2020 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football team

2020 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football
2020 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football
Conference	Conference USA
	East Division
Record	0–0 (0–0 C-USA)
Head coach	Tyson Helton (2nd season);
Offensive coordinator	Bryan Ellis (2nd season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Ryan Aplin (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Clayton White (4th season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Maurice Crum Jr. (1st season)
Home stadium	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium; (Capacity: 22,113)
	Seasons ← 2019 2021 →

2020 Conference USA football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
East Division
Marshall xy	4	–	1	7	–	3
Florida Atlantic	4	–	2	5	–	4
Western Kentucky	4	–	3	5	–	7
Charlotte	2	–	2	2	–	4
Middle Tennessee	2	–	4	3	–	6
FIU	0	–	3	0	–	5
West Division
UAB xy$	3	–	1	6	–	3
UTSA	5	–	2	7	–	5
Louisiana Tech	4	–	2	5	–	5
North Texas	3	–	4	4	–	6
Rice	2	–	3	2	–	3
Southern Miss	2	–	4	3	–	7
UTEP	0	–	4	3	–	5
Championship: UAB 22, Marshall 13
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Note: Due to COVID-19, Old Dominion opted out of the season.

The 2020 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football team (WKU) will represent Western Kentucky University in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Hilltoppers will play their home games at the Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium in Bowling Green, Kentucky, as members of the East Division of Conference USA (C–USA). They will be led by second-year head coach Tyson Helton.

Previous season

The Hilltoppers finished the 2019 regular season 9–4, 6–2 in CUSA which they tied for second in the West Division with Marshall. The team was invited to play in the First Responder Bowl against Western Michigan, where the Hilltoppers took their ninth win of the season.^[1]

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award	Player	Position	Year
TBD

CUSA media days

The CUSA Media Days will be held virtually for the first time in conference history.^[2]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
Media poll (East Division)
1	Charlotte
2	FIU
3	Florida Atlantic
4	Marshall
5	Middle Tennessee
6	Old Dominion
7	Western Kentucky

Rank	Team	Votes
Media poll (CUSA Championship)
TBD

Preseason All-CUSA teams

To be released

Schedule

Western Kentucky announced its 2020 football schedule on January 8, 2020.^[3] The 2020 schedule consists of 6 home and 5 away games in the regular season.

The Hilltoppers had games scheduled against Indiana and Old Dominion, which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Date	Opponent	Site
September 12	at Louisville*	Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY
September 19	Liberty*	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium Bowling Green, KY
October 3	at Middle Tennessee	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium Murfreesboro, TN (100 Miles of Hate)
October 10	Marshall	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium Bowling Green, KY
October 17	at UAB	Legion Field Birmingham, AL
November 7	at Florida Atlantic	FAU Stadium Boca Raton, FL
November 14	Southern Miss	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium Bowling Green, KY
November 21	FIU	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium Bowling Green, KY
November 28	at Charlotte	Jerry Richardson Stadium Charlotte, NC
TBD	Chattanooga*	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium Bowling Green, KY
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[7]

Game summaries

Chattanooga

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mocs	0	0	0	0	0
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	0	0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
5–8	Nov. 3, 2007	WKU, 28–21

Liberty

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flames	0	0	0	0	0
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	0	0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
0–2	Oct. 19, 1996	LU, 23–14

at Louisville

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	0	0
Cardinals	0	0	0	0	0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–21	Sept. 14, 2019	UofL, 38–21

at Middle Tennessee

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	0	0
Blue Raiders	0	0	0	0	0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
33–36–1	Nov. 29, 2019	WKU, 31–26

Marshall

	1	2	3	4	Total
Thundering Herd	0	0	0	0	0
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	0	0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–7	Oct. 26, 2019	Marshall, 26–23

at UAB

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	0	0
Blazers	0	0	0	0	0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–3	Sept. 28, 2019	WKU, 20–13

at Florida Atlantic

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	0	0
Owls	0	0	0	0	0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–8	Nov. 2, 2019	FAU, 35–24

Southern Miss

	1	2	3	4	Total
Golden Eagles	0	0	0	0	0
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	0	0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–0	Nov. 23, 2019	WKU, 28–10

FIU

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	0	0	0	0	0
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	0	0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–6	Sept. 7, 2019	WKU, 20–14

at Charlotte

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hilltoppers	0	0	0	0	0
49ers	0	0	0	0	0

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–1	Oct. 19, 2019	WKU, 30–14

References

^ "Western Kentucky vs. Western Michigan". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
^ "Conference USA to hold virtual football media days due to COVID-19". ktsm.com. May 5, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
^ "Hilltopper Football 2020 Schedule Features 6 Home Games, 9 Bowl Teams". Western Kentucky University Department of Athletics. January 8, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
^ Myerberg, Paul. "Big Ten football reduces season schedule to only conference games, maybe setting stage for others to follow". USA TODAY. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
^ "ACC Announces Plans for Football and Fall Olympic Sports". TheACC.com. July 29, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
^ "Old Dominion postponing football and fall sports". The Virginian Pilot. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
^ "2020 WKU Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved March 14, 2020.

[1] "Western Kentucky vs. Western Michigan". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 30, 2019.

[2] "Conference USA to hold virtual football media days due to COVID-19". ktsm.com. May 5, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.

[2020sched-3] "Hilltopper Football 2020 Schedule Features 6 Home Games, 9 Bowl Teams". Western Kentucky University Department of Athletics. January 8, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.

[4] Myerberg, Paul. "Big Ten football reduces season schedule to only conference games, maybe setting stage for others to follow". USA TODAY. Retrieved 10 July 2020.

[aac-5] "ACC Announces Plans for Football and Fall Olympic Sports". TheACC.com. July 29, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.

[6] "Old Dominion postponing football and fall sports". The Virginian Pilot. Retrieved 2020-08-10.

[7] "2020 WKU Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved March 14, 2020.

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v t e Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football
Venues	Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium (1968–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Eastern Kentucky: Battle of the Bluegrass Middle Tennessee: 100 Miles of Hate Murray State: Battle for the Red Belt
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National championship seasons in bold