WKU Football: Grading WKU’s 31–17 Loss To Vanderbilt

WKU football has steadily improved since looking very average in the first half of the 2017 slate. The Hilltoppers came out against the…

WKU football has steadily improved since looking very average in the first half of the 2017 slate. The Hilltoppers came out against the Vanderbilt Commodores, looking like an even match up but, in typical 2017 fashion, WKU was within a score late in the third quarter, when Vandy scored the last ten points.

When a team has high expectations coming into the year and reality doesn’t play out up to the expectation of the prognosticators, people start wondering what’s really going on. Is it coaching? Is it talent? Is it bad mojo? Is WKU just fine? Heck, they have a winning record, after all. Let’s take a look at WKU’s performance against Vanderbilt.

Running Game: F+

Yeah let’s get this train wreck out of the way. Good lord. My grandmother had more rushing yards than WKU on Saturday. NEGATIVE SIX RUSHING YARDS! WKU continues to stupefy in a horrible way in the running game. It is bad enough that WKU’s best back (Quinton Baker) averages 33 yards a game, but to make it worse, Mike White and the rest of the Topper quarterbacks have been sacked 29 times on the year. White’s five sacks were the main reason WKU finished negative in the rushing column against Vanderbilt.

The only positive to Western Kentucky’s running game: They ran it enough to win Time of Possession. Congrats on that, I guess.

Passing attack: B+

Mike White, Drew Eckels, and Nacarius Fant (trick play) combined to throw for 355 yards. On any day, that is incredibly productive and should suggest a successful afternoon. Given the fact the running game is so horrible, this is even more remarkable. On another positive note, wide receivers Lucky Jackson and Nacarius Fant, and tight end Mik’Quan Dean each had above average performances.

My only issue with the passing attack has to do with the six sacks. There were at least two that were completely avoidable; White is a redshirt senior, and he should know how to get rid of the football when there is opportunity.

Offensive Line: D

The Topper offensive front has been spotty all season. This game wasn’t much different. Yes, the Big Red passing attack was excellent, but the offensive line gave up six sacks and did their part in the rushing yard debacle. Regardless of the quality of skill position players, a football team needs quality offensive linemen to allow time or space for good skill players to do their jobs. The Tops just don’t have that this year.

WKU had an unbelievable offensive line last season, but they’ve has already given up seven more sacks in nine games than that team did in 14 games last year. WKU’s offensive line depth chart is riddled with incomplete football players.

WKU ran 83 plays on Saturday, 12 of which went for a loss. That is completely on the offensive line.

Passing Defense: B

WKU held Vanderbilt to 220 yards receiving, which is acceptable, especially against a good quarterback that never makes silly mistakes. Vanderbilt also boasts an underrated receiving corps, as well. Vanderbilt did gain over 15 yards per reception, and completed two-thirds of their throws.

However, the bottom line is the defense showed up and held Vanderbilt to slightly above their average in the passing game. That is a pretty game effort for a beat-up defense against an SEC opponent. They even got a sack, which has been a difficult task for the Hilltoppers.

Rushing Defense: C

Vanderbilt came into the game hardly any better than WKU on the ground, and the Commodores absolutely dominated the Hilltoppers in the trenches, allowing Ralph Webb (now 11th all-time in SEC history in rushing) to rush for over 100 yards. All told, the Topper defense surrendered 174 rushing yards to a Vanderbilt side that averaged under 100 on the ground coming into the game. There was nothing mind-blowing about this effort, but the defense found ways to get off of the field and give the Topper offense chances to take control of the game.

Overall Offensive Effort: C

Ultimately, WKU gained over 300 yards against a pretty good SEC defense. It wasn’t pretty, but WKU won Time of Possession and ran significantly more plays than the Commodores. This grade would have been much higher if the rushing attack hadn’t been so abysmal.

Overall Defensive Effort: B-

WKU’s defense was not at all the reason they lost this game. They only allowed Vanderbilt to get off 56 plays. That’s remarkable in itself, but they held an SEC offense under 400 yards. It was not stellar, and they didn’t force turnovers, but they got the job done. A defense’s job is to give the offense opportunities to win the game, and that’s exactly what Clayton White’s unit did.

Coaching: C-

It’s becoming clear that WKU Head Coach Mike Sanford is not (at least currently) an elite strategist. He is not an X’s and O’s coach, but he is more of a feeling type of guy, and he recruits really well. Due to all of these factors, it should be no shock that the play calling has been interesting. Of late, WKU has actually called some unique plays, but from a football perspective, the design of the plays are not elite. WKU is not taking advantage of match-up problems. The route designs and running schemes don’t seem to be intricately designed like the Jeff Brohm and Bobby Petrino offenses. They’re just standard, vanilla concepts.

Sanford seems to go for it on fourth down more than most. There’s nothing wrong with aggression, but sometimes, the choices haven’t been good. Sanford went for it in WKU territory and got lucky in this game. He has gone for it near midfield several times, and sometimes, he’s needed more than a yard. When you go on fourth down, you better bring your best plays. WKU has converted less than half of their fourth down attempts.

I watched different coaches operate in my time at WKU football. Without getting incredibly detailed, I don’t see much creativity in the offensive play calling. Don’t misunderstand, it is not horrible all the time. There have been moments when WKU did something cool and unique, especially of late. But in crucial moments, WKU has not looked good. For whatever reason, the Toppers seem to get very predictable late in games. This game was no different. Vanderbilt scored the last ten points of the game, something that’s become a scary trend for WKU fans. This is not something that happens every once in a while, but in all but one game (Charlotte), WKU has given significant opportunities to the opponent late in games.

Overall Grade: C+

Be aware of the overall picture. WKU played an SEC team on the road, was predicted to lose by more than a touchdown, and did exactly as expected. The defense did better than expected, and the offense was fairly normal. Frankly, this result would have been welcomed four or fives weeks ago by most realistic WKU fans. Obviously WKU’s rushing game is beyond horrible, but everything else is decent enough to win games. If WKU could ever get a decent running attack in 2017, they would be a really good football team.