It's been a few weeks since WKU has tasted victory. So it was welcome sight to see the Tops collect their third win of the season in a defensive slugfest against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. Toppers fans saw some good and some bad in this game. Let's see what the takeaways from this game are.

Records Are Made To Be Broken

If you didn't already know that defensive end DeAngelo Malone was special, then you have missed one record-breaking career. Malone, in many ways, is the head and heart of WKU's defense and that fact was on display during the Southern Miss game. Malone collected two sacks on the day to move him to first place in WKU history with 25 sacks. It wasn't just the plays Malone made, but it was also the fire in his play which helped elevate the Tops.

Not to be outdone, Malone's teammate, safety Devon Key, the other elder statesman on this defense, logged 6 tackles to make him the programs all-time leader. Quite an accomplishment for two stars of a stout Topper defense.

Defensively Speaking

The Topper defense looked as good on Saturday as it has all season. Good thing too, because Southern Miss was at the top of its defensive game as well. WKU's defense, led by linebacker Kyle Bailey, freshman defensive tackle Ricky Barber, Key and Malone, kept the Golden Eagles to only 67 passing yards and 154 yards on the ground. The Tops also put Southern Miss QB Trey Lowe on his back 6 times during the game.

How were the Tops able to keep Southern Miss well below their 3-4 touchdown scoring average? Versatile defensive schemes. Coach Clayton White used more of a pro style defense system for this game. He masked coverage packages like Cover 2s and Cover 4s, which threw off the Golden Eagles and allowed WKU to get the upper hand. A well thought out adjustment which paid off dividends for the the Tops. The fact that Southern Miss didn't have their first score until the waning minutes of the game speaks to the kind of statement the Topper D was trying to make. It was clear the WKU offense wasn't going to run up the score, so it had to rely on the strongest part of its game right now, and thankfully the defense answered the call.

Baby Steps

So as we mentioned earlier, WKU's offense wasn't going to win this game for the Tops. However, the offense did look slightly better and did just enough to get the job done this week. There was some fluidity to the offense than usual, although it was still anemic for the most part. Give Southern Miss' defense credit, for keeping WKU's offense from having a breakthrough game. Let's forgive the Tops two fumbles and the 6-16 third down struggles, for a minute.

Tyrell Pigrome looked a lot more comfortable as he went 19-30 for 183 yards passing. You could see he's finally becoming more comfortable passing first and running second. He is finding a rhythm with guys like Xavier Lane and Josh Simon, which in turn, allows them to gain confidence and start to elevate their performances. Piggy T spread the wealth, finding 6 different Toppers in the air.

On the ground, WKU did okay as it racked up 121. Still not great numbers with the fact that it was more running back by committee between Gaej Walker and Jakari Moses on Saturday, but again, it was just enough to get the job done and sometimes that's all you can hope for.

Timing's Every Thing

I'm going to harp on time of possession once again as there should be a lot more productivity from a team when you have the ball for more than half of the game. Coach Helton's team had the ball for roughly 35 minutes and could only manage one touchdown and field goal. That is why WKU is only 3-6 at this point. The Tops should have been able to at least put 3 or 4 scores on the board within that time frame.

Going into the last 5 minutes of the game, Southern Miss shouldn't have been back in the ballgame simply by scoring their first TD of the game. Just think if Southern Miss' Bourgeois had've stuck that 42 yard field goal attempt in the second quarter, WKU might have had to work harder to pull this one out. Football is a game of inches and a game of time. If the Tops aren't better about using every second smartly and taking better advantage of each and every opportunity, games like Saturday will go against them next time.

Give The Kicker Some Love

Let me take a moment to show some love to the most consistent part of WKU's game this season, kicker Brayden Narveson. This redshirt sophomore, put the Tops ahead of the Golden Eagles on Saturday with a 24-yard field goal. Narveson has been the model of consistency all season for the Tops. He is the leading scorer with 42 points and netting 9-10 of his field goal kicks and has been perfect on extra point kicks. When the offense has been stagnant (which has been often) Narveson has still kept his poise and got the ball through the uprights when it was needed.

The kicker is never given enough love in wins and can be excoriated beyond belief in losses. So I think today Narveson should be given his due for the steady foot that he kicks with and how it's helped to keep the Tops in games and like Saturday gave them the win.