Courtesy of WKU Athletics
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – WKU Football claimed its sixth straight victory over “100 Miles of Hate” rival Middle Tennessee by taking down the Blue Raiders 49-21 on Saturday at Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium.
The Hilltoppers (2-1 overall, 1-0 Conference USA) have now beaten Middle Tennessee (1-2, 0-1) in all six meetings under Head Coach Tyson Helton and own a 38-35-1 record in the series. It was also the ninth win for WKU in the last 10 meetings with their rival.
The Hilltoppers put up over 600 yards of offense and 49 points – the most WKU has scored against the Blue Raiders in a game in Murfreesboro and third-most in a game against the rivals overall – in the win and had another strong defensive showing. Backup quarterback Caden Veltkamp — a former South Warren standout — came in after starter TJ Finley was injured and threw for 398 yards and five touchdowns, and also rushed for another touchdown, to highlight the performance.
Former Glasgow Scottie Dalvin Smith also threw a TD to Kisean Johnson to make it a 42-14 game with 3:28 remaining in the third quarter and took the 28-point lead into the fourth. Smith threw the third touchdown pass of his college career. He also threw a touchdown pass in the 2022 New Orleans Bowl and in the 2023 regular-season finale at FIU.
“Just really proud of our guys tonight and how they prepared all week for a big rivalry game. It meant a lot to us to get this win and get it in a decisive manner. Good to start 1-0 in conference play,” coach Tyson Helton said. “Hate that TJ got hurt, we’ll have to see when we can get him back and how everything looks. But, very proud of Caden Veltkamp coming off the bench; he’s done it before and he did it again. I expect nothing less but very proud of him for rallying the troops when T.J. went down.”
“We played fast offensively. The OL played really well, gave me time to throw the ball. The receivers ran great routes and got open – when the receivers are open you might as well throw it to them. Tight ends did a nice job and we ran the ball really well. I was proud of how we played offensively,” Veltkamp said. “You always want to win your rivalry game and coming down here to do it as the away opponent was awesome. We lit the scoreboard up, the defense held them.”
The Hilltoppers return home to face Toledo in a 6 p.m. CT game on Saturday, Sept. 21. WKU will celebrate Parent & Family Weekend at Houchens-Smith Stadium when the Rockets come to town.
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