A pair of teams from Conference USA, who met in the title game a season ago, take the field for a regular season tilt down in the Lone Star State. The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers are on the road as they make the trip to face the UTSA Roadrunners Saturday evening. Western Kentucky ended up on the short end of a 35-27 decision at the hands of Troy at home last Saturday in their previous contest. UTSA rolled to a 45-30 road victory over Middle Tennessee in their previous contest last Friday. These teams have met three times previously with the Roadrunners owning a 2-1 advantage. That includes a 49-41 win in the Conference USA title game at home in the most recent matchup on December 3, 2021.
Western Kentucky battled but couldn’t take down Troy at home last week so they look to regroup in this contest. The Hilltoppers fell to 3-2 overall on the season and stand 1-0 in Conference USA action on the year. Against Troy, Western Kentucky trailed 10-7 after the opening quarter, led 17-13 at the half and found themselves even after three quarters. The Hilltoppers gave up two straight scores in the fourth quarter to trail 34-20 and couldn’t get back to even again. Western Kentucky owned a 470-415 edge in total offense, held a 28-26 advantage in first downs and a 30:56 to 29:04 margin in time of possession yet still lost. The Hilltoppers turned the ball over twice while forcing only one takeaway in the game.
The Hilltoppers enter this contest 6th in the nation with 352.8 yards per game through the air while they are tied for 77th in rushing with 147.8 yards per contest. Western Kentucky is ninth in the FBS in scoring offense as they put up an average of 43.4 points per contest while they are 52nd in scoring defense by allowing 22.2 points a game. Austin Reed has hit on 144 of 199 passes for 1,667 yards with 17 touchdowns against four interceptions while adding 69 yards plus two scores on the ground. Darius Ocean (three of six, 72 yards, TD, INT) and Caden Veltkamp (four of four, 25 yards) have seen limited work in mop-up duty. Kye Robichaux leads the team on the ground with 47 carries for 315 yards plus a score. Davion Ervin-Poindexter (40 carries, 140 yards, three TD), Jakairi Moses (16 carries, 96 yards) and L.T. Sanders (five carries, 73 yards, TD) have made the most of their limited opportunities this season. Daewood Davis leads the team with 34 receptions for 476 yards plus four scores. Malachi Corley (24 receptions, 296 yards, five TD), Jaylen Hall (16 receptions, 168 yards, TD), Michael Mathison (28 grabs, 276 yards, TD) and Joshua Simon (eight grabs, 130 yards, two TD) have each gone over the 100-yard mark in receiving yards this season. Brayden Narveson has drilled all 28 extra point attempts and seven of 10 field goal attempts with a long of 47 this season.