WKU Football: Bold Prediction Week — Tops Will Lose to Charlotte and Beat FAU
Welcome to The Towel Rack’s Bold Prediction Week as we officially kickoff our football coverage for 2018. Each week, there’ll be a…
Welcome to The Towel Rack’s Bold Prediction Week as we officially kickoff our football coverage for 2018. Each week, there’ll be a different theme pertaining to WKU football, with this week’s being a smattering of bold predictions our writing staff has about the upcoming season.
Oh yeah, I just went there.
One thing we know about the 2018 version of WKU football: They will be young. With probable All-Conference candidates Joel Iyiegbuniwe (NFL Draft), Dennis Edwards (transfer to Purdue), and Jake Collins (transfer to Northwestern) departing for different reasons, WKU’s roster goes from boasting a fairly average 13 seniors to a sparse ten in the class of 2018.
What comes with inexperience? Generally, the theme is…there is no theme. Young players, especially in football, tend to be wildly inconsistent. If they have good talent, they may show incredible flashes, but other times, they’ll show the unenviable ability to cost their team points.
Western Kentucky went 6–7 in 2017, including a barftastic Cure Bowl loss to Georgia State in December. I believe WKU is going to pretty much hold water from last year. Losing those three possible seniors lowers the overall potential for the squad, but it also gives opportunity for younger, possibly more talented players.
Without seeing the team in action, a realistic expectation for 2018 should be between four and eight wins. I’m saying six. This team has a wide range of possibilities, and it’s frankly because the coaching staff can really recruit, but thus far, the on-field product hasn’t been up to the recent standards.
Without question, the one obvious strength of Sanford’s tenure has been his recruiting. Sanford has brought in two solid recruiting classes, bringing in two more three star rated (or better) players than any other team in the conference for 2018 and landing fifth in Conference USA’s recruiting rankings. 2017’s class was ranked fourth in the conference and introduced 26 new players.
(For perspective, Jeff Brohm’s recruiting classes were ranked fifth, 11th, and seventh in C-USA in 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively. Presumably, Sanford has brought in more on-paper talent than Jeff Brohm ever did.)
This year should be the year we see significant amounts of Sanford players on the field. That should be a good thing for the Hilltoppers. Be it some true or redshirt freshmen, JUCOs, or whoever else, we should see some Sanford players on the field without question.
Will we see an improvement in play calling and game management? It’s a fair question. Even Sanford himself admitted he was frustrated with 2017 as a whole and was going to be on a mission to fix the issue. Let’s see what happens.
The Bold Prediction
WKU was maddeningly inconsistent last season. Some games, it seemed the Brohm era Toppers were back. At other times, it was horrifying. That comes mostly with youth, and as the coaching staff openly admitted in interviews, many of them did not have experience in the positions they filled.
I predict more of the same: WKU will have a shocking win and a shocking loss. I say the Tops lose at Charlotte October 13, and get the ship righted by the time it’s time to play the fighting Kiffins in November, defeating FAU in Boca.
The Chrome Domes are going to have enough pure talent to beat most teams they face, but the inexperience will cost them a game or two in there somewhere.
I absolutely believe WKU’s running game will be improved (as Jared predicted in his article), and I think the offensive line couldn’t have been any worse last season. If that line becomes serviceable, the defense stays near the level it was, the running backs take the steps they should, and a good running quarterback emerges to help out the running game, WKU could be pretty good and will beat FAU in November.
Book it.
What do you think about this bold prediction? What bold prediction do you, yourself, have for the upcoming year? Let us know in a comment below, on Twitter or on our Facebook page.