Thursday's practice started just as all practices have this season. However, Head Coach David Elson turned the intensity up to an even higher level and ordered the team to start the first period over from the beginning. The team responded and today’s practice finished a solid week of preparation for Ball State Saturday. The Hilltoppers are hungry for a victory and have put in a good week of work. WKU has not reinvented the wheel over the bye week so you will not see a completely new offensive and defensive scheme. What you will see is WKU football. Head Coach David Elson believes in execution and being a physical football team and that is exactly what the Cardinals will face this weekend.
There is more to being a physical football team then simply out-hitting your opponent. A physical football team will have a certain kind of swagger and will fight fearlessly, from the first whistle until the last. This type of football team strives to dominate their opponent for sixty minutes of football. You hit through the whistle and swarm the football. You block through the whistle and whip the guy in front of you. Running backs explode into tacklers and make a defense timid about stepping in front of them all game long. Defensive players punish the opposing offense and make their running backs tiptoe to the line of scrimmage. Defensive backs come up, de-horn receivers, and make them nervous about catching the ball. A physical football team will go full speed every down, play with discipline, reckless abandon for four straight quarters, and never back down from anyone. This type of team will play smart, never let up, never admit defeat and never surrender. When the game is over, win or lose, your opponent will know they have been in a slugfest from start to finish and are greatly relieved the game is over. A physical football team strikes fear in the heart of their opponent.
An organization will usually take on the personality of its leader. Coach Elson believes whole-heartedly in being a physical football team. In other words, a David Elson coached football team will never back down from any team and will play physical football for four quarters.
I have read several articles concerning what this team has to play for this season because WKU does not have a chance to earn a conference championship or bowl invitation.
This Hilltopper football team, without a doubt, has much to play for this season. You can always start with pride but this team is playing for something more precious and coveted then a ring or banner. This Hilltopper team is playing for a chance to make history.
How many chances does a person get to be a part of making history in a lifetime? Once? Twice, if you are extremely lucky?
Imagine you are a player on the team this season. You are part of the inaugural chapter in WKU's transition to division one football.
Your team has set a goal to win seven games and you earn a ring. However, the football program’s motto is "MAKING HISTORY". Think about these words for moment. You are a part of the first team in WKU's history to be a division one football team.
It doesn't matter that it is being called a provisional or transition season.
You paid the price over the summer in Coach Jim Nowell's strength and conditioning program.
You paid the price in the grueling grind and blazing heat of fall camp.
You are a member of the only team that history will name the first Western Kentucky University division one football team.
Now, in your imagination, fast-forward twenty-five years into the future. The setting is WKU’s season opener, September 2, 2032. The stadium is filled to capacity. After several expansions, there are over 70,000 rabid Hilltopper fans wrapped around the playing field. The Kentucky Wildcats are on campus to play the Hilltoppers and the atmosphere is out of this world.
WKU will honor the inaugural division one 2007 football team at halftime.
Much has been written all week about the 2007 team, the inaugural season, and how far the program has come in twenty-five years.
At halftime the players file onto the field and the roar from the Hilltopper nation is deafening. The fans are so loud you can barely hear the names called out over the stadium speakers as each player steps forward and waves to the crowd.
Number 53 Dusty Bear, Number 10 Marion Rumph, Number 13 Andre Lewis, Number 88 Jared Holland, Number 1 Tyrell Hayden, Number 20 Clay Stephens, and finally your name is called and you take your place next to your team mates.
Memories will flood your mind, as look you left and right. You view a once in a lifetime brotherhood that only you and the men standing next to you know what it is like to be part of.
You look out into the stands and see your wife, your children and your grandchildren. You see your parents and you remember all their travels and sacrifices to give you their support.
Your family looks down at you standing with the team. They wave, they have tears in their eyes, they are so proud of you.
The Hilltopper nation is standing on their feet and they render admiration and respect to you and your teammates.
There are now twenty-five division one teams in WKU's history but you and your teammates are the pioneers. Your team is the only team that will ever be honored as WKU's first.
Now rewind back to the present and put this season in a player’s perspective. Do you believe you do not have anything to play for?
If you limped through this season, could you stand there with pride in your heart knowing you could have done better but did not? Would a 5-7 or 6-6 record be good enough for you?
If it were you standing there on that day, would you believe in your heart that you made history or that history made you?
There are certain things in life you just cannot put a price on. The opportunity bestowed upon these young men to birth a new era of WKU football can certainly be considered one of them.
This team deserves all the support fans can give them by filling the stadium and letting them know at every opportunity that we believe in them and are behind them all the way.
The Hilltoppers do indeed have a lot to play for this season. They play for pride, each other, their coaches, team goals, Western Kentucky University and the fans. Most importantly, they are playing for the once in a lifetime opportunity to make history.