WKU Football: Game Grades vs. Old Dominion

There is nothing more of a relief than getting rid of an extended losing streak. Western Kentucky Football ended its four-game losing skid…

There is nothing more of a relief than getting rid of an extended losing streak. Western Kentucky Football ended its four-game losing skid, while Old Dominion extends its four-game losing streak to five games.

This felt like a matchup WKU should have won, and that was assuming the starting quarterback was going to play. Lo and Behold, D.J. Mack, Jr., is benched and redshirt freshman Hayden Wolff is inserted as an inexperienced project and experiment.

So WKU was handed an Old Dominion team virtually mailing in the next couple of games while they allow their brand new quarterback to try to find his way.

Nonetheless, WKU took care of business, and for the first time all season, the WKU defense allows 20 points or less.

That’s enough summary. Let’s into grading the Tops vs. ODU, starting with my Keys to Victory.

Grading the Keys to Victory

Pounce on Them Early: A+

Halle-frickin-lujah! WKU comes out against a team that also struggles to start and stomps on their throat, jumping up 21–0 and 30–3 at the half. WKU did allow some yards, but could anyone have drawn it up any better? That was beautiful. Good job, boys.

Handle Your Assignment Defensively: A-

So a lot of my write-up had to do with dealing with a running quarterback who was second in the conference in rushing touchdowns. But still, what was the Toppers’ assignment in general against ODU? Every position needed to contribute. Most infamously, the linebackers have not contributed. The defensive line has been conspicuously average. The secondary hasn’t been picking it off. Well, scrap all of those concerns. Five sacks. Linebacker Will Ignont was the unquestionable MVP of this game with nine tackles, two sacks, and an interception. Antwon Kincade led the way for the secondary with an interception with a return of 29 yards and seven tackles.

Without the dual-threat quarterback quotient, what was the assignment against a team with a bad offensive line and little ability to finish drives? Blow up the line of scrimmage and make big plays. WKU did that, and they only get an imperfect score for giving up a ton of yards. But this defensive performance should put WKU in a position to win every other game this season.

Win the Hidden Yardage Battle With Ease: A

Yeah, how about 59 yards per punt? How about 117 penalty yards by Old Dominion vs. WKU’s 31 on only four penalties? 67 punt return yards to one. 41 turnover return yards to zero. The only negative? WKU’s offense, normally well over 50 percent, was only three-of-14 on third down. That accounts for Bailey Zappe’s “below average” 397 yards passing. Get that number up near .500 and WKU probably scores some more points and maybe even makes the statistical margin even more impressive for WKU. But hey, all in all, I had to stretch the definition of hidden yardage to find a complaint, so this was a heck of a job making big things happen in the often forgotten part of the game: Special Teams.

Sack Mack & Knock Runners on Their Back: A-

Well, other than the fact that Mack didn’t play, WKU did this job quite well. Five sacks and three other tackles for loss should check that box pretty nicely. WKU’s defensive line (and linebackers) controlled the line of scrimmage, for the most part, finally making their presence felt and producing a standout effort. WKU had three sacks against Indiana, but every other game featured a defensive line performance with no more than one sack. Finally, WKU wins a game largely because of pressure up front in big moments.

Fill Up the Stat Sheet: B

Honestly, Old Dominion did a pretty good job holding WKU to field goal attempts. Western was forced to kick it four times, making three of the four attempts. WKU also threw an interception, so Old Dominion found a way to stop WKU five times, all of which were inside WKU territory. So Zappe nearly got his 400, the rushing game was good, and Jerreth Sterns (ho-hum) caught 13 balls for 221 yards and a touchdown. In that way, sure, the Tops filled up the stat sheet. But WKU did find ways to screw up good drives. WKU left 24 tangible points on the board, throwing an interception at the ODU one and kicking four field goals, only making three. That’s only nine of another 35 points left out on the field. Western’s three-of-14 on third down had a lot to do with that.

Matt’s Prediction: B+

I predicted a bad matchup for ODU, which was true. I kind of figured ODU would still find a way to rack up yardage. I, however, build a lot of my thoughts around D.J. Mack, so sure, ultimately, WKU kind of did what I thought they would, but I completely missed the boat on how ODU would move the ball.

Position Grades

Quarterback: B

Again, this is on the #ZappeForHeisman scale, so y’all don’t get too upset. This was just an ok day for Zappe. Nearly 400 yards, five-touchdown, only one interception, and no sacks taken. Great numbers for the average man, but Bailey Zappe is no average man. Keep in mind he played against a pretty good defense, but he did throw his fourth interception of the year, and once again, this one was not his best passing attempt. It seems like he makes very few silly mistakes, but when he does, it’s usually obvious and it tends to cost the team. I’d say the number one thing he needs to watch is throwing across his body late. And if he does, get your feet under you and make sure the guy is extremely open. In this case, his lone most costly mistake prevented the Tops from scoring from the one-yard line. Also, he’s had a few plays in the run game that bought a few first downs sporadically and that didn’t happen this game. He was great, but he wasn’t pleased postgame, so we should hold him to that standard, as well.

Running Back: B+

This was another solid performance by the running back position. 119 yards and busting a 20-yard run was nice to see by Adam Cofield. Again, no running back gained over 67 yards (Cofield), but four guys contributed, including Jakairi Moses, who returned from injury. Big picture, it’s nice to see running back depth and a few catches a game out of the backfield. This time it was Kye Robichaux with a nice 17-yard grab.

The running back position has gone from being a liability to now being a position the Tops can rely on if they need a decent run play. With a really good offensive line, these guys have learned where to find the holes, and they’re doing a good job reading the defense. You would like to see some more explosive plays, and I still want to see even more balance or one guy step up and be the horse and then his backups spell him for 20–50 yards each.

Wide Receiver: B+

What this receiving corps has done without a consistent tight end and an average running game is just simply remarkable. Jerreth Sterns is nearly on pace for a 2,000-yard season, gaining 966 yards in six games. If WKU plays 13 or 14 games, his current pace would shatter all WKU receiving records in the regular season. In addition, he’s got Mitchell Tinsley helping him out tied for 62nd in the nation with 456 receiving yards. And those numbers include eight yards against Old Dominion for Tinsley. WKU’s receiving corps is deep and versatile, with the do-it-all Sterns, Tinsley with the big plays, Malachi Corley, a young freshman with four touchdowns, and Daewood Davis, the reliable Power Five transfer.

Tight End: C-

There’s not much to say here. A-C- is generous, because I’m not sure what any of them did all game. I take that back: Joey Beljan did have a kick return for 11 yards, and he does do a good job on the kickoff return. And there wasn’t anything negative, so it’s not a complete F. Bottom line, though: WKU misses Josh Simon. I believe WKU would have possibly won one or two more games with a weapon like Simon, but it’s all water under the bridge. WKU needs some good production out of the tight end position. The tight ends don’t have to change the world. They just need to change the game for the positive at all. They may be blocking well, but that’s about it. I certainly don’t notice them. Do you? They are not much of a threat in the middle of the field, and the receivers are forced to make all of the plays in the passing game. Engines have safety valves for a reason: The pressure can get too much and blow up the entire thing. A tight end is a safety valve that can relieve the pressure off of the rest of the offense.

Offensive Line: A

This is now proving to be a very good offensive line. They are on pace to give up 16 sacks over 12 games, and they have had several games where Bailey Zappe barely got touched. Zappe took three hits from ODU defenders all night on 81 plays by the offense. The running game had two negative plays, one on a busted trick play. This is just wonderful to see. This offense is leading the nation in passing and fourth in the nation in total offense. Huge credit must go to the guys no one notices.

Defensive Line: A-

These guys got after it. All of the stars made plays, and the backups were solid. One thing this unit has not had issues with was depth, but now if the Hilltoppers can just add some explosion to this position, everyone in their way better watch out. These guys have not remotely lived up to their potential, so if they are going to show massive strides from here on out, WKU’s defense will completely change in identity and DeAngelo Malone and Juwuan Jones can go back to doing what they do best: Blowing up drives with big plays at or behind the line of scrimmage.

Linebackers: B+

Will Ignont was incredible. Without a doubt, Defensive MVP in my opinion for this game. Now, he did not have much help, with only six tackles and no explosive plays from anyone else at his position. Also, they allowed Kuntz, the 6'8" tight end, to rack up well over 100 yards. This is pretty much on the LB/larger DB positions to slow down tight ends. But on the positive side, Ignont alone produced two sacks and an interception! He made three game-changing plays and was involved in a lot more than that, as well. Ignont is a guy that looks the part and sometimes plays it. If he could play the part he looks at every game, the guy could have one special back half of the season against competition he should probably dominate.

Defensive Backs: B

First of all, finally getting an interception was huge. Turnovers shape the outcome of games, and Antwon Kincade’s interception was a nice tone-setter for the rest of the game. Turnovers energize sidelines more than anything else, so seeing two in one game was great to see. However, someone needs to take some fall for some passing yards and some big plays in the passing game. The aforementioned Kuntz gained 119 yards receiving. Ali Jennings caught 13 balls for 172. Both Kuntz and Jennings had plays of well over 30 yards apiece. You can’t have that in addition to allowing short to medium passes if you want to be a very good defense.

Special Teams: B+

Kicking: C-

Others: A

The lone blights on this Special Teams performance was a blocked kick by Old Dominion and a missed PAT. This was not shocking, though. Old Dominion now has five blocked kicks on the year, so it’s almost to be expected they would come straight after a team that it needs to take chances against. Given the awful snap on the blocked PAT, it wasn’t really Narveson’s fault. Haggerty did a miraculous job even getting the ball on the ground. However, Narveson also missed an early field goal, as well.

Other than that, John Haggerty’s moon balls are yet to land. Cory Munson is kicking most of his kicks through the back of the end zone. The only two that didn’t were against a howling wind, and those two took so long to get down that ODU was not able to take advantage. A huge punt return by DeAngelo Wilson did some nice damage. Overall, much like the Brohm era, WKU has been above average on Special Teams. This has been fairly consistent in Helton’s two seasons. The Tops immediately got better in the third phase upon arrival.

Coaching: B+

Strategy: A

Defensive Game Plan: A+

Offensive Game Plan: B

Helton Decisions: B

This was a much better-coached game than it has been in some weeks. Unlike a few of the games this year, there wasn’t much to question, but then again, in a blowout, it’s hard to find too much to take serious issue with. The game didn’t hinge on crucial decisions. I think a major head-scratcher though was calling a timeout on third down & short with little time left in the second quarter. This allowed ODU to collect itself and make the first down. If WKU hadn’t forced a turnover immediately following, perhaps the game would’ve been totally different and the end of the first half would’ve been remembered distinctly differently. A timing mistake could have allowed ODU to creep back into it.

The defense did its job Saturday. And I believe the scheme helped the Tops look as good as possible. They finally dialed up some tricky alignments and just dared ODU to get it right and make rushed decisions, resulting in a little more erratic passing game. Offensively, WKU needs to shore up some red zone offensive calling in the red zone, and there was one possession where the Tops ran three times in a row. I understand a commitment to being unpredictable, but it sure gets lost in translation when you clearly call something just to call it, and it backfires and puts you in a worse position.

Overall: B

I think the Tops got a little lucky this week. ODU is a decent team, but not explosive offensively. The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers were lucky Old Dominion didn’t score a few more times, or it would’ve gotten much more interesting. Western still needs to try to keep yards allowed down close to or under 400. Giving up over 400 yards is now taking on other risks that could cost a defense dearly. 400 is also plenty of yardage to easily support a 30–40 point output, something that would force the Topper offense to be their best every week. The offense was not its sharpest this week with the exception of Sterns and the running backs, so it was nice to see the defense be the biggest difference in the game.

So hopefully this week was not complete fool’s gold for the team, they get lackadaisical, and find a way to create a ball game out of a blowout from here on out. WKU still can improve in all phases, but the Tops did finally have a solid cohesion between offense, defense, and special teams this week. Stay tuned for more in-depth analysis from the Towel Rack and yours truly.