WKU Football: Grading WKU’s 28–20 road victory over Ball State

After a disappointing start to the 2018 season, losing to Louisville, Maine, and Wisconsin, it was a relief for WKU to finally get a win…

After a disappointing start to the 2018 season, losing to Louisville, Maine, and Wisconsin, it was a relief for WKU to finally get a win. Even with last week’s down to the wire finish against Louisville, some fans wondered if the Hilltoppers were improving or if the Louisville Cardinals were that bad. (It could be both.)

This week, the Hilltoppers came out and showed the offensive power that they are capable of. Even with the defense was lacking in stops, the Tops still managed to pull out their first win of the season and give us a few surprise performances.

Davis Shanley: B+ /Steven Duncan: A

Last week, Shanley played well against a lacking Louisville defense and if it hadn’t been for a few unlucky bounces of the ball, could’ve led Western to a victory in Louisville.

In Muncie, he led the Hilltoppers in the first half with 158 passing yards and put together some decent drives. But before he could really start opening the defense up with his feet, he suffered a bizarre injury in warm ups. I’m still confused by this injury. Davis do you stretch?

Steven Duncan took the reins early in the third quarter, and I, like other Hilltopper fans, felt a sense of dread. He looked lost early in the Louisville game and had no real production on tape this season. But as the drives continued, I found myself cheering him on, like the Rocky of WKU quarterbacks. He made really good decisions for the most part in the option game. He threw no interceptions this game and the phrase “Duncan to Deane” was the best news of the day. His performance also got him the game ball.

We were able, for the most part, to see what Sanford wants out of his QBs. When they became mobile in the pocket they were able to cause havoc for the Ball State defense. I questioned a couple of Shanley’s option reads and his lack of mobility. There were a few hesitations that cost the Tops. Additionally, we saw an increased amount of targets and production from the tight ends, freeing up the passing game for the receivers.

Dontavian Jackson: A-

I’ll bet you didn’t know that “Lucky” wasn’t his given name. On Saturday, he was the most productive receiver and was rewarded with the announcers repeatedly asking, “is it better to be Lucky or Good?” (Like he’s never heard that one before). He was both, with eight receptions for 91 yards.

Tight Ends: A +

Both Mik’Quan Deane and Kyle Fourtenbary were key in this victory as both quarterbacks like to throw to each tight end a lot. Deane had five receptions, 48 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Fourtenbary had four receptions and 44 yards, one of which kept a drive alive before halftime.

Running backs: B+

After spending last season screaming at the TV that WKU needed a decent running game, these last couple of games have made me feel better. With the veteran D’Andre Ferby out with an injury, Joshua Samuel and Gino Appleberry Jr. were instrumental in getting the first touchdown in this game (via Appleberry), keep the clock running and score another touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

Penalties: A+ at getting them, D+ at avoiding them

It’s hard to grade penalties. In the Louisville game, it seemed some of the calls could be chalked up to “home cooking.” However, with this game, the penalties were hard to debate. The most frustrating penalty of the night was the Dionte Ruffin pass interference. It was a situation where almost anything would have been preferable to what actually occurred on the play. That penalty alone led to three Ball State points.

At the half, WKU had seven penalties for 70 yards and by the end of the game they had tallied 11 for 102 yards. Cleaning these up in the coming weeks will be essential if the Tops want to have any hope of a winning season. The only thing that kept WKU from an “F” here was that Ball State finished with 118 yards in penalties.

Defense: D+

The word from camp this year was that the defense would be the strength of the WKU football team this season. That was not the case against Ball State. Caleb Huntley ran as much and as often as he wanted. Arm tackles, slinging offensive players instead of tackling and shoe lace tackles dominated the defenses techniques and led to missed tackles and huge gains by Ball State’s offense.

The best strategy for a defense is to swarm the ball. It’s a concept that is almost universal in football. The more people around the ball increases the chance of tackles for a loss, recovering fumbles, or second chance tackle opportunities. The Tops did not have that for the most part today.

Honestly, I’m grading the defense on a curve, because if the Tops had lost this game, I would’ve totally failed them in this grade out. There was no pass rush, Ball State’s Riley Neal had all day to throw and when he decided to run he had 10–15 yards because the secondary was dropped back in a zone coverage. It made it difficult for them to recover.

Special Teams: B

For the first time in weeks, The Tops had NO BLOCKED FIELD GOALS!!!

Overall Grade: B

Considering that flags were flying like confetti on New Year’s, WKU played well. The offense was balanced, totaling 446 yards and zero turnovers. The defense had a weak pass rush, sorry tackles and allowed the backs to break contain on numerous occasions, leading to Ball State outputting 406 total yards of offense. S

ome of this is understandable with the Spread offense, but it could cause problems when we enter conference play. (*cough* FAU *cough*)

Going into this game, I was suspicious of the way WKU played Louisville. Was it a fluke or was Western on the rebound from an atrocious showing against FCS opponent Maine? In the end, a win is a win no matter how ugly it is. Let’s hope the Tops can pile a few more of these up before the end of the season.