By Harry Minium
When Western Kentucky head football coach Tyson Helton was hired late last year, he reminded WKU fans of better times.
From 2014 through 2017, the Hilltoppers won two Conference USA titles and went to four bowl games.
A graduate of Houston, where he played for his father, Helton and had coaching stops at Hawaii, UAB, Memphis and Cincinnati before being hired as offensive coordinator in 2015 by Jeff Brohm, now the coach at Purdue.
In Helton’s two seasons there, the Hilltoppers won a Conference USA title and 20 of 27 games. Quarterback Brandon Doughty set national passing records and the Tops also won two bowl games.
He was, in the minds of most WKU fans, a connection to their storied past.
Photo courtesy of Steve Roberts, WKU athletics
But his start at WKU wasn’t exactly what fans dreamed of. The Hilltoppers lost to Central Arkansas, an FCS team, 35-28, in their first game after blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead.
Two days later, the Hilltoppers received the ignoble ranking as the worst team in America. USA Today ranked WKU No. 130 among the 130 FBS programs.
But that loss, or the ranking, didn’t define the Hilltoppers, who have rallied to win two of their three games since, including a 20-13 upset of unbeaten and defending C-USA champion UAB last weekend in Bowling Green. Their only loss since was a 37-21 defeat against Louisville, a pretty good ACC team, in Nashville, Tenn.
“It just felt like our kids really wanted this one bad,” Helton told the Bowling Green Daily News.
Helton was hired after the Hilltoppers fired coach Mike Sanford after a 3-9 season last year. The 42-year-old Helton is one of the youngest head coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision and came to WKU from with an impressive resume.
He coached the last two seasons at Tennessee, where he was the offensive coordinator. Prior to that, he was quarterbacks coach at Southern Cal, where he worked for his brother.
UAB is now ranked 103rd by USA Today, far better than being last, though not quite where WKU wants to be.
Although the Tops are 2-0 in Conference USA, difficult non-conference games remain with Army and Arkansas.
And then there is Saturday’s game with Old Dominion at S.B. Ballard Stadium, a contest that is critical for both teams.
ODU is 1-3, but the record is misleading. ODU was in contention late in the fourth quarter against Virginia Tech, Virginia and East Carolina.
A blown kickoff coverage against the Hokies, a pick-six against U.Va. and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown sealed the fate for ODU in all three games.
WKU is a 3 ½-point favorite, but Helton says he expects ODU will be ready for the Monarchs’ first C-USA game.
“I feel like they're a team that is basically like us last week against UAB,” Helton said. “They'll have something at home to prove, they'll have a chip on their shoulder, they'll be fired up and we have to go match that intensity.
“I think this is a really good ball club. They lost three games to really good, quality opponents.”
Linebacker Lawrence Garner is tied for 42nd nationally in total tackles.
Curiously, both schools were both known for their spread offense and high-intensity passing, but all that changed in the offseason.
ODU coach Bobby Wilder changed his offense to sync with his personnel, and the Monarchs now are huddling for the first time in their 11 seasons and have a run-oriented offense.
WKU has done much the same thing. The Hilltoppers won against UAB largely because they intercepted four UAB passes.
“We’re basically very much like each other,” Wilder said.
ODU is 1-4 against WKU, and lost the first three games of the series by 15 points or more.
ODU then lost a heartbreaker, 35-31, against WKU at home in 2017.
The Monarchs finally notched their first win against the Hilltoppers, 37-34, last season in Bowling Green.
ODU scored 10 points in the final nine seconds, thanks to three untimed downs. It made most national top ten lists for best finishes to a college football game in 2018.
Helter said “If we're going to go get a win at Old Dominion we're going to have to show up to the park mad and angry and have our knives sharp and ready to go to work.
“When I was here in 2015 and we went to Old Dominion, we were kind of like the UAB team that showed up here; they felt good about themselves – as they should have – they felt like 'hey let's go get a win' – as they should have.
“But they met a WKU team that was mad and ready to play and had something to prove - we're about to see that out of Old Dominion and we've got to match that intensity.”
S.B. Ballard Stadium experience was much better for ECU
I told you last week that ODU officials heard complaints from fans about some issues that occurred in the first game at S.B. Ballard Stadium and that those issues would largely be fixed.
Two of the major concerns – long lines at concession stands and at rest rooms – were much better. The lines were short last weekend when ODU hosted East Carolina and food was pumping out of concessions stands as quickly as you would expect from Aramark, which handles food at all ODU buildings.
Lines at ticket booths were also short, thanks to changes in policies made by Spectra and ODU.
I heard some complaints from fans about the clear-bag policy. Some hadn’t heard about it and were told to take their bags back to their cars. A few suggested to me on Twitter that ODU have lockers fans can rent outside the stadium where people can leave stuff.
Sounds logical, but it may be impractical. The clear-bag policy was implemented to improve security, and bags would have to be searched before they went into lockers.
The entire point of the clear-bag policy was to make the stadium more secure and to make searches of bags faster so that fans can get into the stadium faster. Clear bags are used at most college football stadiums in Virginia and at some point, ODU fans need to get accustomed to clear bags at home football games.
A reminder: you don’t have to purchase a clear bag. Simple bring a large Ziploc or Hefty clear bag.
Here’s a story on what you can and can’t carry into the stadium.
David Blackwell’s defense still standing strong
ODU’s offensive problems are well known – the Monarchs need to eliminate mistakes and establish a passing game.
But gone are the days when the media and fans would pick apart ODU’s defense.
Last season the Monarchs were often picked apart by opponents – they had one of the nation’s worst defenses.
ODU defensive coordinator David Blackwell.
This season, under new defensive coordinator David Blackwell, it has one of the nation’s best.
ODU is sixth in the nation in blocked kicks, 23rd in fumble recoveries, 15th in first downs allowed, 19th in rushing defense and 29th in overall yards allowed.
Linebacker Lawrence Garner is tied for 42nd nationally with 35 total tackles.
ODU would rank highly among points allowed were it not for touchdowns allowed by the offense and punt team in the last two games.
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu