WKU Football: Tops Finish Regular Season With Win Over MTSU, 31–26
The 69th matchup of the 100 Miles of Hate was a very wet one but Western Kentucky (8–4) were able to defeat Middle Tennessee State (4–8)…
The 69th matchup of the 100 Miles of Hate was a very wet one but Western Kentucky (8–4) were able to defeat Middle Tennessee State (4–8) on Senior day, 31–26.
WKU quarterback Ty Storey was 23-of-30 passing with 294 yards and two touchdowns and Gaej Walker, who broke 1,000 rushing yards on the season today, had 119 yards with a touchdown.
This is about what you would expect from a historic rivalry game and despite the weather being a factor this game didn’t have too many mistakes.
One of the biggest issues WKU had was stopping MTSU quarterback Asher O’Hara who had 301 yards passing with 3 touchdowns and one interception and another 144 yards on the ground rushing. O’Hara ran all over WKU’s defense throughout most of the game but the Tops were able to handle him when they needed to the most.
DeAngelo Malone had another strong game defensively for the Tops with some big stops and Roger Cray had an interception as well. The defense still gave up 466 total yards (basically all of them from O’Hara) while the WKU offense got 474 total yards.
With it being a rivalry game MTSU showed up and gave the Hilltoppers a run for their money and led 13–10 at the half but WKU persisted in the second half and were able to close this one out.
Western Kentucky ended the season 8–4 overall and are 6–2 in C-USA play and will now prepare for a bowl game that will be determined after the C-USA winner decides where they want to go.
This season has been as good as you could imagine for first-year head coach Tyson Helton and his staff and players. After going 3–9 last season we weren’t sure what to expect this year but you have to give coach Helton props for turning things around so quickly and not only having a winning record but getting to eight total wins and bowl eligibility as well.
We now wait to see where the Tops go bowling at but for now let’s celebrate this season and this win over hated MTSU.
Here are your final stats from today’s close victory:
