WKU versus FIU preview

                                                     Florida International University

                                                                         at

                                                      Western Kentucky University

                                                                   4:00 PM ET

Quarterbacks: WKU is led by junior Kawaun Jakes. The junior quarterback has connected on 57.4% of his passes on the season including a season high 83.3% in the homecoming win versus Louisiana Lafayette. Jakes also threw for a season high 242 yards in that game versus the Ragin’ Cajuns. After a very poor start to the season that included 8 interceptions in the 4 game losing streak to start the season, Jakes has only been picked off twice in the last four games. Not coincidentally, the Hilltoppers are on a 4 game winning streak as a result. Jakes seems to have finally found his niche in this offense and has become a weapon rather than a hindrance. FIU brings to the table former Mississippi State transfer Wesley Carroll at the quarterback position. Carroll has completed 61.9% of his passes and has thrown for at least 285 yards in 3 of the last 4 games. Surprisingly, Carroll has only found the end zone 9 times on the season with 3 coming against Duke. Edge: FIU.

Running Backs: WKU is led by senior running back Bobby Rainey who has 1014 yards rushing on the season, good for 5^th in the nation and only 3 yards from 3^rd in the country. Rainey has run for over 100 yards in 7 of the 8 games in 2011 including a 206 yard performance last week versus Louisiana Lafayette. Rainey is also the 2^nd leading receiver for the Hilltoppers with 29 catches good for 286 yards and 3 touchdowns on the season. Fullback Kadeem Jones has scored 6 times on the ground in goal line situations. Junior Keyshawn Simpson has recently become the backup running back and has 65 yards in the last 3 games. FIU has run the ball behind sophomore Kedrick Rhodes who has 762 yards on 154 carries with 6 touchdowns on the season. Rhodes has three 100 yard games on the season with a high of 172 yards versus Troy. Senior Darriet Perry is the backup and has 390 yards and 5 touchdowns on the season. Wide receiver T.Y. Hilton has also ran the ball 10 times on the season with an average of 8.2 yards per carry. Edge: WKU.

Receivers: WKU junior tight end Jack Doyle is 1^st on the team in catches with 32 catches for 380 yards on the season. Doyle has been boom or bust lately with two 100 yard games sandwiched by games with 19, 36, and 11 yards receiving. Doyle has 89 catches in his 3 year career for the Hilltoppers. Running back Bobby Rainey is second on the team with 29 catches for 286 yards and 3 touchdowns on the season. Junior Marcus Vasquez and freshman Boe Brand are the only other receivers with at least 10 catches on the season though Vasquez was lost in the Indiana State game. WKU did show some new versatility with 6 different players making catches last week versus ULL with freshman Mitchell Henry making his first grabs of the season. Henry had two more catches versus Monroe with a touchdown grab. FIU’s passing game is the T.Y. Hilton show. Hilton has 47 catches on the season for 800 yards and 5 touchdowns. He is averaging 17 yards per catch on the season with a high of 83 yards. He is one of the most electrifying players in all of college football. Junior Wayne Times has added 44 catches for 458 yards and 2 touchdowns on the season including a high of 97 yards on 6 catches versus Troy. No other receiver has more than 139 yards receiving on the season. Edge: FIU.

Offensive Line: FIU has an offensive line that has led the way for 154.8 yards on the ground per game while allowing only 11 sacks on the season. The line has led the offense to 25.8 points per game. The line is giving up a sack once every 23 pass attempts on the year. WKU has gotten past the trouble with its offensive line earlier in the season by fixing some of the problems. WKU runs for 159.9 yards per game on the ground with 204 on the ground versus FAU and 234 coming versus ULL. The yards per carry is just barely below 4 so the holes are still not quite as big but things are looking good. The line has only given up 13 sacks on the year after giving up 28 in 2010. They should easily get below that number when the season ends. One worry is that the ULM defense got to Jakes 3 times last week. Edge: Push.

Defensive Line: WKU is led on the defensive line by senior defensive end Jared Clendenin who has 34 tackles including 8 for loss to go with 3.5 sacks, an interception, and 2 blocked kicks. Junior defensive tackle Jamarcus Allen has added 29 tackles including 4 for a loss and 1.5 sacks. Quanterus Smith and Bo Adebayo combine to bring in 47 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, and 8 sacks to the defensive line. The duo had 3.5 sacks in the overtime win versus Monroe. Kenny Martin, Rammel Lewis, and freshman Jamichael Payne also get some substantial playing time as reserves. FIU only gets major production from 4 defensive linemen on a regular basis. Junior Tourek Williams leads the defensive line with 20 tackles, 9.5 for loss, and 4 sacks. Sophomore Isame Faciane adds 18 tackles, 6 for loss, 2 sacks and a 51 yard fumble recovery for a touchdown. Sophomore Jerrico Lee adds 10 tackles, 2 for loss. Senior James Jones rounds out the defensive line with 16 tackles, 4 for loss, 2 sacks and a fumble recovery. WKU gets the nod due to more depth. Edge: WKU.

Linebackers: FIU has 4 linebackers that get major production for the Golden Panthers. The linebacker corps are led by junior linebacker Winston Fraser who has a team leading 77 tackles on the season to go along with 3.5 for loss, 2 sacks, a forced fumble, and a 71 yard interception returned for a touchdown. Junior Jordan Hunt brings 53 tackles, 5.5 for loss, and a sack. Sophomore Greg Hickman and junior Kenneth Dillard combine for 44 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and a forced fumble. WKU has a three man linebacker core that gets most of the snaps with Terran Williams coming in for nickel situations. Sophomore Andrew Jackson leads the way with 81 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 1 interception, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble on the season. Sophomore Xavius Boyd plays the WLB spot and has come up with 40 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 1 recovered fumble, 1 forced fumble, and blocked a punt in the FAU game leading to a game sealing touchdown run. Senior Ben Duvall has contributed 27 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks from the SLB spot. Freshman Terran Williams has looked good in spot duty mostly out of the nickel packages adding 18 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and 1 sack on the season. Both teams have outstanding linebacker corps with Fraser leading the Warhawk group and Jackson leading the Hilltopper group. Edge: Push.

Secondary: FIU is led by junior Jonathan Cyprien who has 49 tackles, 4.5 for loss, and 1 sack. Sophomore Terrance Taylor has 35 tackles and an interception. Sophomore Jose Cheeseborough adds 35 tackles, 2 for loss, and 2 sacks. Sophomore Sam Miller brings in 30 tackles, 4 for loss, 3 sacks, and an interception. FIU also has 4 defensive backs that will rotate on and off the field. The Golden Panthers are young and talented in the secondary.  WKU is led by senior defensive back Ryan Beard and his 46 tackles, 3.5 for loss, and 2 fumble recoveries. Sophomore Tyree Robinson adds 31 tackles, 2 for loss and a forced fumble as well as solid coverage from his cornerback position. Junior Kareem Peterson also has 36 tackles and half a sack on the season from his safety position. Senior Derrius Brooks has 34 tackles, 4 interceptions and a forced fumble on the year. Redshirt freshman Cam Thomas adds 26 tackles and an interception. Sophomores Arius Wright and Kiante Young also have given support making a combined 44 tackles. The WKU secondary is not as good FIU secondary and have been scorched by the pass in the last two weeks. Edge: FIU.

Special Teams: FIU has one of the better kickers in the nation with junior Jack Griffin. Griffin is 15-18 on the season with a long of 46 yards and is 3-3 from 40-49 yards. Griffin is also a semi finalist for the Lou Groza award given to the nation’s best placekicker. Junior Josh Brisk handles the punting duties with an average of 40.7 yards and 9 landing inside the 20 yards line. He also has kicked 9 punts over 50 yards. FIU has a 9.8 yard average on punt returns but that number jumps to 14.8 when T.Y. Hilton is returning. Hilton also is the leading kickoff returner with an average of 28.8 yards and a long of 62. Wayne Times adds an average of 27.1 yards per return on 9 returns. WKU has quite possibly the worst kicking situation in the nation. As a whole, the WKU field goal kicking is 3-12 with 2 blocked kicks. Senior Casey Tinius is 1-8 with a 41 yarder the only made kick and 3 misses within 40 yards. Sophomore Monte Merrick is 0-1 with his miss from 34 yards. Freshman Jesse Roy is 2-3 with a make from 40 yards although he did miss an extra point attempt earlier in the season and have one blocked versus Monroe. Roy has been promoted to the starting job. Sophomore Hendrix Brakefield does the punting averaging 42.1 yards per punt with 15 landing inside the 20 yard line and 12 going over 50 yards. The WKU return team is averaging 6.8 yards per punt return with a long of 39 yards from freshman John Evans. The kickoff returns are at 27.3 per return with Evans taking one back 90 yards for a touchdown versus MTSU. Edge: FIU.

Coaching: FIU is led by Coach Mario Cristobal who is in his 6^th year with the program. Cristobal has spent the majority of his career before FIU as an assistant at Miami (FL). He also spent 2 years as the tight ends/offensive line coach at Rutgers. Cristobal led the Golden Panthers to their first bowl game in school history, a win in the Little Ceasars Bowl. WKU is in its second year with head coach Willie Taggert. Taggert went 2-10 in his first year with the program in 2010. Taggert formerly coached running backs at Stanford from 2007-2009 with Vikings running back Toby Gerhart his star pupil during those years. Before that, he was an assistant at WKU from 1999-2006. WKU is his first head coaching job. Edge: FIU.

Overall: This is a tough matchup for the Hilltoppers with an experienced yet young FIU squad coming to Bowling Green. WKU must stop T.Y. Hilton to have any chance at a win. He has singlehandedly taken over games in the past such as a 200+ yard receiving night versus Big East foe Louisville. The other wide receiver Wayne Times is no slouch with nearly as many catches as Hilton but nowhere near the explosiveness. The WKU defense must shut down the passing attack of the Golden Panthers which is a tall task to ask considering the lack of pass defense in the previous two weeks. On the other hand, the Golden Panthers have a tough task in attempting to stop #5 national rusher Bobby Rainey. Rainey will get lots of carries and will get yards but the FIU defense must keep the big plays to a minimum. FIU hasn’t played up to its potential after a 3-0 start that began to get them national attention and votes for a top 25 ranking. Since then, the Golden Panthers have lost 3 of 5 and sit at 2-2 in conference play. This game is for third place in the Sun Belt and if ULL gets upset, sole possession of 2^nd place in the Sun Belt for The Hilltoppers.