WKU Delivers Perfect Day to Recovering Community

In the early morning hours of December 11, 2021, life changed for many that live in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Just hours earlier, different squalls of tornadoes ravaged western Kentucky, stretching from Fulton County to northwestern Grayson County, impacting nearly everything in its’ path.

The state was hurting.

Communities rallied around one another and truly showed the embodiment of the Kentucky state motto “United We Stand, Divided We Fall.”

Last weekend, just 18 hours after sections of Bowling Green were destroyed, the Western Kentucky University Men’s Basketball team took the floor in Atlanta and took down SEC foe Ole Miss. The community needed a win, and the team delivered.

As the past week went on, more was released on the devastation that the state has endured.

All of this brings us to Saturday, where WKU had another opportunity to make the city of Bowling Green, and the rest of the Commonwealth, proud; a football bowl game against Appalachian State and a home basketball game against Louisville. And boy did they deliver.

WKU rolls App State in Boca Raton Bowl

The Hilltopper Football team had a heck of a ride to get to Boca Raton. They opened the season with a win over UT Martin before dropping four straight games to Army, Indiana, Michigan State, and UTSA.

Throughout that stretch, the WKU offense was dynamic. Scoring points at will against teams thought to have solid defenses. Their defense was clearly holding them back.

As the competition took a bit of a dip from the brutal start, the ‘Tops really found their groove and rattled off seven straight wins and a rematch against UTSA in the C-USA championship.

The defensive struggles once again popped up and the Roadrunners won the crown, but WKU still received a bowl game opportunity against one of the Sun Belt’s better programs.

The storyline leading up to the game was centered around the App State defense that allowed less than 20 points a game and how they would line up against Bailey Zappe and the high-powered Hilltopper offense.

It took Zappe only 1:46 to answer who would win that storyline. That would be his offense, which rattled off 59 points and over 600 yards to take down the Mountaineers 59-38.

The bowl game was delivered.

Bailey Zappe soldifies name in history book

Bailey Zappe: the one name that every college football fan needs to be familiar with. Why? Well, the WKU quarterback now holds a pair of NCAA records for passing yards in a season and touchdown passes.

This past offseason, the Hilltoppers were looking for a spark for an offense that was dreadful the previous year. Head coach Tyson Helton made a change at the offensive coordinator position and brought in Zach Kittley, who was lighting it up at FCS school Houston Baptist.

Kittley made the move and brought his cupboard of weapons with him highlighted by Zappe and future All-American wide receiver Jerreth Sterns.

From there, you can say that the rest is history.

Zappe would go on to break Texas Tech’s B.J. Symons’ record for passing yards and LSU’s Joe Burrow’s record for touchdown passes during the win over Appalachian State. The Texas native wrapped up his year with 5,967 yards and 62 touchdowns.

Another win was solidified for the Bowling Green community.

WKU tops Louisville in matinee clash

The bowl game ended about 1:45 pm local time on Saturday in Bowling Green. Just 30 minutes later, the Hilltopper Basketball team was set to take on Louisville at historic Diddle Arena.

The on-campus arena sits less than half a mile from sections of the town that were hit by the tornadoes.

Louisville’s program joined WKU in collecting toys that would be distributed to victims of the storms. The two teams were coming together for a cause much bigger than anything we will ever know.

Once the ball was tipped, it was clear that the red-clad Hilltoppers were not going to be stopped. They put five players into double figures and came away with an 82-72 win over the Cardinals.

It was their first win against Louisville since 2008 and their first win in Bowling Green against them since 1950.

The perfect sports day for a distraught community was created.

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When I was in college at WKU, I had a broadcasting professor ask me what about the idea of covering sports I enjoyed the most.

I paused for a second and told him that sports are an escape from the real world for so many. It doesn’t matter what team you cheer for. When they are playing and you are watching, you get a sense of relief. Even if it is for however long the game is.

Yesterday, Bowling Green got that escape and a sense of relief.

As Kentucky governor Andy Beshear said on the floor at Diddle Arena before the game, “We are not broken.” Kentucky is a strong place.