WKU Football opened Conference USA play with a 31-10 victory over Middle Tennessee on Thursday at Houchens-Smith Stadium – the fifth straight win for the Hilltoppers in the series against the 100 Miles of Hate rivals.
The Hilltoppers (3-2 overall, 1-0 CUSA) snapped a two-game skid with the win, and the five-game winning streak against Middle Tennessee (1-4, 0-1) is tied for the second-longest winning streak in the series. It's the most since Middle Tennessee won five in a row from 1981-85, and WKU now holds a 37-35-1 record against the Blue Raiders all time.
"Good win tonight against a good opponent, a rivalry game," WKU head coach Tyson Helton said. "To be 1-0 in conference and get that momentum, that was big for us. Now we've got to go out on the road and keep it going. Very proud of our defense. Very proud of our defense. Two weeks in a row they have responded extremely well making critical stops, making turnovers. Offensively, we did good enough to go win the game, but really, our defense was fantastic tonight getting the turnovers and stops that we needed. Happy – we'll celebrate this one and get up in the morning and get ready for LA. Tech."
The win came with a total team effort. Offensively, WKU put up 444 yards, including 297 through the air from quarterback Austin Reed. The redshirt senior threw two touchdowns – his 50th and 51st with the program – and completed 30-of-52 passes with one interception. He also rushed for 23 yards and a touchdown on six attempts.
Reed's top target was once again Malachi Corley, who had eight receptions to move into a tie for second on WKU's career receptions list. He posted 81 yards on those eight catches. Easton Messer had 43 yards and a touchdown on four receptions, Jimmy Holiday had 42 yards on three receptions, Moussa Barry had 36 yards on three receptions and Craig Burt Jr. had 23 yards on three receptions. Davion Ervin-Poindexter added an 18-yard touchdown reception.
WKU recorded 147 rushing yards, led by 83 on seven attempts from L.T. Sanders. Elijah Young added 30 yards and a touchdown on six carries.
"Good, not great. I think we could've played a little better," Reed said. "I thought we did a good job in the first half. Second half was a little weird with that new clock rule. It came into effect finally in that second half. We had one possession in the third quarter and then we had, I think, it was two or three in the fourth. I thought we played pretty well.
"Shoutout to our defense – they played really, really well on a night where we probably didn't have our best night. They did their job so that they were able to do enough to win the game. Really proud of the guys around the field."
The "Takeaway Tops" returned with three more forced turnovers in the game. Takulve Williams had a team-high 12 tackles, including 0.5 for loss, and an interception, JaQues "Donut" Evans had nine tackles and Bryson Washington – in his first start – had seven tackles, two pass breakups, an interception and a fumble recovery to lead the defense. Anthony Brackenridge forced the fumble.
"It was fun to be out there with the team," Williams said. "It was my first game back in front of the home crowd. I had so much fun. I could feel the energy being in the stadium."
WKU got on the board on its third possession of the game, when Davion Ervin-Poindexter caught a short pass from Reed and made his way to the end zone, diving in for the 18-yard score.
The Hilltoppers added to the lead with a 45-yard field goal from Lucas Carneiro with 3:23 remaining in the opening frame and took the 10-0 lead into the second.
Middle Tennessee chipped away at the deficit with a 23-yard field goal at the 9:58 mark of the second, but WKU added two touchdowns late in the half to take a 23-3 advantage into the break. Messer caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Reed with 5:17 to play in the second quarter to cap off a 13-play, 75-yard drive, and Reed kept it himself from a yard out with 9 seconds remaining in the period after the defense set the offense up with the fumble forced by Brackenridge and recovered by Washington.
The Blue Raiders scored on the first series of the second half with a 16-yard run – the only points of the third quarter – to make it 23-10 heading to the fourth.
WKU put an exclamation mark on the victory with a touchdown in the fourth quarter where Young hurdled a Middle Tennessee defender on his way to the 14-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring in the 31-10 win.
The Hilltoppers will hit the road next week for a meeting with Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana. Kickoff for the Thursday, Oct. 5 game is set for 7 p.m. CT.
