Jim Mashek

WKU OPENS C-USA PLAY WITH EMPHATIC TRIUMPH OVER MTSU; VELTKAMP THROWS FIVE TD PASSES

MURFREESBORO, Tennessee — It was Western Kentucky’s first offensive series, in its Conference USA opener against traditional rival Middle Tennessee State University on a damp Saturday night.

T.J. Finley, the import quarterback by way of LSU, Auburn and finally Texas State, appeared to injure his lower right leg while taking a sack against the Blue Raiders. He was carried off the field by a couple WKU teammates, while sophomore backup QB Caden Veltkamp quickly warmed up on the sideline.

Check that.

Veltkamp jumped into a microwave of sorts at MTSU’s Johnny Floyd Stadium.

On his third snap from center, the 6-foot-5, 236-pound Veltkamp found standout tight end River Helms in the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown pass, and it was definitely a sign of things to come.

Try WKU 49, MTSU 21 on for size.

Veltkamp was almost flawless against the Blue Raiders, completing 27 of 30 passes for 398 yards and FIVE touchdowns in Western’s impressive rout of MTSU. He added a 1-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, moving the pocket and finding check-down receivers when he wasn’t challenging the Blue Raiders with the deep ball.

It was WKU’s sixth consecutive victory over MTSU in the long-running series that dates back to their days in the Ohio Valley Conference. WKU improved to 2-1 overall in its Conference USA opener, while MTSU dropped to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in C-USA. The Tops will play host to Toledo on Saturday night at Houchens-Smith Stadium. Toledo upset Mississippi State, 41-17, in Starkville, Mississippi to set the stage for an intriguing intersectional matchup at The Houch.

As you might expect, seventh-year WKU head coach Tyson Helton was thrilled with his team’s showing. Not to mention Veltkamp’s performance, a masterpiece reminiscent of his showing in last year’s Famous Toastery Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina, when the former South Warren High School star passed for 383 yards — and FIVE touchdowns — in a dramatic 38-35 victory over Old Dominion University.

“I hate that T.J. got hurt, but we’ll have to see how he is when we get back (to Bowling Green),” Helton said. “But we’re very proud of Caden Veltkamp, coming off the bench … He’s done it before, and he did it again.

“I expect nothing less, but very proud of him for rallying the troops when T.J. went down.”

It might be a serious injury, too, as Finley left the Floyd Stadium playing field on crutches and with a protective boot on his lower right leg.

“Caden’s always ready,” Helton said. “He never blinks … he has so much confidence.”

It’s a quiet confidence, too, which isn’t surprising in that Caden Veltkamp is the son of a coach, WKU strength coach Jason Veltkamp. His kid brother, Colton Veltkamp, is a star linebacker and tight end for the unbeaten South Warren football squad.

“The game is almost easy when you have a teammate like T.J.,” Caden Veltkamp said in the stadium tunnel shortly after the game. “We’re always communicating on the sideline. We played fast, offensively. We ran the ball really well.

“The offensive line played really well, the receivers ran great routes, and got open. It’s awesome. You always want to win a rivalry game.”

Veltkamp won a few of them, while guiding South Warren to the KHSAA Class 5A state championship in 2021. He enrolled at WKU a month or so later, to participate in spring drills before a redshirt freshman season. Veltkamp backed up Austin Reed, now a practice squad quarterback for the NFL’s Chicago Bears, and briefly entered the NCAA Transfer Portal last December before deciding to return to the HIlltoppers for his sophomore season.

First-year MTSU coach Derek Mason, the former Vanderbilt head coach, has plenty to think about before Saturday afternoon’s home game against Duke University.

“It’s a combination of things, but I’ll go down the laundry list,” Mason told Cecil Joyce of the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro. “We’re solid inside, but the edges are soft and vulnerable. If you want a defense that gets off the field, you have to build a wall inside and you have to set an edge. It really starts there.

“We never really hit (Veltkamp) hard. We didn’t win enough one-on-ones outside, and didn’t tackle well. That, combined with third downs (WKU converted seven of 10 into first downs) … all of that is a recipe for not playing good defense.”

WKU, in turn, had a goal-line stand late in the second quarter, with senior defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler making the fourth-down stop to turn the ball over. The Hilltoppers took a 21-0 lead into the locker room for halftime.

WKU’s Kisean Johnson, a senior wide receiver transfer from Alabama State, an HBCU school in Huntsville, Alabama, led the Hilltoppers with eight receptions for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Veltkamp found Johnson in the back of the end zone for a 6-yard TD pass in the final moments of the first quarter, and Glasgow’s Delvin Smith, an NFL prospect and senior wide receiver, burned the Blue Raiders on a gadget play with 3:28 left in the third quarter.

Smith took a lateral that may have looked like an ordinary swing pass before throwing to Smith along the right sideline for a 36-yard touchdown pass that made it 42-14 in the third quarter.

“Dalvin put it right on the mark,” Helton said with a smile.

The Hilltoppers’ Easton Messer converted a sideline pass into a diving touchdown reception, scoring on a 10-yard TD pass that made it 21-0 with just 18 seconds left in the first half. The Blue Raiders’ offense came to life in the second half, but Caden Veltkamp and Co. were still traversing the field at a remarkable clip to stay comfortably in front.

“We had a great defensive plan coming into the game,” WKU cornerback Anthony Johnson said.

WKU’s L.T. Sanders carried the ball eight times for a team-high 54 yards, and the Tops finished the game with 150 yards on the ground. Third-team QB Turner Helton took the Hilltoppers the length of the field in the game’s final five minutes, with the Hilltoppers taking a knee at the MTSU 1-yard line rather than add a cosmetic touchdown at game’s end.

“I was really happy with how we finished the game,” WKU coach Tyson Helton said. “We ran the ball on every play (of the drive).”

WKU’s players were all smiles as they grabbed their box lunches and got on the charter buses for the 100-mile journey back to Bowling Green, and the Hilltoppers are looking forward to playing in front of their home crowd on Saturday night against Toledo.

“It meant a lot, to get this win, and win in a decisive manner,” Helton said. “We like to tell the defense, ‘we’ll go as far as you can take us.'”

Caden Veltkamp and the Tops certainly played complementary football under the lights at MTSU. They’ll have a major challenge in front of them with the unbeaten Rockets of the Mid-American Conference on Saturday night.