WKU, a brief look

Western Kentucky (7-5, 7-1)--The Hilltoppers not only increased their win total from 2 to 7 games in 2011 but also ran off 7 wins in their final 8 games to finish the regular season as one of the hottest teams in the country. The passing offense was pretty nonexistent in 2011 with only 167.3 yards in the air per game good for 102nd overall in the country. WKU has three year starter Kawaun Jakes coming back for his senior year but only threw for 200 or more yards in 4 games as well as throwing for fewer than 100 yards in 4 games as well. There must be some consistency with the passing game getting 200+ yards per game. The WKU rushing attack was one of the better rushing attacks in the country with 181.6 yards per game good for 35th in the nation. The Hilltoppers lose running back Bobby Rainey who finished in the top 5 nationally in rushing yards in his junior and senior seasons. The offense must find a way to become more balanced in order to give the Hilltoppers a chance to go to a bowl in 2012.

Defensively, WKU was up and down as the season progressed. Overall, the defense gave up 24.8 points per game overall but that number dipped to 19.5 points allowed per game in conference play. The defense only loses 5 seniors that played very much and have a large amount of underclassmen ready to take over those position. Incoming junior linebacker Andrew Jackson leads the defense with 109 tackles in 2011 in his first year as a starter. The defense also has 7 defensive backs that had 20 or more tackles in 2011 showing that many players are ready to step up. Also former 4 star and Florida commit Jonathan Dowling has a chance to become a special player on the field for the Hilltoppers. If WKU's defense can play like they did in the final 8 games of the season, this could be a special season for WKU.

Coach Willie Taggart enters his 3rd season as the coach of the Hilltoppers. In his first season, he saw WKU go 2-10 but play some of the better teams in the conference very tough before running out of gas in the second half. He showed great improvement in his second year and seemed to teach his squad how to win jumping the total 5 wins. Taggart is showing alot of promise as a head coach and with a couple more seasons like 2011, he may start hearing from bigger schools. It will be interesting to see whether or not the money moves him to a bigger school in the future.

Overall, you can split the season in two sections, the first 4 and the final 8. After losing 22 of its previous 24 games going into 2011, the first 4 games seemed like WKU could not get out of its way to win a game. They had multiple chances versus Kentucky but could not make a play. Then played undisciplined versus Navy and got blown out. Versus I-AA Indiana State, everything that could happen bad did and it was an embarrassing display of football that night. Finally, in the conference opener, WKU came 1 foot from putting the game away before turning the ball over on downs and losing the game. The final 8 started with an overtime thriller that saw WKU win over MTSU in overtime. Including that game, the Hilltoppers reeled off wins in 7 of 8 games and finished a solid 2nd in the conference. The biggest issue for the 2012 season is the kicking game as the Hilltoppers only made 5 of 20 field goals for an embarrassing 25%. If the running game can find a way to replace Rainey, the defense can see the young players take that next step, and the kicking game can be respectable, a Sun Belt championship and the first I-A bowl game in school history is very possible.