WKU Football: Coaches Talking Anonymously About the Tops Says More Than You Think

On Wednesday, Athlon released their annual “coaches talk anonymously about their conference foes,” piece, which is always fun.

On Wednesday, Athlon released their annual “coaches talk anonymously about their conference foes,” piece, which is always fun.

I don’t know what it is, but whether it’s coaches, players or even broadcasts, it’s fun to see what the other side has to say about your side.

Wait, is that just me? Oh well.

However, this year, the comments on the Tops were…tame, and that’s putting it mildly.

Before we take a look at what coaches said about the Chrome Domes this year, let’s see what has was said just one short year ago.

“The offensive lineman (Forrest Lamp) I really liked graduated, but they’re definitely the cream of the crop in our league.”

“Their talent is just a little bit better than anybody else.”

“They look more like a Power Five team when you play them. They’ve got bigger kids and they’ve done a good job recruiting in Florida.”

(There was one more comment, but it was about the mounting task that Mike Sanford had in front of him, and it’s kind of boring.)

A lot of good stuff! Now, lets see what was said this year.

Well. Uhm. Those…are words.

The thing about these coaches comments isn’t that their boring or negative — in fact, these coaches, whoever they are, are kind of positive towards the Tops?

But, the real issue here, is the lack of thought put into these. I could have said this to Athlon. You could have said this to Athlon. My youngest brother, who hasn’t watched a WKU game since probably 2013 when he watched it because he was either at the game visiting me or I was at home and had it on, could have said that.

The real danger here is, even after just one down season, is the Tops have lost the grip of fear over the conference after just one season. Even worse, I’d dare say, based on these comments, the Hilltoppers are, currently, almost an afterthought.

Now, I’m willing to admit a lot of this might be thanks to the end of season surge from Lane Kiffin and FAU, and all of the publicity they’re garnering heading into the campaign (more on that in a moment), but it’s amazing to me that coaches in the conference, less than 365 days removed from calling the Tops the “cream of the crop in our league,” can’t come up with anything better to say when it comes to talking about Western Kentucky.

Not even a Big Red comment?! Now I’m really mad.