Western Kentucky University versus FAU Preview

Western Kentucky University (1-4, 1-1)

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Florida Atlantic University (0-5, 0-2)

4:00 PM EST

Quarterback: WKU has junior Kawaun Jakes who is on pace for his best passing yardage of his career. Jakes is completing 54% of his passes going 68-126 for 745 yards to go with 4 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Jakes threw for 222 yards in last week’s win over MTSU. Most importantly, he did not throw any interceptions after throwing at least one in each of the 5 previous games going back to last season versus Troy. Jakes has also been elusive having been sacked only 8 times on the year after 28 sacks last season. With starter Graham Wilbert unlikely to play due to an arm injury sustained in the North Texas game, untested David Kooi will be the starter. Kooi has thrown 14 passes on the season going 9-14 for 89 yards and a touchdown. His most significant playing time was in the North Texas game after Wilbert’s injury. Kooi went 6-9 for 70 yards and a touchdown. He was also sacked 4 times in that game. Normally, a team that features a starter that has gotten a significant amount of playing time with unimpressive stats would not get the call but Jakes and WKU have the advantage at quarterback. EDGE: WKU.

Running Back: WKU has senior Bobby Rainey at the running back slot. He has an outside shot at setting a school record for rushing yards in a career at the school. Rainey has four 100 yard rushing games out of five games to go along with 15 total 100 yard games in his career. He is the workhorse for the Hilltoppers and should get somewhere in the range of 25-35 carries in this game. Fullback Kadeem Jones also has scored three rushing touchdowns for the Hilltoppers. FAU counters with senior Alfred Morris who has 362 yards on 82 carries for the season. These numbers are somewhat bloated by a big game versus North Texas. He had 23 carries for 162 yards and a touchdown versus UNT. Versus the rest of the schedule, Morris has 59 carries for 200 yards including a 14 carry for 16 yards and a 10 carry for 21 yards game. This position is a no doubter for the Hilltoppers. EDGE: WKU.

Receivers: Tight End Jack Doyle and running back Bobby Rainey are the leading receivers for the Hilltoppers combining for 41 catches for 421 yards and 2 touchdowns. Two wide receivers have over 10 catches a piece as well. A total of 8 players have a catch for WKU. FAU spreads the ball out a bit with 7 players having between 7 and 16 catches on the season. Senior tight end Darian Williams has scored on 2 of his 9 catches on the season. Neither team has a receiver corps that other teams fear. EDGE: PUSH.

Offensive Line: With all the troubles of the WKU offensive line, they have only given up 8 sacks and lead the way for the 66^th ranked rushing attack in the country. Running back Bobby Rainey has 573 yards and a 4.2 yards per carry average on the season behind the WKU offensive line. FAU has struggled on the offensive line badly in the 2011 season. The two quarterbacks on the FAU roster have been sacked 12 times including 4 times once Kooi took over in the UNT game. In the three major offensive categories: passing yards, rushing yards, points scored; the Owls are 112^th, 111^th, and 115^th in the country which is clearly reflective of the inability of the Owl offensive line to block the defenses thrown at them in the 2011 season. EDGE: WKU.

Defensive Line: WKU has 6 sacks for its defensive line to go along with 87 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 1 interception and a forced fumble. They are led by Jared Clendenin who has 23 of those tackles and even blocked a kick this season. The FAU defensive line has accounted for 63 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Both defenses struggle somewhat with the stronger offensive lines and tend to get overpowered at points but put up a good fight. EDGE: PUSH.

Linebackers: The FAU linebacker core combine for 118 tackles as a group. Junior David Hinds leads the team with 39 tackles to go along with 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Randall Johnson and Andrae Kirk also have over 30 tackles while Johnson has 8 tackles for loss and a sack as well. Other than these 3 linebackers, no one has played much at the linebacker position all season. WKU opened the season with new starters at all three linebacker positions although Xavius Boyd did start at different points in 2010. Sophomore Andrew Jackson leads the team in tackles with 55 including 8 for a loss and an interception and forced fumble on the season. Sophomore Xavius Boyd starts at the WLB and has 29 tackles including 2.5 for a loss to go along with 1.5 sacks. Senior Ben Duvall starts at the SLB spot and has 22 tackles with 2.5 being for a loss. Because Jackson is playing the best of any linebacker on either team, WKU slightly gets the edge on paper. EDGE: WKU.

Secondary: The FAU secondary may be its biggest strength with 5 defensive backs having over 20 tackles to go along with 3 interceptions. The FAU staff is not afraid to send the DBs on blitzes as evidenced by the 12 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks on the season. Senior Marcus Bartels is having a bit of an off year in his senior season with only 25 tackles after getting over 100 in each of the last two seasons. WKU has struggled defending the pass all season long. The secondary has 4 interceptions on the season to go along with Ryan Beard’s 27 tackles just barely leading Robinson’s 25 tackles in the defensive backfield. After watching WKU play in person, I have to give the edge to FAU and their secondary. EDGE: FAU.

Special Teams: The return game of WKU is about as good as anyone in the nation with a team average of 26.7 yards per return including one returned for a touchdown and another returned 75 yards. The punting game of WKU is also in good shape with Hendrix Brakefield averaging 43.6 yards per punt including 10 that went 50+ yards. He has also dropped 7 inside the 20 yard line including 2 punts versus MTSU that landed inside the 3 yard line. The kicking game for WKU is horrendous with kickers a combined 2-7 with 2 of the attempts blocked. Five of the seven attempts were from 40-49 yards. FAU has a 24.3 yards per kick return average including a 65 yard return this season. The punting game is averaging 42.6 with 8 punts over 50 yards and 8 downed inside the 20 yard line. The field goal kicking is looking good with kicker Vinny Zaccario going 6-7 with a long of 43 yards on the season. Overall, the teams are pretty even until it gets to field goals. FAU holds a significant advantage in that department. EDGE: FAU.

Overall: This FAU team is just not very good this season. The Owls went an entire game with only 1 1^st down earlier this season and have lost by double digits in 4 of the 5 games this season. The offense will have 1^st time starter David Kooi at quarterback and WKU will blitz over and over to get Kooi rattled early. WKU is a team that hasn’t put together a full game in all three areas of the game. If the offense is working, the defense isn’t; if the defense is working, the offense isn’t; if the offense and defense are working, then the special teams let them down. If the Hilltoppers can get a good game from all three areas of the game, then they should win and win easily. That is a lot to ask out of any team in the country, much less a team that has only won 3 games in the last 2+ seasons. FAU does have the added pressure of opening a brand new stadium versus WKU after being on the road for the first 5 games of the season. WKU 27-14.