WKU Football: Assessing the Adversary — UT Martin Skyhawks
Our “Assessing the Adversary” segment is back to the site for football this year! It was started by our JT Keith for basketball but I…
Our “Assessing the Adversary” segment is back to the site for football this year! It was started by our JT Keith for basketball but I wanted to bring it back for football to give us a deeper look at the Tops’ opponents this year.
The season is finally here so let’s see what we can learn about UT-Martin. But first, here’s some game information:
Game Information
Time: 7:00 CST
Location: Houchens Industries L.T. Smith Stadium | Bowling Green, KY
TV: ESPN+
Radio: The Hilltopper IMG Sports Network
So what do we know about UT-Martin?
Location: Martin, Tennessee
Student Population: Approximately 6,700
Established: 1927
Endowment: $27.2 Million
Motto: “Elevate your future at UT Martin”
Mascot: Captain Skyhawk
Conference: Ohio Valley (FCS)
Campus: Rural, 250 acres
Affiliations: University of Tennessee
Famous Alumni: legendary women’s basketball coach Pat Summit, current Florida State Seminole men’s basketball head coach Leonard Hamilton, former New York Giants general manager Jerry Reese
Nestled in rural western Tennessee, UT-Martin is a relatively close opponent for the Tops. It’s about a 2 hour and 45 minute drive from Bowling Green to Martin.
While they aren’t really nationally known for their football or basketball programs, their rifle and rodeo programs have a good history. Their student Rob Harbison won an individual rifle NCAA title in 1987 and their rodeo program won the NIRA College Rodeo Finals in 2015.
UT-Martin has been in the OVC since 1991. One thing I found interesting is that they used to be called the Pacers up until 1995 when they changed it to the Skyhawks. The reasoning was to honor more of their history. The first educational institution of the site was Hall-Moody Bible Institute and they were the Sky Pilots which was a frontier term for preachers back in the day. The hawk part pays homage to the indigenous red-tail hawk.
As an Indiana Pacers fan, I have no clue why in the world they would want to change their name from that but before they were the Pacers they were called the Volunteers like the main Knoxville UT which was confusing. They were even referred to as the Baby Vols. Definitely smart to move away from that and form your own identity.
So as far as what to expect on the football field, how did the Skyhawks do last season?
Last year in the chaos that was a football season effected by COVID, the Skyhawks went 3–4 and finished fifth in the OVC standings. They had a game scheduled against Alabama that was canceled due to the pandemic (Bama got lucky and dodged a bullet, I’m sure).
Obviously it goes without saying WKU has struggled against FCS opponents in recent years. Losing to Maine and Central Arkansas was really bad and they almost lost to Chattanooga last season. Last season UT-Martin averaged about 27 points per game and has a convincing 40–7 win over Tennessee Tech to end the season. They also had 14 players names to Phil Steele’s All-Conference squad this season as well.
We all want this game to be a walk in the park for the Tops but there’s still a lot of new players and pieces to this team. The defense needs to be ready from the get go. Sure it was against FCS opponents last season but any team that averaged four touchdowns last season should be taken seriously regardless.
Thankfully even with all the new pieces I expect the Tops to look a lot better, especially on offense. Having an offensive mind like Zach Kittley along with several of his star players from Houston Baptist join helps with consistency and familiarity. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Bailey Zappe looks at the FBS level now. This will be a good game for him to air it out and get his feet wet into playing a full game in red and white.
On the defensive side of things this will be a good test for the Topper defense. If they’re able to keep UT-Martin’s offense off the field and force a turnover or two that will be a great sign to start the season. The front four on the defense are super strong and having a sure NFL talent in DeAngelo Malone returning is huge.
We’ll save our predictions for another article but I hope this gave you some more insight on the Skyhawks. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up with all the content we’ll release this season!