WKU Football: Grading WKU’s 20–17 Loss to Marshall

In an epic battle, the Hilltoppers came up short against Marshall in a defensive thriller, 20–17, Saturday night. WKU found itself in a…

In an epic battle, the Hilltoppers came up short against Marshall in a defensive thriller, 20–17, Saturday night. WKU found itself in a defensive war with tons of turnovers and momentum swings.

I had a few points in my Five Things to Watch article, which all seemed to play a factor. I’ll go over those and add a few more in there, as well.

Penalty battle: C+

WKU actually won the penalty battle. HOWEVER, a massive unsportsmanlike penalty after an interception directly put the Tops out of field goal range and derailed any momentum, as the Tops went three-and-out, coming up empty. Also, penalties were rampant in the beginning of the game, keeping WKU from finding a groove for a few drives. Be glad WKU didn’t kill itself with tons of penalties. However, any penalty that could cost games seems to happen to the Tops in 2018.

Get pressure on Isaiah Greene: C-

WKU has found ways into the backfield this year. However, in this game, only four tackles-for-loss, one sack and five QB hurries just won’t get it done in a physical, defensive war. There were a few moments, but WKU rarely got into the backfield. Marshall absolutely won the trenches throughout the night on both sides of the ball.

Ground Game: D

Looking at the stats before the game, WKU figured to somehow be better than Marshall on the ground. Yeah that didn’t happen, and was probably the difference in the game. Marshall did not by any means tear it up, but WKU was absolutely anemic on the ground, in addition to three fumbles, two of which were lost.

Only one back touched the ball 10 or more times, and WKU’s running backs only ran it on 13 of the 32 rushing attempts. That is just not a winning formula.

Turnovers: A+ getting them, D giving them up, D scoring off of turnovers

First of all, kudos to the Tops for nearly doubling their forced turnovers for the year. Marshall is turnover prone and WKU took full advantage of that weakness.

However, WKU only scored on one of four turnovers. That’s just unacceptable, especially considering none of those subsequent drives started inside WKU’s own 40.

Could Western’s turnovers have been at worse times? Each occurred on drives to potentially take the lead. All three drives were already moving down the field when the turnover bug bit. Each happened after halftime. Jeez, Tops.

QB Position: C

Steven Duncan was not awful overall, but two fumbles and another mistake on the final drive and an interception earlier in the game? Come on now. Just like Marshall typically does this year, Marshall’s receivers made huge plays for their quarterback, despite the Marshall slinger completing less than 50% of his passes.

WKU needed an edge, and a match-up with a freshman quarterback is a perfect opportunity to get ahead in this area. It didn’t happen.

Special Teams: C+

Alex Rinella does not have a strong leg, but punts of 28 and 31 yards really established an uphill field position battle in the beginning of the game. He made his average, ultimately, but these two punts directly cost the Toppers on the scoreboard and the field position battle.

In addition, Marshall’s punter, Lefevre, who averages about 35 yards a punt, punted for nearly a 41 yard average, including two monsters over 50 yards at huge moments of the game. In a game decided by field position and big plays, this alone was huge.

Shoutout to the Topper field goal block unit, which blocked a field goal to open the second half.

Defense: A- (D-Line: C-; Rest of Defense: A)

The defense was amazing against Marshall. With four forced turnovers and only 20 points given up, WKU’s defense certainly wasn’t the issue. After having serious tackling issues against Ball State, WKU was able to do well against Marshall. With the exception of a few busted plays and a 99 yard drive to end the game, Western’s defense was stifling despite being put in some rough situations several times. With a defensive line that couldn’t get much pressure, the back seven of the defense were all the more impressive.

Coach Sanford

Play Calling: B

With more scrutiny coming for Sanford, we’ll break him down a little more. Sanford made some nice play calls against Marshall; there were a few moments where most should have been impressed with the creativity. He ran a tight end sweep, a shovel pass for a TD, and had some variety in his play calling. It wasn’t perfect, and the offense was at times brutal looking, but Marshall also deserves some credit for doing a good job against WKU.

Decision Making: C-

Once again, Sanford made some strange decisions. 4th-and-2 a few yards into the opponent’s territory in a defensive slugfest, Sanford goes for it and fails. He wasted another timeout trying to draw the defense offsides on a ridiculous 4th-and-1 situation in Topper territory. He also ran the ball up the middle and called the team’s final timeout with over half of a minute left on the clock. Indecision on several other 4th-and-shorts also nearly cost a delay of game. These kinds of things are puzzling, but these decisions did not end up costing the Tops. If they had, this would be a full on D or F.

Team Readiness: B+

Other than the offensive line’s horrifying start on the first couple of drives, WKU played extremely hard and together against the Thundering Herd. Sanford had the team ready to go. The Tops fought from start to finish and simply came up short. This part is something Sanford has delivered on to this point in 2018. His teams fight. His teams play hard.

Overall: C

Ultimately, this loss plays like a total neutral result for Sanford. For three weeks in a row, the game’s result has not made much of a difference. However, that stops in the next game with a trip to doormat Charlotte.

WKU is 1–4. They could easily be 4–1. Ultimately, once again, Sanford did not find a way to get it done. That makes three games decided by exactly three points. In this case, I personally don’t believe this loss was his fault. However, at some point, responsibility must be taken.

Take a look at the remaining schedule: at Charlotte, vs. ODU, vs. FIU, at Middle, at FAU, vs. UTEP and at La Tech. There are not many games on the docket that look like sure fire guarantees. Sweeping ODU, Charlotte and UTEP, in addition to winning two of four against FIU, Middle, FAU, and La Tech would get WKU to a bowl game.

Imagine the upheaval if WKU can’t get it done against Charlotte and/or Old Dominion. Sanford is already in some hot water, but the Tops have shown enough ability to believe they could climb out of this hole and make a season of it if they can overcome the losing bug. Lose to either one of those next two teams, and ultimately, a two or three win season now would seem realistic. Ultimately, as a result of Marshall, the seat gets slightly hotter for Mike Sanford.