) and very tough swing games (At MTSU, At Louisiana Tech, Marshall, FIU & ODU) it is hard for me to predict Mike Sanford’s team to significantly improve on their 2017 record of 6–7. Breaking in a new quarterback will be tough as well as developing running game that was dreadful in 2017. As of right now i’ll hold steady at 6–6 with Mike Sanford needing to show signs of improvement to get the fan base back on board.

What do you think about WKU’s 2018 schedule? How do you think Mike Sanford’s squad will do in year two? Let us know in a comment below, via Twitter at @TheTowelRackWKU ,on our Facebook page or in our brand new forum.