The Hilltoppers were looking to rebound the crushing loss they took last Saturday against Indiana, and they did just that. WKU played exceptional on both sides of the ball, which quickly turned this game into a blowout. The defense showcased their best performance of the entire season, holding the Panthers scoreless. They've shown steady improvement week by week and that credit goes to new defensive coordinator Tyson Summers, who has done a great job to start the season. This was an all-around team effort this afternoon and the Hilltoppers didn't come to play around.

The defense set the tone from the jump and you could just tell that WKU was playing with a fire lit under them the whole game. They tackled well, defended the pass, and kept everything inside the numbers, making it more than hard for FIU to move the ball. This is what you call a one-sided game, literally.

The Panthers couldn't even get into field goal range, let alone the end zone. Each drive of FIU ended in a punt besides one, and that's when quarterback Haden Carlson threw an interception to Kahlef Hailassie.

WKU's Austin Reed deserves more credit for the smooth transition he's made from D-II to FBS, because he's looking like one of the best quarterbacks in Conference USA. Reed nearly had a perfect first half, with five touchdown passes and only three incompletions, which is absurd.

"Guys were getting open and just making a bunch of plays," said Reed. "It's just a great overall team performance on offense and defense."

He finished his excellent performance with 381 passing yards and five touchdowns, completing 29 of his 35 attempts.

Those touchdowns were to multiple receivers, but Malachi Corley is starting to become the go-to guy for WKU when they need someone to make a play. Corley opened up the scoring outburst for WKU with a 76-yard touchdown on a screen pass, then caught another touchdown pass for 19 yards in the second quarter. He's made the most of his increased role and touches this season. WKU went on to have three other touchdown passes from Austin Reed and one rushing score from Davion Ervin-Poindexter to go up 42-0 at halftime and basically tie a bow around the game in just 30 minutes of action.

You guessed it, the Hilltoppers picked up exactly where they left off as they continued to dominate on both sides of the ball. FIU still couldn't end a drive with points as the WKU defense was too much for them all afternoon.

WKU's offense was still able to put up 17 points in the third quarter, but they eventually put in some younger, less experienced players due to the gap in scoring. Coach Helton wanted to give some reps to other guys just to get them more comfortable with the speed of the game and just so he can see what they could potentially bring to the table.

Backup quarterback Darius Ocean came in and showed off some of his potential with a 44-yard touchdown strike to Easton Messer that extended the Hilltoppers lead even further. Ocean brings the dual-threat aspect to this offense and it'll be exciting to see what he can do in the future when his name is called upon.

Seventy-three points is the most points FIU has given up in their history. This is also the first shutout from WKU since 2011, which is a great to build off of and raise the standard of Coach Summers' defense.

By the time the fourth quarter started, the lead for WKU was 59-0. FIU was in progress of one of their better drives when they fumbled the ball, then it was recovered by Aaron Key for a 52-yard touchdown.

" I did my assignment," said Key, "He dropped the ball, I picked it up and took it to the crib, it was good."

Lastly, they had another offensive touchdown by freshman running back LT Sanders, who came in and ran the ball with great energy, allowing him to have multiple big runs.

FIU needs to put this one behind them as soon as possible if they have any chance of bouncing back from this blowout.

WKU sent a message to the rest of C-USA with this statement win and if they can continue to keep up their good play, they'll be front runners to win the conference championship, something they couldn't achieve last season.

The Hilltoppers will be back in action on October 1st at home against Troy at 6:00 PM CT.

****

Talk about it on RED TOWEL TALK.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

Follow us on Twitter: @WKU_Rivals, @SeanW_Rivals, @robholmesiv, @TheCaseyWarner, @HanaLei91, @DBo83

Like us on FACEBOOK.