WKU Football: Tops Get Obliterated at Charlotte In Inexcusable Loss, 40–14

In what is now their worst loss of the season, WKU (1–5) lost to the Charlotte 49ers (3–3) in a game that is ugly in every sense of the…

In what is now their worst loss of the season, WKU (1–5) lost to the Charlotte 49ers (3–3) in a game that is ugly in every sense of the word. So what on God’s green earth happened?

Shanley started the game at quarterback which usually we’re excited about but sadly he did not have a good game. The first drive looked promising but sadly couldn’t get in the endzone. The second one Shanley overthrew his receiver by miles and threw an interception that would lead to Charlotte’s first touchdown and it only went downhill from there. Shanley finished 20-for-29 with 154 yards and two interceptions. Duncan finally came into the game (way too late) and got 60 yards on 7-of-10 passing and a touchdown late in the game.

Kevaris Thomas would see some action in this game at quarterback but only ran the ball. He is responsible for the first touchdown WKU would get with a four yard touchdown run. Joshua Samuel looked strong at times but only finished with 29 yards on six attempts. Jacquez Sloan would be my player of the game for the Tops though, he finished with six receptions for 89 yards including a nice 42 yard catch.

The real difference in this game was Charlotte’s running game, particularly Benny LeMay. WKU’s had no answer to stop him and he finished with 121 yards on 17 attempts and had two touchdowns. As a team they had 211 rushing yards along with 237 passing yards giving them 448 total yards for the game. WKU’s defense struggled immensely and had several penalties and seemed to have no answer for their run game.

This game was riddled with penalties for WKU (they had seven for 55 yards) and they never seemed to look poised or prepared most of the game. Sanford & Co. had two weeks to prepare for this game and yet they ended up getting completely routed.

Sanford will most certain come under fire for this monstrosity of a game and he rightfully deserves it. It still seems like he hasn’t put his players in the best position to succeed and they didn’t look prepared to play at all. Just about everything that could go wrong for WKU went wrong in this game that will give the Tops their fifth loss of the year.

Losing a game like this, especially against a still semi-new FBS team, is inexcusable on every level so it will be interesting to see how Sanford covers his tail with this one. Time is running out for him to turn things around this year and with a loss like this, many fans are starting to abandon ship. Something will need to be done and as much as I hope he gets things turned around this year, things are looking bleak at this point of the year. I hope he proves me wrong but several things will need to happen for that to actually happen.

WKU will now prepare to play against another one-win team in Old Dominion who they will play at home. ODU beat #13 ranked Virginia Tech in their only win of the season so who knows what Monarch team we’ll see on the Hill for next week. The Tops need to win this game or just about everyone will turn their full attention basketball season and just let this football season end without a second glimpse.