WKU Football will look to carry the momentum from last week’s win against Toledo into Saturday, as they will play the Boston College Eagles at Alumni Stadium in their non-conference finale.
The Hilltoppers are on a three game winning streak and stand at 3-1 on the season with wins over Eastern Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, and Toledo.
In his first start, sophomore quarterback Caden Veltkamp ran for two touchdowns and added one more through the air with two interceptions and a fumble. He had 242 yards passing and added 20 on the ground. Those stats, accompanied with four forced turnovers by the WKU defense helped the team overcome a 14-point deficit to win.
“Now that he’s got that first starting game under his belt, he needs to take the biggest step as far as improving,” Head Coach Tyson Helton said.“He needs to play a high level of football. What I love about Caden and all of our quarterbacks is they prepare extremely well. They’re confident players, they’re pretty cool and calm under pressure so when they do make mistakes, they can go to the next snap and play. I know he’ll learn from everything, the good and the bad in this game and I expect him to play his best ball in this game.”
The WKU defense performed when it mattered, holding the Rockets to 21 total points and just seven in the second half, a stark contrast from the 42.7 points the team averaged coming in. Toledo managed to get near their 139 rush yards per game average, but needed 42 attempts to do so.
The WKU offense averages 294 passing yards per game, which leads C-USA and is 20th in the nation. Their 26.5 points per game ranks 89th in the nation. Veltkamp has 651 yards passing on the season with a 73.9% completion percentage, which leads the conference.
Senior defensive back Devonte’ Matthews had WKU’s two interceptions, which earned him C-USA Defensive Player of the Week. He headlines a secondary for the Hilltoppers that allows 249.5 pass yards per game.
“We’re really proud of our guys,” WKU Defensive Coordinator Tyson Summers said.“They’ve done an excellent job. We talk about takeaways and they come in bunches. We came out of the break, the lightning delay, and I think we had four, and the eight minutes of the third quarter and the fourth quarter, I think those were huge. Like we talked about last week, the ability to turn those into offensive points and to be able to play complementary football and to be able to help our offense.”
Boston College, led by former NFL Head Coach Bill O’Brien, averages 32 points per game. The 3-1 Eagles have wins over Duquesne, Michigan State, and Florida State, with their lone loss to then No.6 ranked Missouri.
The Eagles average 188 yards passing per game and 191.5 yards rushing per game, giving them an equal, but dangerous way to move the ball down the field. Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos has 112 yards rushing, with running back Treshaun Ward adding 6.4 yards per carry out of the backfield.
The Boston College defense has halted opposing offenses all season, allowing 14.8 points per game and just 96 rush yards per game. It could be another rough outing running the ball for WKU, who only averages 93.3 yards per game on the season and had just 71 yards against Toledo.
“They have got a really good football team,” Helton said. “Coach O’Brien’s done a great job with that team. They’ve got some big-time play-makers up there on both sides of the ball. Our guys will be really excited to go up there and play. We’ve got momentum and we’re looking for a big win.”
Michael’s Thoughts
Boston College has four players with 100 yards rushing on the season, including the quarterback. And they know how to get runs in chunks. Add in 729 yards passing and 10 touchdowns for Castellanos, and the Eagles have a very dangerous offense.
This is not Middle Tennessee. Veltkamp has been sacked twice in his last two games, the offensive line keeping him clean. The Eagles defense has seven sacks on the season, with defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku leading the Eagles in sacks with five and has 5.5 tackles for loss. Add in the 14.8 points allowed per game, and this could be the toughest defense WKU has faced since Alabama.
WKU has held teams to a 48.15% third-down completion percentage and 53.33% red zone efficiency, meaning they know how to keep teams off the board. In the teams first close game of the season, they forced four turnovers, a safety, and made two red zone stops late in the fourth quarter to defeat Toledo.
WKU opened the season in Tuscaloosa in front of 100,077 fans. They haven’t played a game with over 20,000 fans since. Meanwhile, Boston College has a stadium capacity of 44,500, with an average home attendance of 41,470. The crowd will be a factor.
Expect a low scoring affair between these two teams. WKU can keep it close, but the Hilltopper defense will need to stop Boston College’s running attack. Veltkamp will need to be aggressive and take what he’s given while the offensive line keeps him safe.
The first ever meeting between these two teams will kickoff at 11 a.m at Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The game can be watched on the ACC Digital Network.
