BOWLING GREEN, KY. (WDRB) -- When they decided to take the step up to Football Bowl Subdivision at Western Kentucky University, this is what they pictured.
I'm not talking about the heart-wrenching 43-42 overtime loss to Louisiana Monroe Saturday night in the first game in Sun Belt Conference history between teams receiving votes in the Top 25 polls.
I'm talking about the scene. Houchens-Smith Stadium jammed with 22,323 fans. A homecoming crowd that was on its feet -- everybody, not just students -- for the entire fourth quarter. A town and university energized by a football team that was built from the bottom up and playing better than anyone thought it could.
I had to go down to the field after the game to make sure this kid playing quarterback for WKU was the same Kawaun Jakes I saw the past two seasons. Jakes was a guy who needed just one more completion last year to beat Kentucky, but couldn't find it. They'll tell you, he had trouble just running the right plays early in his career.
Now, you don't want any part of him. I've seen guys learn the offense and become better managers of their teams. I'm pretty sure I've never seen any college quarterback who has polished his sheer passing ability the way Jakes has. He went from having few of the throws to having nearly all of them. And he not only is throwing deep passes with authority, but with touch.
Jakes threw four touchdown passes in the first half Saturday and WKU looked as if it was ready to put Associated Press poll voters on alert.
ULM, a dangerous offensive team with a dual-threat quarterback in Kolton Browning who is as tough do deal with as anybody you'll find, ran up 117 yards in the first quarter of its win at Arkansas and 111 in the first quarter of its loss at Auburn. In the first quarter in Bowling Green Saturday night, it had only nine yards.
When was the last time this happened in college football? WKU safety Jonathan Dowling sneaked into the lineup and caught the first pass of the game from Jakes. Then, back at his free safety spot, he also caught the first pass Browning threw for his fifth interception of the season. Dowling, a 4-star recruit who transferred in from Florida and intercepted three passes at UK, is one reason this WKU team looks to be set for a long run. He's only a sophomore.
And there are more like him. Antonio Andrews is a junior. He ran 21 times for 104 yards Saturday night. Willie McNeal, wide receiver from Bradenton, Fla., is only a sophomore. He caught seven passes for 120 yards.
It was this kind of day in Bowling Green. I didn't pass anyone from the time I exited I-65 until I parked off University Boulevard who was not wearing some kind of red item. It's not like they've never had good football here. They've had their share. They won an NCAA Division I-AA national championship in 2002. But it hasn't been like this. This had more of a big-time feel.
And with that, of course, comes big-time disappointment. It's part of developing.
So here was WKU, up 28-7, and then the offense stalled. ULM started getting more pressure on Jakes than he could deal with. He was sacked five times. He didn't complete a pass in the third quarter. Normally given that kind of defensive support, ULM is accustomed to speeding past an opponent. But in this case, it took until early in the fourth quarter just to tie the game at 28-28.
Then WKU rallied. It used a 10-play, 64-yard drive, including a fourth-down conversion pass from Jakes to tight end Jack Doyle, and a TD run by Andrews put WKU up 35-28 with 2:29 to play.
Here's how close it is, sometimes. WKU sacked Browning on the next possession and his knee hit just a few feet from the end zone. Almost a safety. Browning scrambled on third down, slid to a stop, a WKU tackler was called for a personal foul.
"I don't think he hit him," Taggart said. "I thought he jumped right over him."
Close. Instead of a safety, or a stop, Browning drove the team 98 yards in two minutes to tie it up.
Here's how close it is. WKU's Kiante Young took a short kickoff, made a couple of moves and sprung free down the sideline for a touchdown. But whistles were blowing. They said Young's knee had touched the field on one of his fakes. Taggart still doesn't believe it.
"He wasn't down," Taggart said. "For the (ref) on our sideline to call that and not the ref behind him -- he wasn't down."
Because the whistles blew, it doesn't matter. The play was dead.
Overtime. WKU got the ball first and needed two plays to score a touchdown. ULM took the ball and needed four plays. Then the Warhawks went for two. WKU flushed Browning from the pocket, but couldn't catch him. He sprinted right, found Rashon Caesar in the end zone for the winning conversion.
Here's how close it is. A conversion fails and WKU is being talked about for the Top 25. ULM converts, and maybe it'll find itself in the polls.
WKU was on the wrong end of a close one Saturday night. But here's the important thing. This program is close. I know it has happened fairly quickly under Taggart, but this is a legitimate football team. Its skill players are the real thing. Quanterus Smith and Andrew Jackson are the real thing.
And its coach is, too. Here's what Taggart said he told his players afterward.
"Don't pout and throw your pads all over the place," he said. "We don't do that anymore. I want you to be upset, I'm upset too. But we've still got five ball games and that's just the second loss on the season. We can't just put our head down and turn the other way. We've got to suck it up and get back to work and see to it that it doesn't happen again. We've got a good football team and a loss hurts, especially a loss like that. But we did it to ourselves. We were up. We should have stayed up."
And he expects his team to get back up next week for Florida International.
Unlike last season, when not winning the Sun Belt meant not getting to a bowl game, this team has a chance to make school history. And at 5-2 overall, 2-1 in the conference, still has a chance to win the conference, though that could be out of its hands.
"All we control is those five games we have left," Taggart said. "We feel like everybody that's left, we can beat them. We just can't go out and beat ourselves. We're in a better position than we were last year, overall. All we can control is these five ball games. It's on us. It's on us."
Let's face it. There have been plenty of Saturdays just like this one where people in Bowling Green might've cared more about the game going on in Lexington that night than the one on the WKU campus that afternoon. But it wasn't that way this Saturday.
WKU missed a big opportunity Saturday night. But it has plenty of opportunities to come.
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