Western Kentucky players celebrate Thursday, September 1, 2016, after a play during the season opener against Rice at Houchens Industries-L. T. Smith Stadium. (Bac Totrong/photo@bgdailynews.com)

Western Kentucky redshirt junior quarterback Mike White mastered the moment on Thursday night at Houchens-Smith Stadium, producing a truly spectacular debut as the Hilltoppers’ new starter in a 46-14 rout against Conference USA rival Rice.

White can thank his teammates – past and present – from the 2015 squad for making this moment matter as much as it did. Coming off a 12-2 campaign that delivered the program’s first C-USA title – in just the Tops’ second season in the league – and an impressive 45-35 win over South Florida in the Miami Beach Bowl that helped the program achieve its first-ever AP Top 25 ranking (No. 24), expectations have risen a notch or two for WKU football.

Questions needed answers – namely at quarterback, where White won a drawn-out competition to replace longtime starter Brandon Doughty, who took his talents to Miami to play for the NFL’s Dolphins.

Doughty was just part of WKU’s talent drain, one of three NFL draft picks and more than a half-dozen players from last season’s team battling for jobs in the pros. That kind of talent loss would affect even most Power 5 schools, let alone a rising program like WKU.

The talent drain wasn’t restricted to players, either. Third-year coach Jeff Brohm had to replace six coaches from last season’s staff, a reflection on the Tops’ success but also a potential nightmare for continuity.

Against Rice, the Tops provided an emphatic answer. Brohm turned White loose for deep throws against the Owls’ porous secondary, and the strong-armed QB was on the money early and often. White had help, to be certain – the Tops’ veteran offensive line provided plenty of pocket protection, and WKU’s receivers consistently managed jaw-dropping separation for long gains.

Still, Brohm’s confidence in White was evident by the Tops’ attack-mode game plan. With two experienced running backs in Anthony Wales and D’Andre Ferby (who left early with an injury), the Tops likely could have ground out a win behind that experienced line and slowly ramped up the passing game. But when Rice had some success slowing the run game early, Brohm didn’t hesitate to take shots deep.

“We wanted to run the ball a little bit more than we did,” Brohm said. “We were not as effective as I’d like to be, but we were able to hit some shots up the field. Sometimes, the ability to be a great team is to be able to do both things.”

WKU’s defense did its part as well, largely stifling the Owls as the Tops built that first-half lead. Rice found little running room between the tackles, and a mostly horizontal passing attack produced plenty of completions but not much in the way of yardage.

Even the Tops’ special teams got in on the act, with nice performances from kickoff return specialist Kylen Towner, little-used punter Jake Collins and an absolute battery of place-kickers.

With an even bigger moment coming up in just more than a week when the Tops visit Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Alabama, WKU proved up to the task of winning convincingly as a solid favorite in front of a charged-up home crowd.

The Tops are every bit the underdogs against the Crimson Tide, but Thursday night’s performance should at least give Brohm’s squad a maximum dose of confidence to at least make the trip down south about something more than a nice payday for the program.

WKU senior wideout Nicholas Norris, who lit up the Owls with seven catches for 147 yards and a pair of touchdowns, said his team had a bit of extra motivation – changing the focus from what was lost off last year’s team to who remains now.

“It was just a little extra chip on our shoulder,” Norris said. “All summer, we’ve been hearing we won’t be the same team after losing a couple guys. So we just had a little chip on our shoulders to show them we could still do the same thing we did last year.”

— Follow Sports Editor Jeff Nations on Twitter @Jeff_NationsBG or visit bgdailynews.com.