College Football News Preview 2020: WKU Hilltoppers Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The WKU Hilltoppers Offense
Enough with the turnovers. The offense needs to do more with the downfield passing game. It wasn’t dynamic enough or effective enough to overcome the mistakes. The attack was good on third downs, and the time of possession battle wasn’t a problem, but considering there was a problem scoring more than 20 points, giving the ball away wasn’t okay.
The Hilltoppers turned it over 21 times – 12 interceptions and nine lost fumbles – and they were costly. The team was -2 in turnover margin in the loss to Central Arkansas, -3 in the loss to Marshall, and -4 in the loss to Florida Atlantic.
WKU was 6-0 when it turned the ball over fewer than twice. It was +5 in turnover margin in the nine wins, and -10 in the four losses.
And on the flip side …
Biggest Key To The WKU Hilltoppers Defense
Jump on the ball. WKU forced ten fumbles, and it only recovered four on the season with two coming in the win over Southern Miss, and just two in the other 12 games combined.
The D was great in just about every other way. It could stand to get a few more sacks from parts other than the great ends, and more tackles for loss would be nice, but coming up with takeaways was a huge deal for a team without a high-powered offense.
WKU came up with just one takeaway in the four losses, and 14 in the nine wins. It also went the first ten games with just that one fumble recovery.
Key WKU Hilltoppers Player To A Successful Season
QB Tyrrell Pigrome, Sr.
The Maryland transfer has two jobs – if he actually wins the job over Davis Shanley or Kevaris Thomas. 1) Stay healthy, and 2) give the Hilltoppers a downfield passing game.
The offense averaged a mere 10.77 yards per completion – 116th in the nation – but Pigrome isn’t necessarily a high-powered passer. He only threw nine touchdown passes and ten picks with 1,777 yards in his Terp career, but he ran for 630 yards and eight scores.
Staying in one piece has been the issue with knee and other injuries, but he’ll add some flash if he gets the gig.
Key Game To The WKU Hilltoppers Season
at Florida Atlantic, Nov. 7
It’s been three years since WKU beat FAU – coming up with a 52-3 whacking in 2016.
Marshall is going to be a problem in the Conference USA East race, but that’s a home game – so is the date against FIU. The Hilltoppers have to go to Boca Raton to deal with the Owls after losing last year 35-24 in what turned out to be the final defeat of the season.
– WKU Hilltoppers Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 WKU Fun Stats
– Onside Kicks: WKU 2-of-3 – Opponents 0-of-4
– Fumbles: WKU 16 (lost 9) – Opponents 10 (lost 4)
– Time of Possession: WKU 32:00 – Opponents 28:00