WKU Football: What Went Right, What Went Wrong In WKU's 41-24 Win Over South Florida
The 2023 season is officially underway and, while a win is a win, it didn't exactly go according to plan.
If everything goes according to plan, the struggles of Saturday will be but a footnote by December. However, if there was a theme in Western Kentucky’s season-opening 42-21 win over South Florida on Saturday, it was that you can’t rely on “according to plan.”
Wide receiver Malachi Corley exited the game midway through the first quarter after suffering, what we later learned to be, a chest injury.
“I think he’ll be fine,” Helton said after the game, with #11 taking to social media to echo the sentiment.
Corley’s departure from the game came after the Hilltoppers had already been dealt an unexpected double-punch to open the season: South Florida marched 75 yards on 13 plays, mostly via the ground, on the first series of the season and then turned around and held the Tops to one yard in a season-opening three-and-out for an offensive unit, once again, expected to be one of the best in the country.
Via the eye test, WKU never reached the offensive pinnacle many expected to see, despite the 40-point output.
But, here we sit, 1-0 after Week 1 and a lot to discuss, even if most of it wasn’t pretty.
Big Picture - by Fletcher Keel
It’s hard to have a major, clear takeaway after 60 minutes of a three month season, but as bad as things felt from a WKU perspective, they really weren’t all bad.
For instance, without looking at the box score, what do you think Reed’s day looked like? Did you think he surpassed 330 yard passing? Because he did.
Despite starting the game completing just eight of his first 23 pass attempts, Reed finished with 336 yards on 29 of 50 passing (finishing the game completing 21 of his next 27 attempts) and two touchdowns.
His 336 passing yards was more than he did in seven games last year (including in five wins) and did it with out his top two receiving targets (Corley, Michael Mathison, who missed the game with an injury sustained in camp).
It was a strong day down the receiver depth chart, too, especially in the second half. Dalvin Smith became Reed’s go-to, catching seven balls for 97 yards and scoring the touchdown that put WKU ahead for the first time in the second half.
He would have surpassed 100 yards with ease if not for a couple of drops in the first half that you probably forgot about by now because of how key he became later on.
But it wasn’t just him. University of Cincinnati transfer Blue Smith and K.D. Hutchison also stepped up, catching five and four passes for 50 and 35 yards, respectively, with Hutchison feeling like more of a breakout candidate after one week than Smith (a distinction that can certainly change).
It was a result that came about because Reed stepped up and made plays and elevated the receivers - a room that is, while talented, largely unknown under the duo of Corley and Mathison - with him when it mattered most.
But it wasn’t just the offense that adjusted and came up big. The defense did, as well.
The opening quarters of each half were ugly for the Toppers’ run defense, allowing 170 yards in the first and 132 in the third, but clamped down to allow just 31 and 72, respectively, in the second and fourth.
WKU’s defense was able to get pressure against USF quarterback Byrum Brown often, too, but the pressure felt sporadic. However, as Jared will explain in a bit, they got it when they mattered most, and that’s the biggest takeaway from Week 1.
What Went Right - by Jared Rosdeutscher
Despite the defense giving up 540 total yards, the biggest factor in this game to me was turnovers. WKU won the turnover battle, 3-0, and two of them were game changing.
The first came early in the fourth quarter. The Tops clung to a 31-24 lead but USF was marching into the redzone and a score felt inevitable. However, instead of a game-tying touchdown, Kendrick Simpkins was able to bring pressure off the edge and force Brown to make a hurried throw, right into the hands of Aaron Key, who picked the Bulls quarterback off in the endzone to keep the Tops up by a score.
Later in the fourth, with about three minutes left in the game, the defense had held tall while the WKU offense had only mustered three more points in a span of about 10 minutes. Fresh off an offensive field goal, the Tops’ defense once again looked to keep USF off the board, but did much more.
JaQues “Donut” Evans stutter-stepped his way to Brown and stripped him of the football, taking it for a house call and delivering the the final nail in the coffin for USF.
Despite the Tops’ inability to stop the option-threat the Bulls deployed on defense, they stepped up at the most crucial times late in the game and provided two of the biggest plays of the game when it mattered the most.
It’s still early in the season, so hopefully things will get worked out soon, but if they can keep making big plays like this and winning the turnover battle that will help them tremendously.
What Went Wrong - by Josh Owens
Although the Tops came out on top, there is a lot to work to do for Coach Helton.
USF rushed for a staggering 374 yards, including allowing two 100+ yard rushes in Brown and Nay’Quan Wright. Not the best start for a team hoping to sell itself as New Year's Six caliber.
The biggest thorn in the run game was Brown, rushed 25 times for 160 yards and two touchdowns. The most infuriating thing about this statistic is that a lot of yards could have been prevented if the Tops would've wrapped up on a lot their tackles.
The offense had its flaws Saturday, especially when Malachi Corley went out with his injury and leaving Reed had to carry a lot of the burden due to the injuries and receiving core dropping routine catches.
The biggest positive is next week’s opponent should allow the team to tweak these mistakes and allow key players to get healthy.
Red Threads - by Fletcher Keel
Some final stray thoughts before we begin to put this one in the rearview mirror.
Before we do more analysis, some housekeeping: We’re always tweaking our style here at The Towel Rack, and the first recap of the season is no different. I hope you like, or grow to like, what we’re doing with how we’re covering these games. If you don’t, please let us know so we can help better serve you. I also hope you enjoyed our move back to five posts a week. With the season getting into full swing, we feel it’s the best way to help cover the Tops the best way we know how. Okay, enough self adulation, back to the takes.
The early returns prove two things at once: WKU has some talent in the running back room and it might be a barely effective committee all year. Davion Ervin-Poindexter got the lionshare of the workload, 10 rushes for 45 yards, but Markese Stepp got the goalline touchdown for the first score of the season (four rushes, 21 yards). I was also impressed with Elijah Young in his limited work (three carries, 10 yards).
WKU’s tight ends were virtually non-existent Saturday. In the official stats, neither River Helms or Trevor Borland were credited with even a target, yet alone a catch. Again, it’s only one game, but a little disheartening when we’ve seen WKU tight ends become security blankets for previous quarterbacks and they weren’t able to establish themselves as that in the middle portion of the game when Reed was trying to find someone reliable.
Play calling by WKU left a lot to be desired. Not enough downfield shots were taken and there was one drive where Reed completed three passes, but all were screens behind the line of scrimmage for negative yardage. This was most frustrating with Dalvin Smith’s usage in the second half: He was kept within five to seven yards of the line of scrimmage instead of trying to use him as a downfield threat. Small potatoes at this point and hopefully this is not a recurring thing.
If I’m a South Florida fan, I’m excited for what this season could hold for the Bulls. If they can work that offense effectively, as well as add a consistent passing element, they should flirt with bowl eligibility in year one under their new coaching staff.
Every time the Tops get a CBS Sports Network game (which, thankfully, there is only one more of this year) I feel like this is a complaint of mine, but the commentary felt worse than normal. That, along with the officiating crew not knowing what they were calling a foul when they had already thrown the flag, so they took five minutes to talk about what the call should be, led to a long, frustrating watch. And a lot of that was with the Tops trailing or struggling to find their footing, which already had many of us on edge.
Looking ahead: Here’s how the Tops’ next three opponents fared on Saturday
Houston Christian: 66-0 win over Arkansas Baptist (NAIA)
Ohio State: 23-3 win at Indiana
Troy: 48-30 win over Stephen F. Austin