Head Coach: Tyson Helton is entering his 7th season as the head coach of the Hilltoppers with a 48-32 record. He’s been the hallmark of consistency, never missing a bowl and only in 2020 did he win less than 8 games. They have 2 conference championship game appearances under his watch and he’s also not afraid to shake things up if he feels it’s not heading in the right direction. We saw a little of that this offseason as he tries to get the Tops over the hump to win the conference.
Program Outlook: Western Kentucky is the top brand in CUSA. They built this brand first of all by winning but also because of Big Red their entertaining mascot that gets lots of attention and an equipment room that gives them extremely cool uniforms. Oddly enough they ended up here because they left the Sun Belt for CUSA in 2014, which is wild to think back on now. The Tops get a lot of regional foes in this conference and they’re definitely in a position to contend for a conference championship every year.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: Western Kentucky ranks 125th in the country returning 34.5% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. Which doesn’t sound promising but when you dive in further there’s some interesting key players. It starts with QB Maverick McIvor (Abilene Christian) who will lead the new offense, he’s a real gunslinger who notably threw for over 500 yards against Texas Tech last year. He knows this offense really well and comes in ready to light it up. They revamped the receivers through the portal and Western Illinois transfer Matthew Henry is definitely the most intriguing of the bunch, feels like he will be dangerous for this offense, and KD Hutchinson is the one holdover. The defense will be led by the secondary. Corner Kent Robinson is the leader back there and safety Demarko Williams is solid. They also added Temple transfer Jaylen Lewis who will help out. The question marks will start with the front on the defensive side, stopping the run was a huge issue last year and they basically portaled in an entirely new rotation for the front 6 so it will be interesting to see who emerges to lead this group, I have my eyes on Nevada transfer Mackavelli Malotumau at almost 300lbs he could help anchor the defense. On the offense they can mostly sling it around but they will need some sort of a rushing threat. OT Marshall Jackson is really good but they’ll need the rest of the line to come together around him to protect better in the pass game and open some lanes for the backs.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: Western Kentucky enters this year with potentially one of the most favorable schedules in the country. If I had to pick one thing I don’t like with the schedule it’s that they have a late November game at LSU in between a critical stretch in conference play. The other non-conference challenge will be a game at Toledo, and they also host Nevada. Their FCS foe will be North Alabama who went 3-9 last year. The CUSA schedule is very favorable mainly because they avoid Liberty. There’s also a nice on ramp to conference play where they face the newcomers first, then host FIU who has a new head coach before getting to the more challenging conference games. This schedule certainly provides the opportunity for a big season for the Tops.
Final Thoughts: 2025 is a fascinating year in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Despite the CUSA Championship game appearance, the late season slide made it really feel like things were going in the wrong direction but here comes the overhaul. New OC Rick Bowie comes over from Abilene Christian bringing his exciting air-raid attack with him, taking his QB with was a huge piece for that move. They also revamped the defense with new coordinators on that side of the ball. Now with this new group the goal is to win the conference especially with such a favorable schedule. This is a team to watch in 2025.
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