WKU Football: Tops Drop Game They Have No Business Losing in Overtime, 31–30
The good news — WKU got what they wanted. They sold out Smith Stadium in the first ever vist to Feix Field by an SEC team, and it will go down in history as the largest crowd to watch a WKU football game in Bowling Green.
The bad news — the Tops are now 2–2 on the season following a 31–30 overtime loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores in a game the Tops should have won.
Outside of the result of the game (not just a loss, not just an overtime loss, but a loss in which the Tops didn’t trail during regulation), there was a lot of positives that came out of the game.
Ace Wales not only played, but he was more effective than we could have imagined coming into the day. Wales finished the game with 157 rushing yards on 24 carries and nother 16 receiving yards with two touchdowns (also having come on the ground), including the first touchdown of the game to cap the first drive of the day.
Tyler Ferguson unloaded a 61-yard touchdown pass to Nacarius Fant in the second quarter to give WKU a 14–0 lead, but Vandy responded with a pair of rushing TD’s from Ralph Webb to tie the game at 14–14 in the third quarter.
Ace notched his second rushing score in the fourth quarter to put the Tops up 21–14 before the squad’s swapped field goals to set up the final drive of regulation for Vandy with 1:02 remaining.
Vandy stormed down the field — and got a gift from the WKU defense with a pass interference penalty in the endzone to put the ball at the two — in the final 62 seconds and scored to force overtime as time expired.
The Commodores scored on their first OT possession and the Tops answered in just two plays, and decided to go for two to try and win the game.
It didn’t work. Vandy wins. We are all very, very sad.
The final play of the game ended, of course, with a deflected ball at the line, which is something Vandy’s defensive front was able to do all game and finished with double-digit deflected passes. It was almost poetic that that’s how the game came to an end.
Long story short — the Tops should have won this ballgame. No, this wasn’t a 2014-esque loss with a big lead being blown in the second half, but the defense played so well and Vandy had such trouble moving the ball all night, you’d expect to be able to hold them for just over a minute.
They were not.
A lot of folks are okay with Brohm going for two and trying to win. I’m still not 100% sure if I’m okay with the decision, but I know I would have kept the ball on the ground with how good a day Ace had.
It’s a frustrating loss, without a doubt. It’s a game the Tops should have won, also without a doubt. There are some things to build upon and some good takeaways, yes. But it’s disappointing to not be 3–1 at this point.
