They haven’t won a game in more than a year, they’ve lost more games in a row than any team in the country, their coach has been fired and their season has essentially been a nightmare.

Yet the Western Kentucky football team isn’t worried about any of that. Because, quite frankly, there’s no point.

As the Hilltoppers (0-10, 0-6 Sun Belt Conference) prepare for their last road contest of the season Saturday at Florida Atlantic (3-7, 3-3), they say they’re only interested in what’s ahead.

“If anything, I think guys have loosened up a bit and are just out here flying around and having fun,” WKU senior receiver Jake Gaebler said Tuesday. “We kind of lost sight of the fact that this is still a game and it’s supposed to be fun.

“And now we’re in a situation where we just want to have fun out here, we’re still working and we’re making progress.”

Given everything that’s happened to the WKU football team over the past three months - and more specifically in the past two weeks - the players said it was easy to forget football is a game and not a job.

As the losses mounted, the Hilltoppers admit the pressure built. Players were wound too tight, and none of relaxation tactics from coach David Elson seemed to loosen their minds.

But after recent developments - beginning with Elson’s firing on Nov. 9 and Monday’s hiring of former WKU quarterback Willie Taggart as Elson’s replacement - football seems like a game again.

Gaebler and company have said this group is the tightest-knit team many of them has ever known. And as they prepare to take to the road one final time, they just want to make the most of the situation.

“I think the team’s feeling good about everything, we had last week off and everyone got to go home and get away from this because of the bye week,” WKU sophomore safety Mark Santoro said. “Now we’re just ready to go play another game down in Florida.

“During the middle of the season we were pressing really hard, pressing, pressing, pressing. And in light of the events over the past couple of weeks, you realize that this is just a game - especially for us. And we just need to go out there and play and have fun. We did a good job of that when we played (Louisiana-Monroe) and hopefully we’ll do that again this week and come out with a win.”

After learning of his coaching demise Nov. 9, Elson brought the team together and gave them four things to focus on: A game against Louisiana-Monroe, a game against Florida Atlantic, a game against Arkansas State and school work.

After playing their best game of the season in a 21-18 loss to Monroe two weeks ago, Elson maintains the team is doing everything he’s asked and more.

“These guys have been consistent,” Elson said. “They want to win and they want to win for those seniors, but shoot, we’ve wanted that every week.

“They’ve had great attitudes and have done what we’ve asked them to do. I keep telling them it’s going to pay off, we just don’t know when. You have to keep coming and coming and they continue to do that.”