WKU Football: Tops Take Down Skyhawks in First Game, 59–21
We finally got our first chance to see the Tops in action with the high powered and improved offense and it didn’t disappoint. Let’s relive last night with a recap of the action.
Two big plays in a row for UT Martin. One run, one pass. First drive of the game and they were already knocking on the WKU doors. Touchdown UT Martin. Down 7–0 the Hill topper offense takes the field. The hype, the excitement, Zappe and company were finally here, finally playing in uniforms that read “Tops” on them. All of it deflated when the second play resulted in an interception. Typical Western Kentucky. Always struggling, and losing to FCS teams. But wait. The defense tightened up. Stops were made. A 73 yard bomb from Zappe to Davis killed the anxiety in the stadium. The first quarter ended 7–7. And after that, Western Kentucky never looked back. 21 points scored in the second quarter. They did give up a touchdown with 10 seconds left in the half, but Western came out of halftime blazing and scored 17 straight. At the end of the third quarter it was 45–14 with Western firmly in control. Zappe tossed one more touchdown pass at the beginning of the fourth to make it 52–17 before calling it a day. The final score ended up with a decisive Hilltopper victory, 59–21.
The offense was brilliant. Zappe went 28–35, 424 yards, and 7:1 TD:int ratio. Tying a personal record of his for touchdowns thrown in a game, while also being the first QB to throw for 7 touchdowns in Houchens-Smith Stadium. Of those 7 touchdowns, 5 were to different receivers. Receivers that had more than 1 catch (catches-yards-TDs) were: Jerreth Sterns (7–107–2), Daewood Davis (2–83–1), Joshua Simon (3–73–2), Craig Burt Jr. (2–68–1), Mitchell Tinsley (5–58–1), Malachi Corley (5–51–1). We knew the Zappe to Sterns connection was going to be there since day one, but it looked like they were pretty much telepathic sometimes. Daewood Davis showed some serious speed, and Malachi Corley had an impressive showing by breaking tackles after the catch. Simon showed some burners on a catch and run TD, Burt Jr. mossed a guy on a pass from Carson Baker, and Tinsley showed excellent route running to get open as well.
The running game was alright. We got over one hundred yards. Cofield and Robichaux both pitched in 40 yards, while Zappe showed off his athleticism on a 20 yard scramble. I assume the running game will continue to take a back seat to the passing game throughout the season.
The defense could’ve done better in my opinion. They couldn’t stop the run very well, giving up over 200 yards on the ground. Definitely something to be concerned about considering next week we travel to Army to take on their triple option attack. The pass defense was alright, but it really helped them that UT Martin was playing from behind and getting desperate. They finished with 195 passing yards though, which is a fairly low number.
Edwards brought in an interception. Ignot recovered a fumble. 2 turnovers forced is good, especially since that means WKU won the turnover battle.
WKU was penalized 8 times for 69 (nice) yards. Two of them were pass interference calls that gave up first downs on third down. Hilltoppers need to clean that up if they want to win games against more talented teams.
WKU hasn’t scored this many points in a game since the Brohm era. All of the hype was confirmed, and we can’t help but look forward to what can only be a great season ahead of us.
#TopsOnTop
