In his opening statement after WKU football’s win over UTEP, Head coach Tyson Helton said the Hilltoppers “need to get a lot better and need to get a lot better real fast in every area.”

Let me rephrase.

In his opening statement after WKU football’s blowout 44-17 win against conference opponent UTEP, Helton said the Hilltoppers “need to get a lot better and need to get a lot better real fast in every area.”

“This is the time of year you gotta be really critical of yourself. I’m not getting down on anybody. I think you’ll pull anybody in this room [and] they’ll say the same thing,” Helton said. 

If a coach ever says there is nothing more that needs to be improved with his squad than he’s in the wrong profession. But when your coach says there is a lot of work that needs to be done after a 27-point conference win, you got to be pretty darn excited about what this team will look like when they get better.

Here are my thoughts about WKU’s 44-17 win against UTEP. 

Defense Still rolling

For the first time in a few weeks my pessimistic self snuck back into the picture following a 76-yard touchdown on UTEP’s second offensive drive.

“They’re back,” he said. “The big-play prone Western defense is back like they had never left.”

After the two-play, 80-yard drive, UTEP’s offensive possessions for the rest of the first half went as follows:

Five plays, 24 yards gained, interception.

Three plays, seven yards gained, punt.

Three plays, 12 yards lost, punt.

Six plays, 22 yards gained, turnover on downs. 

WKU continued their domination in the second half, allowing only a field goal in the final 30 minutes of the game. 

“I think we played well. We obviously got things we need to clean up,” Defensive tackle Dallas Walker said. “Going into practice this week we are going to focus on all the little things that we missed out there today. I think we just did a good job flying to the ball and playing with good effort.”

Hanging on for dear life, that same pessimistic self yells that this UTEP team was one of, if not the worst offense WKU has played. But no, there are no stats that will deter me from enjoying this current WKU defense. You play who’s on your schedule, and WKU’s defense continued a great stretch of performances Thursday night. 

WKU gave up only 178 yards through the air and allowed only 3.7 yards per carry. The defense also forced an interception and three turnovers on downs.

The Big Red People Eaters tied season highs in tackles for loss with eight and sacks with three. 

Thursday’s game marked the first time WKU has held three straight opponents to 21 points or less since Oct. 30, 2021. That team went the last seven regular season games without allowing over 21 points. 

Balanced offense

It’s weird to me that I’m talking about a WKU offense and the first thing I’m going to mention is the run game, but UTEP came into Thursday’s contest with one of the worst run defenses in the country and the Hilltoppers exposed it. 

WKU finished the game with 218 total rushing yards. Six Hilltoppers ran for 16 yards or more as it wasn’t just the backs getting it done. The Hilltoppers got the receivers involved with a few end-arounds to pick up those yards with the running game. It was exciting, fun and led to an offense that “at times was really explosive,” Helton said.  

The fun-to-watch offense carried itself into the passing game. Quarterback Caden Veltkamp had his best start as a Hilltopper throwing for 264 yards, three touchdowns and an interception off a deflection. He also found plenty of his weapons in the game, completing passes to seven Hilltoppers. Receivers Easton Messer and Kisean Johnson both went for over 80 yards. 

Helton was right during the postgame, noting that the offense was sloppy at times. The offense allowed three sacks, went 6-14 on third down and Veltkamp’s interception did come inside the redzone. 

But Helton was also right that there were “a lot of really really good things.” Things that will have to be really really good for WKU to compete for a conference title. 

What’s Next

“This is the time of year you gotta be really critical of yourself. I’m not getting down on anybody, I think you’ll pull anybody into this room [and] they’ll say the same thing,” Helton said. “We are extremely happy to get this win, everybody’s excited, but when we come to work tomorrow we got to turn that page and get back to work for Sam Houston.”

If you would have told me before the season that on Oct. 16, WKU would be traveling to face a top-2 team in Conference USA, I would have bet my house that it would be Liberty. My second best guess would be Jacksonville State or the slightly less probable solution that WKU thought a mid-season Red and White game was an excellent idea.

Never did I think next Wednesday’s bout against Sam Houston would hold this much importance. 

But in an incredible story Sam Houston has turned their three-win season from last year into a 5-1 start. 

The Bearkats host the number three offense in defense in C-USA and have outscored their opponents 191-143.

It’s No. 3 against No. 2 in C-USA and it’s two teams who look prime to compete for a conference title in December. 

Buckle up.