WKU defense puts up strong first quarter at No. 4 Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -WKU football fell 38-0 at No. 4 Indiana on Saturday, but despite the loss, the Hilltoppers had their fair share of bright spots in the game.

After giving up 49 points in its season opener at Nevada, Western’s defense knew it had some things to clean up.

Two weeks later, in the home of the defending national champions, the Hilltoppers showed just how much progress they’d made.

“Defensively, we did some really good things,” head coach Tyson Helton said. “All the things we had talked about, about being in it and about wanting to be a defensive-led team because you really need to be in those games. I thought they did a good job. It was great to see those third down stats, and we need to go out there and do it again.”

Those third-down stats indeed were impressive. Indiana converted just twice on 10 third down opportunities on the day.

The Tops also picked up their first red zone stop of the season, in addition to holding Indiana scoreless in the first quarter of the game.

Ultimately, the Hoosiers turned it up a notch after that, going on to score 38 points, but that first quarter performance was enough to see the progress WKU’s defense has made, while the Tops now focus on giving that much effort to all four quarters.

“In years past, we’ve played our best football when our defense is finishing all the way through,” Helton said. “Usually our offense in the second half is able to be hitting on all cylinders, and the defense keeps you in it.”

“We did some good things, but it wasn’t good enough,” defensive tackle Mackavelli Malotumau said. “We lost. We got to get back to the drawing board, look ourselves in the mirror and get back ready for the next week.”

The Tops will hope to showcase even more improvement when they play at home for the first time this year against Mercyhurst this Saturday, September 26, at Houchens-Smith Stadium.