Sam Houston State had one of the best defenses in the conference last season. However, they don’t have one player returning on the defensive side of the ball. They also have new DC as Skyler Cassity is now in the same position at North Texas, with a lot of players following him. The Bearkats should play up-tempo which favors Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers bring over a new OC in Rick Bowie and QB Maverick McIvor from Abilene Christian along with other offensive weapons to take advantage of a now weaker Bearkats defense through the air.

After being unceremoniously pushed aside from his OC role at Wisconsin, Phil Longo landed on his feet at SHSU and inherits a 10-win team, and a program with which he's quite familiar after an OC stint for the Bearkats a decade ago. Though he's looking at a near-complete rebuild, especially on defense where no starters return from a platoon that ranked a very respectable 22nd over a year ago. Meanwhile, Tyson Helton has overseen potent Hilltopper attacks for the past six years, and believes portal add QB Maverick McIvor (via Abilene Christian) will be the next in succession of productive WKU QBs. Note that the Tops handled that good SHSU team last season by a 31-14 count in Huntsville. Play WKU

College football is just a few weeks away, and a game that is starting to see line movement is Sam Houston and Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers won at Sam Houston last season by double digits, 31-14 as a 1.5 point underdog. Now they will work in one of the oldest starting quarterbacks in all of college football in 25 year old Matthew McIvor, who also has his old offensive coordinator from Abiline Christian. Look for the Bearkats to stay in this one as they did last season, but do a better job post halftime with adjustments. Key number to get at ten in case of a push, but ultimately believe this is a one score game.