WKU Football coaches sat down with the media on Monday to discuss their Nov. 4 contest on the road against the UTEP Miners.
WKU has had a rough go of things as of late, dropping their last two against the top two teams in the conference. Jacksonville State was first in taking down the Hilltoppers with a last second field goal on Oct. 17 before Liberty came into Bowling Green and spoiled a Blackout game on Oct. 24.
Even with the results of the past two weeks, the Hilltoppers are still alive in Conference-USA title game contention. WKU sits at fourth in the standings behind Liberty, Jacksonville State and New Mexico State. However, with Jacksonville State ineligible to play in the conference championship game, if the Hillltopper’s run the table they’ll punch their ticket to face Liberty in the C-USA title.
“The old saying is ‘what you do in November they remember,” Helton said. “We need to start putting some good wins together.”
Luckily for WKU, when the games are most important, Helton has delivered. Under Helton’s reign, the Hilltoppers are 11-2 in C-USA games in November and a fantastic 12-3 overall in the month.
UTEP heads into this game with some much-needed momentum. The Miners come into their game against the Hilltoppers a week and a half removed from a comeback victory against Sam Houston State. Down 27-13 with six minutes to go in the third, the Miners clawed their way back, winning on a last second field goal 37-34.
“We’re going to face a UTEP team that is highly motivated,” Helton said. “They got an exceptional win last week against Sam Houston.”
Offensively the Miner offense has struggled so far this season. UTEP ranks third to last in yards per game and second to last in points per game in the conference. However, the Miners have been solid on the ground averaging 159 rushing yards per game.
“They do a great job with the run game,” Defensive coordinator Tyson Summers. “The two backs are really really good. Both backs are guys that can hit home runs on you.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Miners have been middle of the road. UTEP sits at fifth in the conference in yards allowed, giving up 385 yards per game. What they do well is stopping the air attack. UTEP ranks second in the conference in passing yards allowed with 205 per game.
Senior linebacker Tyrice Knight has been a true difference maker on the UTEP defense. He leads the conference and is fifth in the nation with 102 total tackles on the year.
“The guy flies around,” Offensive Coordinator Drew Hollingshead said. “He’s that middle linebacker that creates a spark for their defense.”
Football reporter Jake McMahon can be reached at [email protected].
