Some say patience is a virtue.

So many around the Western Kentucky football program have been preaching patience this season, believing it will eventually pay off as the Hilltoppers move into the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.

But after a 2-7 start - and a five-game losing streak that is the school’s worst in 17 seasons - WKU coach David Elson doesn’t want to talk about patience or growing pains.

He’s more interested in the moment.

“It’s come up a few times about how this is going to be a tough process and we’re going to have to take our lumps and bumps - but I just don’t agree with that,” Elson said. “This is college football and we’re having a tough stretch right now, but we’re close and we’re not getting into how it’s going to be a long road or it’s going to be a process.

“I don’t want anybody to be patient with us. I want to win right now, I want to win this week. That’s the expectation and it starts with me. … We want to win now and learn how to win, so all this process or growing pain things or all that - I’m not really interested in it.”

Standing five games under .500 is somewhat unfamiliar to WKU and Elson. The coach has never experienced a losing streak this long, let alone a losing season.

Considering WKU’s struggles, missed chances and continual defeats, it’s natural for outside observers to start second guessing the Hilltoppers’ performance.

WKU junior offensive lineman Cody Hughes says he hears it all.

Hughes admits he sometimes drops in on Hilltopper Haven, an online message board for WKU fans. Hughes said what he reads sometimes hurts, but mostly he couldn’t care less.

“I have a habit of checking the Hilltopper Haven from time to time, and some of the things they say on there can really get you down,” Hughes said. “Some people in the community are riding coaches pretty bad, but it’s just not the case.

“Nobody’s opinion (of WKU football) matters to me other than my brothers (in the locker room) that I bleed and sweat with every day. Even if it’s a positive opinion, I’m not going to listen to it because some have no idea what they’re talking about.”

Elson has said he doesn’t have time to listen to outsiders’ opinions about the program. But he understands criticism is expected.

“All that is part of the world we live in today,” Elson said. “Whether it’s Division I athletics, whether it’s politics, there are going to be pluses and minuses to everything. There are going to be people that will be with you and there will be people that are going to be negative.

“I’ve always said people might just lie to my face and I understand that, but my experience has been overly positive and supportive. I’ve told our guys to just expect to get some negative things because people just don’t completely understand what goes into it. … I know it’s out there, and I also understand that it’s part of what we do and if you can’t deal with it, you’re not going to last long.”

Throughout the Hilltoppers’ two-year transitional period into the FBS, WKU has talked often about its “winning tradition.” That tradition has certainly been challenged this season, and the idea of riding out the storm doesn’t seem to fly with Hughes and his teammates.

As Hughes points out, this year’s seniors don’t have the option to wait.

“We have a senior class that there is no growing pains for, it’s now or never for them,” Hughes said. “It’s horrible to be in this situation at 2-7 and watch the seniors have to go through this. In high school as a senior, we went 2-7 and it was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had.

“No way, we play to win every week.”

Still, the Hilltoppers seem to be faced with two paths to follow: one of patience and one of living in the moment.

For now, this group appears to choose the latter.

“This isn’t the season we expected out of this team at all - we came in here and expected to have another winning season,” WKU junior linebacker Blake Boyd said. “The ball hasn’t bounced our way and things have happened, but we have three games left and we want to win all three.

“I don’t want (patience) and I don’t expect anyone else on this team to want it. If you asked them all, their answers would be the same . ... We expect that of ourselves and that’s what we want to be expected from our fans and people who follow us, we want them to expect us to be good.”