Western Kentucky is currently on a five-game winning streak and bowl-eligible after Saturday's 42-21 win at Rice. The Hilltoppers (6-4 overall, 5-1 in C-USA) will now prepare for former WKU head coach Willie Taggart and his Florida Atlantic Owls (5-5 overall, 3-3 in C-USA).
The Owls have dropped their last two games to Marshall (28-13) at home and Old Dominion (30-16) on the road.
Florida Atlantic is led offensively by quarterback N'kosi Perry, who is completing 59% of his passes for 2,230 yards and 17 touchdowns against just four interceptions. Perry transferred in from Miami (Fla.).
Their top rusher is Johnny Ford, who has tallied 735 yards rushing and five touchdowns on the season while averaging 6.7 yards per carry.
Defensively, the Owls boast the nation's fourth-best red zone defense, allowing opponents to score just 63.3% of the time.
Safety Jordan Helm is the team's leading tackler with 77 while defensive lineman Evan Anderson and linebacker Chase Lasater leads the Owls with 6.5 tackles for loss a piece.
Senior safety Zyon Gilbert leads FAU's secondary with 10 pass break-ups on the season and two interceptions. The Owls have three other defensive backs - Korel Smith, Teja Young, and Romain Mungin - that also have two interceptions a piece.
Summarizing Tyson Helton's press conference:
- Florida Atlantic week. Another huge week. Tough conference opponent. We have a playoff mentality. Really need the fans this week.
- FAU is a very explosive team. They have a lot of really good skill players. Going to take everything we got to win this game.
- Turnovers against Rice were not good. Zappe had an interception. We put two balls on the ground. We can't do that against FAU. We also have to get off the field on third down defensively.
- FAU is a really good football team. They have a really good offense and their defense is really good. They have one of the best red zone defenses in the country.
- Coach Taggart is a great coach. He's been successful everywhere he's been. He helped put this program on the map. I was one of the coaches that was able to reap some of the talent that was left behind by him.
- Last year's game was a defensive battle all the way. At the end of the game they brought in a new quarterback and he did a really good job. Anytime you bring in a mobile quarterback that can run and throw, that's a tough day at the park defensively.
What FAU head coach Willie Taggart said:
On redshirt sophomore running back Johnny Ford:
"I just want him to continue to play like he's playing. Johnny's continuing to get better every week. I think his attitude and approach to everything is better each and every week. I think the success he's having is giving him more confidence. We need Johnny to keep doing what he's doing, but we need other guys to come along with him. If we get some complement to that, we'll all feel better about our offense and what our offense can do. We just need some other guys to step up and play that way as well."
On facing his former team WKU for the first time on the road:
"I typically go back up to Bowling Green every year to visit. It's always nice to get back to Bowling Green and see where you spent half of your adult life at a place that's special to you. It'll be fun, but it's not about me. It's about us going to find a way to win against a really good football team. Western [Kentucky] is a good football team. Their quarterback is the real deal. This kid [Bailey Zappe] will be playing on Sundays. He's very talented. They have some very talented receivers. They've been playing for a long time and you can tell. They're all on the same page on what's going on. You have a defense that's created a lot of takeaways. They've had a lot of interceptions and fumbles throughout the season, especially in the last few games. They're a big challenge for our football team. We have to be at our best and we have to find a way to score some points."
On offensive improvements for this week:
"We move the ball. It's not like we can't do anything, but how can we finish drives? We need to be better in the red zone. When you go back and look at all of it, we're bad once we get down in the red zone. We have to be better in the red zone and getting touchdowns instead of kicking field goals. That's been our Achilles heel. Once we get down there, we don't do anything with it."
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