WKU Football: Tops Fail To Comeback Against Indiana, 33–31
A slow start on both sides of the ball kept the Hilltoppers from picking up a home win over a Big Ten opponent.
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers played their third game of the 2021 season against an Indiana Hoosiers team that needed a valued win after a slow 1–2 start. In front of a sold-out crowd at Houchens-Smith Stadium, the Tops were looking for home-field advantage against their Big Ten opponent.
In the first quarter, Indiana scored on their first offensive possession. Stephen Carr scored on a rushing touchdown to make the score 7–0 with 10:15 left in the first quarter.
On the next ensuing possession for Indiana, they have scored again after an 11 play, 86 yard drive, Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was solid in his outing, even scoring on a sneak play to take the lead 14–0 to close out the first quarter.
WKU’s offense finally awakened with a long 15 play drive worth 77 yards of downfield conversions. Adam Cofield received his first touchdown of the season with a one-yard play. Early in the second quarter, the Tops trailed 14–7.
After two made field goals by Indiana, WKU answered back with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Bailey Zappe to Daewood Davis, making the score 20–14 by the end of the first half with .55 seconds left.
Into the third quarter, the Tops hit paydirt once again from a pass from Zappe to Dalvin Smith. The lead from Indiana was cut short as the score changed to 23–20.
Brayden Narveson was able to keep the Tops in the game with a 34 field goal after an 11 play, 59-yard drive. With 5:53 left in the 3rd quarter, the Tops now trailed 26–24.
The 4th quarter capped off with WKU’s defense managing to create three third-down stops on the Hoosiers offense. Sadly, the luck was starting to turn late in the fourth quarter. After failing to convert on a third-down play, with just one yard to go, the Tops elected to punt instead of going for the game. This came back to haunt WKU as Indiana scored on another Stephen Carr rushing touchdown to make the game 33–24, with less than four minutes left in the game.
However, this did not damper the Tops' chances. Zappe completed his third touchdown of the night as he was able to find Malachi Corley on a 19-yard pass.
With 2:23 left in the game, the Tops now trailed 33–31. Indiana would go back on offense to run out the clock. The final score would stay 33–31 by the end of the game. The Tops now fall to being 1–2 on the early season.
Notes from the game:
Adam Cofield was the leading rusher in tonight’s game. It was nice to see him get some highly valued reps.
DeAngelo Malone looked like his normal self tonight. He managed to get 1.5 sacks while giving some much-needed pressure on Michael Penix Jr.
WHY DIDN’T WE GO FOR IT ON 4th & 1? This changed the tone drastically for the game, leaving many to wonder how much sweeter the win against Indiana could've been. Especially after making 3 out of 5 3rd down stops in a well-planned defensive sequence after the first-half struggles.
We have set a new attendance record at Houchens-Smith Stadium with 25,171 fans. While it’s amazing for Saturday night football in Bowling Green, it still stings that we came up short in sending most of the crowd home happy.
With a 1–2 start in non-conference play, the Tops will travel to East Lansing next Saturday to face the undefeated Michigan State Spartans. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network with a 7:30 pm (6:30 central time) kickoff.