WKU Football: Hilltoppers Open Season With 38-27 Win Over Austin Peay
Austin Reed threw four touchdowns, three of which were to Malachi Corley, as the Hilltoppers are the first team in the nation with a win.
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers are off to a flying start in the Austin Reed era, even if it was a bumpy ride to get to the landing strip, as the Tops took care of the Austin Peay Governors, 38-27, Saturday afternoon in the first college football game of the 2022 season.
The Reed Option
Austin Reed doesn’t immediately look like Bailey Zappe 2.0, but he should be able to lead yet another high-powered offense on the Hill, assuming the play calling follows suit.
On only two occasions did Reed not look ready for WKU’s style of deep-threat strikes, both of which happened in the first half and once happened when he was attempting to escape pressure in the pocket.
He finished the day completing 19 of his 33 attempted passes for 276 yards and four touchdowns, as well as a late-game interception, when he was attempting to find Joey Belgian down the far sideline.
Reed also showed off his running ability a bit too, though not as early in the game as I would have liked: It felt like there were a few times in the second half where he was either too late to recognize or didn’t see he had a lane to run.
Stepping Up for Sterns
We were correct to assume who the two leading candidates were to replace Jerreth Sterns - Daewood Davis and Malachi Corley - but if you’re like me, you may have had flip-flopped expectations of how each guy would be used.
While Davis finished as the game’s leading receiver (six receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown), it was Corley who had a knack for finding the endzone, catching the first two touchdowns of the year for the Hilltoppers and then adding another in the second half.
His three touchdowns accompanied a five-catch, 61 yard day.
Aside from Davis and Corely, Michael Mathison became a late-game favorite target of Reed, catching four passes for 21 yards.
For now, it’s safe to assume the receiving threat will come from Davis and Corely, who were the only receivers to have multiple catches in the first half (though do remember, the Hilltoppers struggled to find true offensive consistency in the opening 30 minutes).
Summers Time Gladness
Aside from the questions of “Who is going to replace Zappe and Sterns”, the biggest question entering this year was if the defense not only could continue the string of strong play it had to close out last season (the C-USA title game notwithstanding) but take a bigger step forward from that.
After one game, the answer is a resounding “yes”.
The Tops picked off Austin Peay quarterback Mike Diliello twice, both in the first half: An A.J. Brathwaite to end the first defensive series of the season (what was essentially an arm punt on a third and long) and a pick-six from Upton Stout, who read Diliello like a book on one-on-one coverage on the far side of the field that gave the Tops, at the time, a 21-10 lead with under 4:30 to play in the first half.
Aside from those highlight reel plays, the biggest win for the WKU defense was the adjustment it made at halftime to defend the Governor’s running attack.
APSU ran for 128 yards, mostly between Diliello and former Hilltopper (as the CBS Sports Network broadcast reminded you many times) Josh Samuel, who each would get whatever they pleased between the tackles.
In the second half, the Tops adjusted - mainly balancing the defense so one side wasn’t exposed and bringing in a third linebacker in the middle - and held the Govs to just 43 rushing yards in the second half.
While relatively quiet on the stat sheet, Kahlef Hailassie was arguably the stand-out defensive player on the day, making his presence be known all over the field. On the flip side of that, Juwan Jones was loud in the box score but relatively quiet in the game - he recorded 10 tackles, four of which were solo, but his presence wasn’t quite felt in the same way.
If improved defense is what you were after in the opening game of 2022, you have to be pleased.
Red Threads
A few more quick, final thoughts on the opening game of the season.
WKU really tried to establish a run game. And they were somewhat successful, totaling 108 yards across three main backs, but it was another frustrating stat line for the group, with the leading rusher only having 49 yards on 15 carries (Davion Ervin-Poindexter, the newbie in the room). Having said that, like we were saying about Hailassie, at times the running game felt more efficient than it actually was. No one broke off a rush longer than 15 yards, and that was on an end-around to Daewood Davis in a very Debo Samuel-esque play (and one I’m a little surprised we only saw once).
I’m not sure what the philosophy was behind starting the game with such conservative play calling - trying to break in a new QB? New OC? Both? - but the game plan opened up a bit in the second half when WKU was able to finally pull away. Hopefully they take that plan and instill it right away in Hawaii.
Even with all the rain (I don’t think I’ve ever, in my time watching WKU, seen it rain that heavy during a football game before), I assure you your experience at the Houch was more pleasant than the experience of watching and listening to the CBS Sports Network broadcast. Two fumbles were missed, the broadcasting crew kept saying things that were just flat out not true (they kept insisting AP, like WKU, ran something resembling an air-raid offense, which nothing over the last hour would indicate is the case) and at one point thought Caden Veltkamp had entered the game in place of Austin Reed (which did not happen). It was bad. I get it was an FBS/FCS game, but you’d think CBS would have the ability to find a better crew all around. It sounded like the broadcast team had prepared for two or three days when they literally had months to do so.