NOTING THE GAME – WKU vs. SOUTHERN MISS
WKU and Southern Miss met for the first time on Sept. 22, 2012, when a
then-program-record crowd of 23,252 saw the Hilltoppers defeat the Golden
Eagles by a score of 42-17 in Houchens-Smith Stadium. WKU outgained
Southern Miss 560-to-264, which included 136 yards from RB Antonio Andrews and 132 yards from RB Leon Allen.
The Golden Eagles returned to Bowling Green on Dec. 5, 2015, for the
Conference USA Championship Game, and the Hilltoppers came out victorious by a score of 45-28. WKU trailed Southern Miss by a score of 21-7 midway through the second quarter, and then 28-21 again early in the second half before scoring the final 24 points of the contest.
Last season marked WKU’s first-ever trip to Hattiesburg, and the Hilltoppers
came out on to with a 28-10 victory. WKU held Southern Miss to only 10 points, the fewest by the Golden Eagles at home since a 41-7 loss vs. Florida Atlantic on Nov. 16, 2013. QB Ty Storey completed 20-of-30 attempts for 225 pass yards, with 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.
DeANGELO MALONE APPROACHING RECORDS
With a career-high 12 tackles (5 solo, 7 assisted) at Florida Atlantic, the senior defensive end produced the fourth double-digit tackle game of his career.
After notching 2 sacks and TFL’s in that game, Malone inched closer to WKU’s FBS Era (since 2009) records in those categories. His 23 career sacks rank second in that time frame behind Quanterus Smith (24), while his 40.5 TFL’s rank third behind Smith (41) and Andrew Jackson (43).
For his efforts, Malone was named Defensive Senior of the Week by the
Reese’s Senior Bowl, and voted Ace Hardware Marketplace Player of the Game by WKU fans in a Twitter poll.
KEEP AN EYE ON ON SENIOR SAFETY DEVON KEY
A four-year starter on The Hill, the Lexington native is a leader on the defense and appears on many leaderboards among the FBS ranks.
With his 10th-career double-digit tackle game vs. Chattanooga, Key became
only the second Hilltopper in the program’s FBS Era (since 2009) to reach the 300-tackle plateau. The other – linebacker Andrew Jackson – recorded 326 tackles from 2010-to-2013 and tops the charts.
After his 11th career double-digit tackle game at Florida Atlantic, Key ranks
No. 4 among active FBS defenders with 323 tackles. He also ranks No. 4 among active FBS defensive backs with 39 consecutive starts in the secondary.
DIONTÉ RUFFIN MAKES A STATEMENT IN PROVO
Against No. 10/11 BYU this past Saturday, the Kenner, La., native stepped
up to the challenge of facing a Heisman hopeful and one of the best wide
receiving corps in the country.
Ruffin recorded his first career interception, breaking BYU quarterback Zach Wilson’s all-time program-record streak of 184 consecutive passes without an interception. Ruffin returned the interception for 28 yards, deep into the red zone leading to a touchdown on the following play for the first points scored on BYU off a turnover this season.
He played all 69 defensive snaps against the Cougars and allowed only one
reception for six yards on seven targets against him, lining up against the likes of star wide receivers Dax Milne and Gunner Romney.
