WKU football ended last season in dramatic fashion with that beautiful walk-off field goal to give the Toppers the First Responders Bowl title. However, that seems like forever ago because of the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has gripped our world. However, normalcy returned in some form on Saturday night as the Tops returned to the field to take on in-state rival, Louisville Cardinals, for state bragging rights.

Unfortunately for Topper Nation, Louisville manhandled Tyson Helton and crew, leaving the Tops smarting in the lopsided affair. So, let's look at what we learned about the 2020 WKU Hiltoppers from this game

In Like A Lion... Out Like A Lamb

WKU looked GOOD! Well... for the first few minutes. Defensively, the Tops looked stout, stopping everything on the ground from the Cards and even making passes hard from the start. The Tops were able to capitalize on a fumbled punt attempt and snatch up the lead early on. Unfortunately, all it took was one 63-yard pass play from U of L''s Micale Cunningham to Braden Smith, setting up a touchdown, to take the air out of the Topper's sail.

After that, WKU's defense looked more like Swiss cheese. Outside of strong games by senior defensive end, DeAngelo Malone and senior defensive back, Omari Alexander, WKU couldn't stop the Cards. WKU's pass defense has to improve mightily. Cunningham sliced apart the Tops for 229 yards in the first half alone and finished the game with 343 yards in the air. Since most of the big plays the Tops gave up came up from Louisville's air assault, it will be advantageous for the Tops to figure out how to ground those teams in the future who will try to beat the Tops from above.

Missed Connections

Offense escaped WKU all night. WKU's only 2 scores came on short field plays and never allowed for the Tops to get in any type of rhythm. The running game was nearly nonexistent, except for when Tyrell Pigrome kept the rock on designed quarterback runs. The lack of a run game stifled the passing game as Piggy T could only muster 129 yards on 10-23 passes. Several passes were short and low, while others were simply products of miscommunication between Piggy and his wideouts. It remains to be seen if this was more of the Tops getting used to playing live action football after months of dormancy and less practice time than normal or if this will be a sign of things to come.

It also shows the major whole left by the unexpected transferring of Jacquez Sloan from the program. The steady hand at the Wide Receiver position is now gone and there are plenty of young guys who may not quite be ready to take up that mantle.Pigrome is new to WKU, so you would expect the growing pains to show, especially in the first game. Let's hope this is only a short-term discomfort.

Oh, Where Oh Where Did the O-Line Go?

WKU's offensive line has been together for a while now. So, you would think it would be able to better protect their signal caller. Not so on Saturday, when the O-line looked like it had regressed. Several times Piggy ended up on his back looking up at the cloudy and rainy sky because the line didn't make the necessary adjustments. U of L's defensive line is slightly bigger than WKU's but more than anything it was hungry and WKU seemed complacent. The line is going to have to find that fire and develop a sense of urgency to give Piggy T time to settle into his role. Piggy has wheels and a cannon for an arm, but if he doesn't have time to go through his read progressions or a hole to run through, he will never develop and the WKU's offense will look as flat as it did against U of L.

Two Man Power Trip

As I mentioned earlier, two of the only bright spots for the Tops were Malone and Alexander. The seniors showed up to play and helped to lead the defense when the offense was faltering. Alexander showed what the defensive backfield can do when locked in and Malone's mere presence disrupted several runs and potential passes by Cunningham. As the season progresses, it will be imperative for other defensive players to take on the personality of these two if WKU hopes to shut down offenses like it did so many times last year.

It's All Good!

While WKU did look about as bad as possible, it's only the first game of the season and it was against an ACC team in Louisville who looks to be vastly improved from last year's meeting. This punch in the teeth should do a lot to wake WKU up and give the coaches plenty of film to help them see the deficiencies within the team. Helton and crew should look much better next week against Liberty University. The Tops should hopefully be able to douse the Flames pretty easily and use that game to correct the glaring mistakes which caused an implosion against U of L. The Tops will still be a top team in Conference USA, assuming it learns the same lessons we did from the U of L game.