WKU Football: Hilltoppers Stifle Army’s Ground Attack 17–8. Improve to 4–2.
WKU Football’s defense shut down Army’s rushing attack and the offense piled up 365 yards to extend their winning streak to three games…
WKU Football’s defense shut down Army’s rushing attack and the offense piled up 365 yards to extend their winning streak to three games with an 18–7 win in front of 16,107 at Houchens Industries L.T. Smith Stadium.
Both teams went three and out on their opening drives including a bad drop by Jahcour Pearson. WKU’s defense would force another three and out limiting Army’s ability to eat up the clock.
WKU would take over at their own thirty-yard line and Ty Storey would methodically lead the Tops on a 70-yard drive on 11 plays. He went 2–3 for 32 yards and WKU ran for 38 yards as Storey would punctuate the drive with a 1-yard touchdown with 4:46 left in the first.
Army would eat up 6:28 on 13 plays on their next drive (39 yards) but WKU would force a third and long forcing them to punt at WKU 35 yard line. Army’s punter would pin WKU on their own 1 with 13:18 left in the second.
WKU would push out of their own endzone and drive 72 yards to the Army 27 before they would turn it over on downs as a 4th & 6 pass from Storey to Lucky Jackson was barely missed. WKU’s defense would hold firm forcing another three and out from the Black Knights with 7:12 left.
WKU offense would once again drive downfield but once again came up short as their drive stalled at the 28 and Cory Munson missed the 46-yard field goal. WKU would go to the locker room leading 7–0 despite outgaining Army 204 to 84 in the first half.
The Tops would get the ball to start the half and continue to gain yards on the Knights undersized defense. After starting from their own 23 yard line. Aided by a targeting call on Army, WKU would end up driving all the way to the 3 yard line but would once again come up short and settle for a 22-yard field goal by Munson to extend the lead to 10–0 with 7:37 remaining.
After both teams would trade punts before Army would start to click offensively. They connected on a 31-yard pass from Hopkins to Hobbs that got the Knights into WKU territory. They would drive all the way down to the WKU 4 but a tackle in the backfield and a missed passed led to a chip shot field goal that Army missed with 13:27 left.
WKU would take over at their own 15 and proceed to finish off the Black Knights. They would drive 85 yards while eating up 9:25 of clock. Gaej Walker and Ty Storey would run it down Army’s throat accounting for 68 of the 85 yards. Ty Storey would cap off the drive on another 1-yard drive extending the lead to 17–0 with 4:02 remaining.
Army’s offense would then go into desperation mode and start throwing the ball. They would complete 4 passes and drive down to the field capping the 11 play 75 yard drive on an 8 yard touchdown pass ruining the shutout. Hopkins would run the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 17–8 with 1:41 left.
Lucky Jackson would then recover the onside kick and the Tops would run out the clock securing the 17–8 victory moving them to 4–2 at the midway point of the season.
Here are some post-game thoughts on tonight’s huge victory
WKU’s defense was lights out tonight. They bottled up Army’s triple option attack and regularly forced three and out’s and only allowed 208 yards on the game. Kudos to Clayton White on getting the team ready over the offseason. WKU’s defense played assignment football and did another great job of not allowing the big play.
The Offense accumulated one of their better yard totals of the season (365 yards) but is continuing to have problems finishing drives. If they can ever get there this team the team will have a lot more margin for error.
Ty Storey was his solid game manager self going 21 for 30 for 140 yards. There were some drops that would have padded his stats but he did a great job of not turning the ball over and also gained 62 yards on the ground. With the defense the Tops have that will do the job most games.
Gaej Walker continued to be the workhorse for the Tops gaining 132 yards on 25 carries. He was still the only running back which is concerning but you can’t complain about the production through six games.
Josh Simon only caught one pass for 0 yards. I still want Helton and Ellis find a way to get him more involved moving forward.
DeAngelo Malone once again led the way defensively. Leading the team with 7 tackles with one for loss. Not too shabby for an edge rusher.
After a game off Clayton Bush was back returning punts. He had a good return called back but mainly fair caught balls like he has all season.
Army’s offensive line claimed two casualties, Defensive tackles Lichon Terrell & Jeremy Darvin both left with injuries. Let’s hope they’re not too serious and they’re back next week.
Before the last drive, Army only completed one pass for 31 yards. Great job by the defense not falling asleep against the option.
Cory Munson pushes his kicks to the left. He is good within 30 but with WKU still not finishing drives he can stay confident because we’ll continue to lean on him to extend close leads
Marshall, FAU & FIU cruised to victories and showed they’ll be the main competition for WKU in the east. The Golden Panthers win over Charlotte shows that next week’s game is a must-win since the 49ers are reeling.
WKU finishes their homestand next Saturday at 3 Central against Charlotte looking to improve to 4–0 in CUSA. Tonight’s victory just is more proof that the Hilltoppers are a serious conference contender this season.
Here are your final stats from yet another dominant defensive performance.
