Hilltoppers head to Ball State looking for first win with Shanley at quarterback
September 21, 2018
After a close loss to Louisville in which the Hilltoppers led for the majority of the game, WKU football will go back on the road on Saturday to take on the Ball State Cardinals (1-2).
With starting quarterback Drew Eckels still out with an upper body injury, redshirt freshman Davis Shanley will make his first career start after throwing for 240 yards and a touchdown against Louisville.
โIโm not really focusing on that,โ Shanley said about getting the starting opportunity. โIโm just focusing on doing my job this week.
Shanley has seen action at Wisconsin and at U of L, but he said playing in those environments hasnโt quite prepared him for everything.
โYou can never be prepared for every single situation because so many different teams run so many different defenses,โ Shanley said. โYou have to prepare as best you can and if they throw something that youโre not ready for you have to adjust.โ
Shanley also spoke about how useful the experience of playing against Wisconsin and Louisville was to his development.
โVery valuable,โ Shanley said. โIโm very blessed, you know, playing those games, the situation Iโve been in and Iโm taking that experience to heart and really evaluating myself and just trying to make my game better every single day.โ
Besides Shanleyโs continued development, another key aspect of the game against Ball State will be the continuing improvement of the run game. The Hilltoppers ran for 168 yards against Louisville, the most theyโve had under head coach Mike Sanford. Sanford said after the Louisville game that he was pleased with how much better the running backs and offensive line had looked.
Redshirt freshman running back Joshua Samuel spoke about how happy he was with the offensive line play against Louisville.
โTheyโve been doing great, theyโve been improving every week,โ Samuel said. โWeek one against Wisconsin gave us a lot of motivation and confidence in the run game going from last year and like I said, weโre doing better and better every day.โ
Samuel said that belief is one of the keys to continuing to better the run game.
โWe gave coaches confidence in the run game,โ Samuel said. โAgainst Ball State weโre probably gonna run the ball a lot and, you know, weโre going to go from there.โ
The Hilltoppers will be slimmer at running back this week. Redshirt senior DโAndre Ferby was labeled as questionable by Sanford, and Samuel said earlier in the week that Ferby had surgery.
Sophomore offensive lineman Cole Spencer is also questionable, possibly adding another challenge for WKU.
Sanford spoke of the unique challenge posed by the Cardinal squad this Saturday.
โTheyโre a little dinged up it seems like at D-end, at least from what the reports that are out there, and safety as well but theyโre playing well,โ Sanford said. โYou watch that Notre Dame film and they were very aggressive, attacking.โ
On the defensive side of the ball senior cornerback DeAndre Farris spoke about what stuck out to him watching tape of Ball Stateโs previous games.
โTheyโre good at what they do,โ Farris said. โThey have a very good offense, you know, they do a lot of different things between run and pass and like I said, theyโre sound at what they do.โ
WKU at Ball State is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff at Scheumann Stadium in Muncie, Indiana. The game will be available to watch on ESPN3 and will be on the radio on the Hilltopper IMG Sports Network.
Reporter Matt Stahl can be reached at 270-745-6291 and matthew.stahl551@topper.wku.edu Follow him on Twitter at @mattstahl97.