Two teams that have already kicked off their 2022 seasons will do battle in paradise on Saturday as the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (1-0) square off against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in Honolulu, O‘AHU. The Hilltoppers come in fresh off of a 38-27 home win over Austin Peay on Saturday. Western Kentucky went 7-1 in Conference USA play in 2021 and 9-5 overall, including a victory in the Boca Raton Bowl over Appalachian State. Hawaii took it on the chin in their home opener, losing 63-10 to Vanderbilt out of the Big 10. Last season, Hawaii finished 3-5 in Mountain West play and 6-7 overall. The opening kickoff for this non-conference matchup is set for 11:59pm EST.
WKU Head Coach Tyson Helton had to be happy to have football back under way and his team back in the win-column after a successful 2021 campaign. On Saturday, in both the season opener and home opener, the Hilltoppers rolled to a 38-27 win over Austin Peay to start the year at 1-0. After trailing 10-7 at the end of the first quarter, WKU outscored Austin Peay 14-7 in the second quarter to take a lead that they would never relinquish.
“Great to get a first win. It's always good to open the season with a big win,” said Helton after the game. “Hats off to Austin Peay, I thought they were a good football team. Very, very challenging game for us. A lot of good things, a lot of things we need to correct. I think it was kind of apparent to everybody there's some situational football we need to get better at, but I'm proud of our guys. Proud of our guys. They battled hard in a tough football game right out of the gate, and I thought they responded well particularly in the second half. When the guys needed to make plays, they stood up and made those plays, so I'm really proud of those guys.”
For the game, WKU out-gained Austin Peay 388 yards to 327 yards but lost the battle of time of possession by over five minutes. The Hilltoppers dominated through the air, however, throwing for 280 yards while holding Austin Peay to just 156 yards through the air. WKU also one the turnover battle, causing four Austin Peay turnovers compared to just one of their own. In his first-ever college football start, quarterback Austin Reed threw for 280 yards and four touchdowns, including three to wide receiver Malachi Corley. Running back Davion Ervin-Poindexter added 49 yards on 15 carries.
Defensively, the Hilltoppers were also sharp as defensive back Upton Stout, making his first-ever appearance in a Hilltopper uniform, returned an interception 34 yars for a to uchdown and linebacker JaQues Evans had a game-high 13 tackles and 2.5 sacks. The defense did give up some big plays on the day as Austin Peay connected on touchdown passes of 44 yards and 24 yards in the loss.
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It will be interesting to see how the WKU offense continues to adjust this season after last season's explosive statistics behind quarterback Bailey Zappe graduated to the NFL and offensive coordinator Zach Kittley departed for Texas Tech. Last season, the Hilltoppers averaged 44 points and 535 yards per game – second in the nation in both categories. This year the reigns to the offense have been handed off to Reed, a big-time deep ball quarterback. Last year, the Hilltoppers finished last in the league in rushing but much of that can be attributed to the team's stellar passing attack. They rushed for just 107 yards in the opener but hitting the century mark each week would serve them well given the team's propensity to throw the ball.
Another good sign for WKU in week one was the turnovers caused by the defense. This was a staple of their defense in 2021 and the team will need to do so, particularly in the secondary, as te ams will undoubtedly be forced to put the ball in the air to keep pace with the fast paced WKU offense. The team was second in the nation at forcing turnovers in 2021 so the four turnovers on Saturday are surely a good sign. After allowing teams to convert 47% of their third down tries last season, the Hilltoppers held Austin Peay to just a 33% 3rd down conversion rate on Saturday.