Jim Mashek

WESTERN FINISHES SEASON AT 9-5, TURNS FOCUS TO 2023 SEASON

NEW ORLEANS — Western Kentucky was sporting a 14-0 lead. The Hilltoppers’ uptempo offense was on fire. First-year WKU quarterback Austin Reed was slinging it.

It was the opening moments of the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl’s second quarter, on the floor of the massive Caesars Superdome, and the Hilltoppers were just 25 yards away from making it a three-touchdown game.

You can’t blame the well respected South Alabama defense for playing aggressively.

But Reed and the WKU offense were poised for a change of pace.

Reed slipped the ball to Hilltoppers sophomore wide receiver Dalvin Smith on what looked like a swing pass to the right flat, and the Jaguars swarmed to the football. Only problem was Reed had actually got the ball to Smith on an overhand lateral, and Jaylen Hall bolted into the great wide open, in this case an otherwise empty end zone.

Smith, who passed for 930 yards and 13 touchdowns in his final season at Glasgow High School, caught the Jaguars out of position for a deft 25-yard TD pass to Hall with 13:44 left in the first half. It was 21-0 and the party had begun.

Final score, Western Kentucky 44, South Alabama 23.

The score was closer than the game indicated. The Jaguars, to their credit, tried to keep pace with Reed and the Hilltoppers, but they had no chance. South Alabama, a 4.5-point favorite, didn’t seem to know what hit them. Western finished Tyson Helton’s fifth year as the WKU head coach with a 9-5 record, while the Jaguars dropped to 10-3 overall.

Reed completed 36 of 55 passes for a career-high 497 yards and four touchdowns, and the Hilltoppers’ fans were ready to hit Bourbon Street as the clock struck midnight shortly thereafter.

Dalvin Smith is just one of the WKU receivers returning to The Hill with Reed at the controls next season. Helton said the Hilltoppers had not shown that trick play all season, but they “practiced it all the time.”

It showed in Western’s execution.

The Hilltoppers landed another haymaker and they’d take a 31-3 lead into halftime.

“It was kind of an inside joke,” Helton said in the postgame press conference. “You have those ‘bank plays’ … I told (WKU offensive coordinator) Ben Arbuckle, ‘Pedal to the metal,’ and it paid off big time.

“Our defensive front really dominated tonight, too, and that was great to see.”

As you might expect, South Alabama coach Kane Wommack was less than thrilled.

“It was a complete breakdown, for us, defensively,” Wommack said.

WKU’s Dalvin Smith put it this way:

“Once they called (the play), I knew it was going to be a touchdown … It was the greatest thing ever, I’m not going to lie …”

Reed guided the University of West Florida to the NCAA Division II national championship in 2019 and chose to leave that program last spring, after his predecessor at WKU, the New England Patriots’ Bailey Zappe, was chosen in the fourth round of the NFL Draft.

Reed entered the NCAA transfer portal at the end of the regular season, and his logical destination seemed to be the University of Louisville, just a two-hour drive up Interstate 65. Former WKU coach Jeff Brohm had been hired at Louisville, his alma mater, and he’s been known to throw it around the place, too.

But after a week or so of reflection, Reed decided to stay with the Hilltoppers for what amounts to a sixth season of college football, in part because of the 2020 COVID-19 season.

Some WKU boosters sweetened a potential NIL deal, in hopes of keeping Reed, and you can expect billboards of the prodigious passer next season all over the western half of the Commonwealth.

Shoot, maybe as far east as Cincinnati.

Reed’s impending return makes the Hilltoppers a team to watch in 2023.

“Tonight was a perfect example, for why I came back (to WKU),” Reed said. “These receivers, they all did a good job when their number was called. When we got going with (offensive) ‘tempo,’ we could get some mismatches out there.”

Reed unleashed a 44-yard touchdown pass to Dalvin Smith in the ‘Tops first offensive series. He slipped the ball to junior tight end Joey Beljan for a 27-yard TD pass to make it 14-0 midway through the first quarter. Carter Bradley and the South Alabama offense, meanwhile, were going nowhere.

Bradley got the Jaguars in the end zone three times after halftime, but they were cosmetic touchdowns, mere footnotes to Austin Reed’s record-shattering performance in the Superdome.

“This one hurts. It hurts, bad,” Bradley said.

The Jaguars had lost just two games beforehand, a 32-31 loss at UCLA in September and a 10-6 loss to Troy University, at home, in October. The Sun Belt Conference had gotten off to a good start in bowl season, winning its first three postseason games, including two over Conference USA opponents.

Western’s players evidently were not impressed.

“Honestly, I would say we outworked them,” WKU sophomore receiver Dalvin Smith said. “The ‘tempo,’ they couldn’t really stay with us … When I walked out on the field tonight, I felt like I was going to have a good game.”

Reed shared the wealth, throwing deep fairly frequently to keep the Jaguars guessing in the secondary. He offered a self-effacing explanation afterward, saying his “backs and receivers make me a better player than I really am …”

No one who watched the game was likely to buy that one.

Malachi Corley led the Hilltoppers with 10 receptions for 115 yards and two touchdowns, and Derrick Smith and the WKU defense held their end of the bargain with sure-handed tackling.

The Krewe of ‘Toppers was riding high in this one.

They’ll be back on the field for spring football practice in three months or so, ready to contend for the school’s third Conference USA championship.

In the meantime, NFL scouts are going to be flocking to Bowling Green, to get a look at Austin Reed, his receivers, maybe a defensive lineman or two.

Tyson Helton paid tribute to his WKU senior class, his coaching staff and the school’s administration, just about everyone who had a hand in this resounding victory.

“It was important, to our team, to showcase our ‘brand,'” Helton said. “Tonight was a special night for us … We talked about having a ‘championship mentality.’ They really had their jaw set.

“They made play after play.”

While adding plenty of intrigue to the 2023 season all the while.