WESTERN PUTS IU MELTDOWN IN REAR-VIEW MIRROR, IMPROVES TO 3-1 ON THE SEASON

It had been an anxious few days at Western Kentucky University’s Houchens-Smith Stadium complex.

Poised to strike for a breakthrough victory at the University of Indiana, ready to strike a significant blow for Group of Five college football squads everywhere, the Hilltoppers couldn’t wait to get back on the field, couldn’t wait for a chance to redeem themselves.

Now WKU seems to have generated the kind of momentum the Hilltoppers will need to pursue a Conference USA championship.

Western Kentucky had victory within its grasp against Indiana, only to watch the Hoosiers pull out an improbable 33-30 overtime victory on September 17 at IU Memorial Stadium. On Saturday, just seven days after that stinging setback, the Hilltoppers were ready to bring the smack down on just about anybody in their way.

That proved to be the Florida International Panthers, a 31-point underdog.

Western Kentucky manhandled the Panthers, to the tune of 73-0, on a sun-splashed Saturday afternoon at Houchens-Smith Stadium. It was Western’s first shutout since the 2011 season.

It was 42-0 at halftime, 59-0 after three quarters and 73-0 when the Hilltoppers called it a day and the Panthers trudged to their locker room. Somehow, you got the feeling it all started in Bloomington, Indiana, when WKU couldn’t seal the deal against the Hoosiers.

Senior quarterback Austin Reed, like his WKU predecessor, the New England Patriots’ Bailey Zeppe, before him, has shown the ability to use the entire field, strike when the iron is hot and lead the Hilltoppers to victory.

In this case, a victory by 73 points.

“We wanted to show we can be a really good team, that we probably should be 4-0,” Reed said in the postgame press conference.

Reed was sharp, he was decisive and he took advantage of splendid protection from his offensive line. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound senior from St. Augustine Beach, Florida, was on point, completing 29 of 35 passes for 381 yards and five touchdowns. Fourth-year WKU coach Tyson Helton, a former college quarterback himself, tends to grade the position on a curve, but he admitted Reed’s performance was something special.

“(Reed) has done a great job for our football team,” Helton said afterward in the WKU team meeting room. “I’ve coached a lot of quarterbacks, so I have high expectations … I was really proud of my guys. We talked about going out there and playing at full speed, pedal to the metal, trying to be dominant and those guys really showed out today,”

Reed seemed to get everyone involved, firing a 78-yard touchdown pass to Campbellsville’s Malachi Corley to get the Hilltoppers on the scoreboard with 5:16 left in the first quarter.

After that, the points started coming in bunches.

Reed hit junior tight end Joey Beljan for a 9-yard TD pass in the first quarter, and then went back to Corley for another score, a 19-yard touchdown pass on a fade to the left corner of the end zone in the second quarter.

WKU placekicker Brayden Narveson, who had a critical missed field goal in the Hilltoppers’ three-point loss at Indiana, stayed busy with PATs and the Hilltoppers’ kickoff coverage team. Narveson also drilled a 30-yard field goal in the third quarter, when WKU coach Tyson Helton began to get some of his younger players into the game.

“The future looks bright, for some of our guys,” Helton said. “We’re about to hit a (scheduling) gauntlet, coming up, and that starts with Troy (on Saturday).”

Sophomore running back Kye Robichaux, a 215-pound sophomore from Columbus, Georgia, was an effective change of pace with the WKU running game. He had 10 carries for 63 yards, and Western teammate Davion Ervin-Poindexter had touchdown runs of 19 and 7 yards.

Helton also got a look at backup quarterbacks Darius Ocean and Caden Veltkamp, with Veltkamp, the 6-foot-5 freshman from South Warren High School finishing up in the last four minutes.

Veltkamp completed 3 of 4 passes for 25 yards and watched as WKU teammate L.T. Sanders scored on a sweep to the left side, a 31-yard touchdown run with 1:20 left in the game.

“It was awesome. We put together a great drive, and L.T. Sanders capped it off with the touchdown,” Veltkamp said via text message Saturday evening.

Austin Reed has a message for his teammates himself, after the near miss at Indiana that left the Hilltoppers winless, lifetime, against the Big Ten Conference.

“We had a saying around here the last week,” Reed said. “It was kind of like a joke, but it was also true. ‘FIU is going to pay for it.’ We were all kind of upset about how Indiana went … FIU was next on the schedule so they had to pay for what happened.

“We had to go out there and somebody had to take it.”

The Hilltoppers (3-1) will play host to Troy University (2-2), formerly Troy State, of the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.