Get to Know the Louisville Football Opponent: Western Kentucky

Louisville football will take on in-state foe, Western Kentucky, at Cardinal Stadium on September 8th. What can we expect from the Mike Sanford led team?

In week three of the 2018-19 season, Louisville football will go head-to-head with in-state program Western Kentucky for the first time since 1998. Led by second year coach Mike Sanford, the Hilltoppers will look to get their first win against the Cards since September 13, 1975 when they took the victory 21-17.

After going 6-6 and making a bowl game in 2017-18, the Hilltopers will have a daunting task of replacing several key players, including QB Mike White. The Cards will come into this one after a matchup against Indiana State, in which I predicted last week that they would win 56-6.

This should be another winnable game for Bobby Petrino and the Cardinals, and it could even be a game where multiple young players/backups are able to get in and play some meaningful minutes.

Let’s take a look at the Cards week three opponent, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.

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2017 Recap

Last season was a bit of a “rebuilding year” for Mike Sanford in his first year at Western Kentucky after taking over for Jeff Brohm. Though the Tops had a prolific quarterback in Mike White, who would go onto be drafted in the 2018 NFL Draft, the team had lost several big time skill position players from their conference championship team in 2016-17.

After a 1-2 start to the season, the Hilltoppers got on a roll winning their next three straight before losing four of their final five games. However, Sanford was able to get his team to their fourth straight bowl game where they would lose to Georgia State.

Even without Jeff Brohm at the helm, Western still had a very good offense, finishing the season with the seventh best passing game in the country behind OC Junior Adams. The offense was led by junior tailback D’Andre Ferby who finished with 373 yards rushing and thee touchdowns and senior wideout Nacarius Fant who finished with 74 receptions for 704 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Who did they lose?

Unfortunately for the Hilltoppers, who as mentioned were rebuilding in 2017-18, will be in even more of a rebuilding mode after losing star QB Mike White and top receivers Nacarius Fant and Cameron Echols-Luper and tight end Deon Yelder.

On the defensive side of the ball the Tops don’t lose quite as much, but they do lose their top player in linebacker and leading tackler in Joel Iyiegbuniwe, who left Bowling Green a year early for the NFL Draft where he was drafted in the 4th round by the Chicago Bears. The defense will be forced to carry Western Kentucky in 2018-19 with so much talent being lost on the offensive side of the ball, so losing Ieigbuniwe is tough. The Tops also loose defensive back, Joe Brown, who finished last season tied for a team high two interceptions.

Who do they return?

On the offensive side of the ball Western Kentucky does return experienced backup QB Drew Eckels who is expected to be the starter for 2018-19. However, he will battle with Steven Duncan, Davis Shanley, and prized recruit Kevaris Thomas (one of the highest ranked players to ever commit to Western) who very well could win the job and start from day one.

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Western will also get back running backs D’Andre Ferby, Jakairi Moses and Marquez Trigg, who will all compete for snaps after struggling to get much of anything going last season. Out wide junior Lucky Jackson, who finished with 600 yards and 3 TD’s last season, should be the teams top target along with Quin Jernighan.

On the defensive side of the ball things are looking very good for the Hilltoppers in 2018-19 as they return seven starters. DC Clayton White will have a strong secondary with the return of safeties Devon Key, Drell Green and Ta’Corian Darden along with cornerback DeAndre Farris. At linebacker, even with the loss of Joel Iyiegbuniwe the Tops should be strong with the return of tackling machine Masai White. Don’t forget Western Kentucky will have former Kentucky linebacker, Eli Brown, in 2018-19 after he was granted immediate eligibility following his offseason transfer.

Upfront there will need to be significant improvement after a season with just 12 sacks and 69 tackles for loss, but with Heath Wiggins (DE) and 300 pounders Julien Lewis and Jeremy Darvin (DT) the Tops should be okay.

Why should Louisville be worried?

There’s not a lot to be worried about here for Louisville if we’re being honest, as the Cardinals talent should be significantly better than what the Hilltoppers have on the field. However, Western Kentucky does have a very good defense returning for 2018-19 and could give the Cardinals run game problems.

If the veteran secondary can get a pick early, and maybe force another turnover you could see Louisville’s confidence drop with Western waiting to pounce. However, with a limited pass rush, Louisville’s offensive line should be overpowering allowing for Petrino to get a consistent run game going and open up the field for big plays from Puma Pass and his talented receiving corps.

Louisville should be able to win this easy.

Why should Western Kentucky be worried?

Though Louisville’s defense has a lot of inexperience their size up front should easily manhandle a young and quite frankly weak offensive line of Western Kentucky. If that happens, Western will struggle to protect whoever their QB is and points will be hard to come by.

With an offense like Louisville, this game could get away from the Hilltoppers very quickly.

Key player for Western Kentucky

For me it’s true freshman Kevaris Thomas, one of if not the, highest ranked QB to ever commit to Western. If he’s able to beat out Steven Duncan and Drew Eckles, his ability to make plays with his arm and his legs could make up for the bad offensive line and limited experience at the skill positions for the Hilltopers.

One or two big plays for Thomas could keep Western in this game for at least a half and depending on what the defense can do, maybe up until the mid to late 3rd quarter. That would be a big morale win for Western at least.

Early Prediction: Louisville 48 – Western Kentucky 17

Moving into week four of the season, where the Cards will get Virginia on the road, Bobby Petrino and his team should easily be 2-1. Western will provide some competition as they should have a strong defense who could make things difficult for Jawon Pass, which will help them as they prepare for their first ACC game of the season.

If Louisville struggles against Western, expect a lot of fans to be up in arms. Even with low expectations from the media this season, the fans are expecting a lot out of the 2018-19 Cardinals.

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However, I don’t see that being the case. The Cards starters should be nice and rested for their matchup with the Cavaliers in week 4.

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