Throughout Western Kentucky’s five-game losing streak, coach David Elson has consistently defended his players, saying he couldn’t ask for a better effort.

That didn’t change Monday when Elson talked about Saturday’s crushing home loss to North Texas.

He has, however, put more pressure on himself and the coaching staff to find a way to end the Hilltoppers’ worst skid in 17 years.

“I’ve challenged myself and I’ve challenged our entire football program, and that definitely includes our staff as well,” said Elson, who also serves as the team’s defensive coordinator. “That extra degree that we’ve talked about is across the board. I believe it always starts with me and our staff.

“We’ve got to do those little things and extra things also to put us over the hump. I believe we are, but this week, we’ve got to find a little bit more.”

Elson took over the defensive play-calling duties from then-coordinator and current special teams coach Mike Dietzel with six games remaining in the 2005 season. Since that change, the Hilltoppers are 17-21 and have allowed 25.1 points per game.

Elson was asked Monday if the time had come to find another coach to call defensive plays - allowing Elson to focus more on both sides of the ball.

“Every day of my life I evaluate and ask what’s the best way to go about doing this,” Elson said. “And I’ll evaluate that at the end of the season and see what I think, with our staff makeup and those things, my best role will be.

“But as of right now, we’re continuing on the same path and we’ll keep plugging away.”

So despite the team’s struggles and 2-7 record, it appears there won’t be any shuffling of staff responsibilities in the near future.

“We haven’t changed any responsibilities from week to week; that’s never happened,” Elson said. “We made a change two years ago with our offense, and four years ago I took over the defense, and other than that we’ve made some adjustments in the offseason.

“But during the course of the season, I’ve never been one to think that (is necessary), other than the year where I took over the defensive play-calling during the year.”

Maintaining a course is something Elson often talks about, and he said he feels the pieces are still in the right places.

“We’re on course. We’ve got great coaches who are doing a good job,” Elson said. “We’ve got players who are doing what we ask them to do. Bottom line is, come Saturday, we need a little bit better (offensive) play-calling, a little bit better defensive calling and a little bit better execution and we’re going to win a game.”

Slow start

The Hilltoppers said Saturday night that coming out flat to start the game against North Texas wasn’t an issue. But that tune changed a bit after the team watched film Sunday.

“Saturday we came out sluggish in that first drive, the second drive and we just couldn’t put it together (early),” freshman safety Ryan Beard said. “In general, we play hard, we play fast, we’re a family out there and take care of each other - we’ve just got to look at the little things and get back to work.

“I don’t think it’s physical effort at all. We had guys that could hardly walk off the field. That’s how hard we’re playing. We’ve just got to be more focused and have better technique.”

Elson said the main defensive differences between the first and second halves - most notably the third quarter - was on the defensive line.

“They scored 21 points in the first quarter so we obviously weren’t doing something (right),” Elson said. “(Look at) the first run play of the first half and the first run play of the second half, and you see a 180-degree about face and it was up front.

“We came out in the second half with our jaw set and ready to dominate the line of scrimmage, and for whatever reason in the first quarter, we just, I don’t know. Sometimes there’s not really a clean-cut answer on why that is. We were looking around a little bit more instead of just coming off and being aggressive.”

Injury update

WKU junior center Lloyd Pressley was removed in the first half of Saturday’s game with what Elson called a concussion.

Elson said Pressley must be further evaluated before Saturday’s game against Troy. Redshirt freshman Shelley Anthony filled in for Pressley for most of the North Texas game.

“He had a concussion and he just had some head issues. I don’t know if we’re calling it mild or slight, but we’ll know more (this week),” Elson said.

Elson also said that the team is still unsure about the status of redshirt freshman running back Bobby Rainey, who is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery.

“I’d be overly optimistic if I said he was going to play on Saturday,” Elson said. “But you never know - he’s very tough and resilient, so we’ll take it day by day.”