WKU Football: Sanford’s Squad Shoots Selves in Shoes on Sacred Saturday

With bowl eligibility on the line, the Hilltoppers traveled to Huntington for the fourth installment of the Moonshine Throwdown and…

With bowl eligibility on the line, the Hilltoppers traveled to Huntington for the fourth installment of the Moonshine Throwdown and, despite playing themselves out of the game only to play themselves back into the game, WKU fell just short of the Thundering Herd in a 30–23 loss on Marshall’s “Sacred Saturday,” where they remembered and honored the 75 who died in that tragic plane crash.

WKU couldn’t have started things better as the Tops took the opening kickoff and marched down the field to score the game’s opening points after Mike White found Quin Jernighan for a six-yard touchdown pass.

Marshall kicked a field goal to make it 7–3 and took their first lead of the game on an 11 play, 65 yard drive which was capped by a Keion Davis three-yard touchdown run to make it 10–7.

The Herd wouldn’t stop there and, when it was all said and done, Marshall would score 20 unanswered points after the Tops’ initial score, scoring another field goal before Tyler King added a 10-yard touchdown run to make it 20–7.

The Tops got a field goal to pull within 20–10 and picked off the Herd in the end zone, looking to make it a three-point game, but White tired to float a dime to Deon Yeldon and it was read the entire way by Nazeeh Johnson, who took it to the house from 45-yards out and make it a 27–10 game.

A Marshall field goal made things seem like an impossible to catch 30–10, but White hooked up with Cameron Echols-Luper for a 25-yard touchdown pass and with Jernighan for a 27-yard touchdown to pull the Tops back within 30–23.

But, the ensuing kickoff following the final WKU score was taken out to midfield and the Tops defense couldn’t stop Marshall as the Herd ran the clock out and won their first game against WKU since the two teams became CUSA opponents.

The overall feeling of this game can be summed up in one word: derp.

At times, the Tops looked like the Tops of old (how many times have we said that this year?); on the opening drive and the final drive — both of which resulted in touchdowns — the Tops spread the field out and threw the ball, using the running game only as an accent and to change the pace.

But, really outside of those two drives, it was the frustrating incompetence from Sanford and the offensive play calling to attempt to establish a running game, even long after it was clear one couldn’t have been estabilshed.

The big question mark of the night for me was: Where was Jakari Moses? He had just one touch in the first half and finished the night with two touches for 21 yards out of the backfield. Not ideal.

Echols-Luper was the standout offensively for WKU, catching nine balls for 99 yards and the touchdown.

Having Yelder healthy was a big plus too, as he caught six passes for 73 yards and proved once again to be the most reliable set of hands the Tops have.

No matter what angle you take, this game feels like all of the other ones — a game that the Tops maybe should have lost but had no business being down by 20 in.

The impending end of the season is starting to feel like a relief and hopefully the coaching staff reevaluates how they go about doing things. Because, what they’ve done so far, isn’t working.

But, for now, we shift our focus to bowl eligibility, as either the Tops or Blue Raiders will garner their sixth win next week.

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