WKU’s 2nd half run proved too little too late as the Tops fell in dramatic fashion to Marshall in the Moonshine Throwdown. MU handed the Tops its first conference loss this season. Let’s look at what we learned from this game.

Flat Tops

WKU came out as flat and terrible as you can imagine. Interception, fumble and missed field goal... and that was all in the first few minutes of the contest. The Tops obviously came into the game flat footed offensively as Marshall came out ready to seek and destroy. Ty Storey threw an uncharacteristic interception into double coverage to start the game and followed that up with a fumble on the next series. While the Tops offense did improve slightly in the second quarter and then made an emphatic comeback in the 2nd, such a horrible start is almost impossible for any team to overcome.

Defensively the Tops weren’t much better. Which brings me to my next takeaway....

Struggle Bus

WKU’s usually stout defense became battered and bruised quickly. The Tops were burned early on successive drives by the Thundering Herd as Marshall built up a 17-0 in rapid speed. Although Marshall rang up their first two scores in less than 10 plays, they began to keep WKU’s defense on the field a lot longer than the coaches and players would have liked.

To its credit, the defense dialed it up in the second half and only allowed Marshall 9 more points. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to steal away the win. The defense has shown for a second straight week that they have trouble with mobile quarterbacks. Isaiah Green was able to disrupt WKU’s plan of attack by taking it to the Tops early and becoming as much of a threat as his running and catching counterparts. Green threw for one touchdown and ran for another. It’s quickly becoming an Achilles heel for Coach Clayton White and crew. WKU needs to spend more time in practice learning how to disarm multi-dimensional signal callers before those quarterbacks dismantle them on gameday.

Bad Kick

Cory Munson’s up and down season continued Saturday night as he missed kicks which could have given the Tops the win. Munson is still an excellent kicker as noted by some of the accolades he has received this season, but for him to come up small in an important game like this should give the Tops pause. Munson will be fine, but needs more big game experience and maybe he will start to nail these big kicks more consistently. As the old saying goes, “Only time will tell.”

Action Jackson

Lucky Jackson noted post-game that his on-the-field achievement on Saturday was great, but would have been better with a win to go along with it. Jackson torched the Marshall secondary for 16 catches and 168 yards to set a new school record. It’s like I said last week, Jackson would have to be more of a weapon in order for the Tops to succeed. He did that and more. Unfortunately, Jackson didn’t have enough help early enough to make it matter. Now, Coach Helton will need to have a strong gameplan make sure Jackson is protected as Florida Atlantic will zero in and try to take him out of next week’s game in its early stages.

Home is Where the Heart Is

The good thing for WKU is that while the team is licking its proverbial wounds from a heartbreaker, it still has the benefit of playing at home this week. With such a tough stretch of games for the Tops, its good to be able to be home and regroup in the friendly confines of home. The fear is generally that a loss like this could dismantle a team’s mojo if you let it. However, this team has won some tough games this season despite a very poor start. If the team can refocus and play loose, they should be able to give the fans at home a victory and snag bowl eligibility all at once.