says a Herd beat writer, excerpt:
...The Hilltoppers have several problems that can get in the way of their championship dreams.
First, the schedule. The Hilltoppers host Louisiana Tech on Thursday, Sept. 10, playing on a five-day turnaround after opening at Vanderbilt. They face a trip to Rice in early October. (Marshall gets North Texas and Southern Mississippi in cross-division games.)
And in the worst insult, WKU does not get the chance to score 94 on the Charlotte 49ers, as the other East teams do.
But that’s not the Hilltoppers’ biggest problem. This is: Every so often, the other team gets the ball.
WKU’s defense can make the big, game-changing play (see: four interceptions of Rakeem Cato). But most of the big plays in 2014 came from the opposing offenses, who averaged 509 total yards and 39.9 points per game.
Most of the defense returns, including the man with one of the coolest names, Wonderful Terry. Nick Holt, a one-time Idaho head coach and former Pac-12 coordinator, is in his third year in charge of the WKU defense and should fully have his imprint on that defense.
Fine, but it says here the Hilltoppers will still give up 35-plus a game. And it says here they will enter the Marshall game no better than 5-2 in the league, maybe 4-3.
And it says here that the Herd will head to Bowling Green, Kentucky, with a lead in the standings. Will it be one game, or two? .....
...The Hilltoppers have several problems that can get in the way of their championship dreams.
First, the schedule. The Hilltoppers host Louisiana Tech on Thursday, Sept. 10, playing on a five-day turnaround after opening at Vanderbilt. They face a trip to Rice in early October. (Marshall gets North Texas and Southern Mississippi in cross-division games.)
And in the worst insult, WKU does not get the chance to score 94 on the Charlotte 49ers, as the other East teams do.
But that’s not the Hilltoppers’ biggest problem. This is: Every so often, the other team gets the ball.
WKU’s defense can make the big, game-changing play (see: four interceptions of Rakeem Cato). But most of the big plays in 2014 came from the opposing offenses, who averaged 509 total yards and 39.9 points per game.
Most of the defense returns, including the man with one of the coolest names, Wonderful Terry. Nick Holt, a one-time Idaho head coach and former Pac-12 coordinator, is in his third year in charge of the WKU defense and should fully have his imprint on that defense.
Fine, but it says here the Hilltoppers will still give up 35-plus a game. And it says here they will enter the Marshall game no better than 5-2 in the league, maybe 4-3.
And it says here that the Herd will head to Bowling Green, Kentucky, with a lead in the standings. Will it be one game, or two? .....
