WKU Football: Hilltoppers Run Out Of Steam, Owls Run Wild as WKU falls, 34–15
The Hilltoppers ran out of gas in the second half, as has been the case all season, while FAU racked up nearly 400 yards of rushing…
The Hilltoppers ran out of gas in the second half, as has been the case all season, while FAU racked up nearly 400 yards of rushing against the Tops in a 34–15 Owls victory on Saturday night.
Unexpectedly the Owls got the ball to start the game, and after a drive that seemed stalled FAU converted and scored on an eight-yard run by Kerrith Whyte Jr.
On the ensuing possession, old friend of the program D’Andre Ferby reappeared and was given the rock immediately but the Tops were faced with an early 4th and 2 and, surprisingly, didn’t convert, giving the ball back to the Owls near midfield.
FAU added a field goal to take a 10–0 lead before the Tops made something happen, when Josh Samuel revitalized the offense with a 61 yard run, the longest run by a running back since Sanford was named head coach.
While Samuel didn’t find the end zone, the Tops later did on a 15-yard connection between Steve Duncan, who garnered the start at QB for the tops, and Mik’Quan Deane but the Tops PAT was blocked, making for a 10–6 game.
On the next possession, the Owls made a switch at quarterback, swapping Chris Robison for De’Andre Johnson who seemed to lead the Owls to a touchdown, but a penalty negated the score and on the next play, Johnson got hit as he threw and Ta’Corian Darden came up with the interception, setting the Tops up around midfield.
Unfortunately, the luck ended there, as Duncan was also hit as he threw and threw an interception of his own on the very next play, giving the ball back to FAU.
The rest of the half was a bit of a stalemate until the Tops had a couple of shots at the endzone in the closing moments. They were unable to convert but were granted two seconds after a review and kicked a field goal through to make for a 10–9 halftime score.
WKU opened the second half with the ball but was unable to do much, giving the ball back to FAU who saw Devin Singletary break off a 40-yard touchdown run to make it a 17–9 game.
WKU’s answer? Stalling out in a drive with back to back runs and punting.
The fourth quarter also belonged to FAU, who got touchdowns from Singletary and a 77-yard touchdown run by Kerrith White to seal the deal.
In between FAU touchdowns, Ferby punched in a seven-yard touchdown to bring the Tops within 12 and WKU recovered an onside kick, but weren’t able to make anything of their second opportunity.
Having every chance to win tonight, (and several times this season) WKU is unable to do anything with FAU. With the inability of the defense to stop a pair of strong running backs in Kerrith Whyte and Devin Singletary, and failing to capitalize when the Owls turned over the ball, what else could we expect?
If I had to take anything away from this game as a positive, Steven Duncan made some good passes and good decisions. Of course he did make some poor decisions (throwing into double coverage all night and the two-point conversion pass comes to mind) and there were a few questionable calls from the coaching staff (going for it on fourth down instead of getting the easy points, calling a play action pass when FAU knows you have no choice but to throw basically insuring the sack).
With the loss, WKU falls to 1–9 and will host UTEP next week. To view tonight’s final stats, click here.