WKU Football: Grading WKU’s 45–14 Win Over Charlotte
WKU football (4–2, 2–1 C-USA) finally looked like a quality football team against the Charlotte 49ers (0–7, 0–3 C-USA) on Saturday. They…
WKU football (4–2, 2–1 C-USA) finally looked like a quality football team against the Charlotte 49ers (0–7, 0–3 C-USA) on Saturday. They gained more total yards, rushing yards, passing yards and points than any other game so far in 2017. The defense continued solid play, only allowing 14 points and 309 total yards.
The main story from this game was the explosion of offensive production, so we’ll break down each position group offensively. Defensively, we’ll hit the highlights and move on.
Mike White: A
Quarterback Mike White was, for the most part, masterful against the 49ers. He completed 33-of-47 passes for 398 yards and five touchdowns. Throw in a rushing touchdown, and it’s very difficult to complain about anything he did. The only issue we want to point out is his inaccuracy in the first half on some of his throws, but we’re nitpicking. He was spectacular.
Tight Ends: A
One of the liabilities from 2016 is now a huge asset for WKU. Senior Deon Yelder is playing like an All-Conference tight end. Having never caught a pass before this season, he’s on pace to amass over 500 yards and score four touchdowns on the year. He has caught a pass in every single game. What more you could you want in a tight end?
Between Mik’Quan Dean, Kyle Fourtenbary and Yelder, the tight end position contributed 11 catches for 176 yards Saturday afternoon. Fourtenbary did fumble in garbage time, or this grade would be an A+.
Offensive line compared to the rest of 2017: A++
Offensive line compared to reality: B-
How should I describe the offensive line’s performance before the Charlotte game? Hmm. Abysmal? Horrifying? Craptastic?
I could roll with any of those and be a completely balanced and fair unofficial official member of the media. Understated, the Charlotte performance was a massive improvement in the trenches.
WKU’s offensive line gave up two sacks and seven tackles for loss. The Toppers improved their abysmal yards per carry average to almost out of last place in the country. Meh. The nicest sight was the passing game. Mike White actually had time to throw the ball down the field!
I have said this all season, and I believe it’s proving true: The WKU offensive line just needs to be decent for WKU to be a really good football team.
Other skill positions: B+
The receivers and running backs did a nice job Saturday. They were not otherworldly, but they got the job done and didn’t make obvious blunders, like dropping passes or fumbling the football.
Kylen Towner had a coming out party; the prolific returner finally got his chance to contribute on offense, and boy did, catching six balls for 111 yards and a touchdown.
WKU’s running backs were finally healthy, and the top four all saw significant action and did well enough to be threats on the ground and in the passing game. Although they were better, the Toppers are not yet close to average, and really need to have a ground game to be an elite football team.
Defensive Line: C
If we’re finding something to complain about, WKU gave up two run plays of 77 yards or more. Charlotte ran for nearly 250 yards in total, which is absolutely unacceptable against any team in the country not a service academy or Georgia Tech. The defensive line only has 3.5 sacks on the year, while the defense overall has earned a paltry six total sacks this season. The Big Red line was able to force out two sacks against an undersized Charlotte offensive line, but this is one area that really needs to improve for WKU to have an all-world defense.
The rest of the defense is way above average, and the overall defense, even with a (so far) sub-par defensive line, absolutely stifles opposing offenses.
Overall Defense: B-
Besides the two massive running plays, the WKU defense was stellar on Saturday. Even including the two huge runs and with shutdown cornerback Joe Brown out, they gave up a respectable 309 total yards and absolutely shut down the passing game, allowing only 61 yards through the air.
Without the two huge plays, the defense would have been in the “A” grade range, but big plays change ball games. The Western Kentucky defense was fortunate to have an offense that kept the game out of reach for the opponent.
Despite the tough grade, the WKU defense has been nothing short of stifling all year. WKU is in the top half of the country in nearly every defensive category and still has yet to give up more than 23 points in a game in 2017.
Special Teams: C+
WKU was okay on special teams against the 49ers. Kicker Ryan Nuss missed a 33-yard field goal near the end of the first half, but made an important 43-yarder earlier in the quarter.
The other facets of special teams were decent.
Although the unit didn’t affect the outcome of this game, it very well could in most other weeks in tighter games. WKU has been pretty average on special teams so far this year. This is something to keep an eye on moving forward.
Mike Sanford: A+
Coach Mike Sanford has taken some serious heat in recent weeks for his offense looking anemic, mysterious play calls, and inconsistent decision making.
Earlier in the week, Coach Sanford talked about position battles. He ended up starting the same offensive line, but that clearly caught the attention of the linemen and produced a good performance. He made changes with the receiving corps, rolling out new starters and not even playing Lucky Jackson (WKU’s leading wide receiver). It’s difficult to argue with over 600 yards of offensive production. It’s especially impressive when considering this was 256 yards more offense than any other game.
Overall Performance: A-
There is no denying the massive improvement offensively. 256 more yards than any other game is concretely significant. Defensively, WKU was stingy as always.
However, WKU fans and players need to keep this nice looking win in perspective. WKU did this against a Charlotte 49ers team that’s going to struggle to win a game. Although WKU clearly got better, there are still some issues that must be resolved for WKU to live up to precedence.
Is WKU going to use this win to get the Topper Train rolling? Or is this fool’s gold? We shall see.
What say you? What would you grade Saturday’s performance in terms of individuals or overall? Were we too harsh on anyone? Did we give anyone too much praise? Let us know in a comment below, via Twitter at @TheTowelRackWKU or on our Facebook page.