Western Kentucky faces long odds as its looks to finally break through with a Conference USA win.

The Hilltoppers are 20-point underdogs for their game Saturday at Florida Atlantic. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. CST from Boca Raton, Fla., with the game streamed online by Stadium on Facebook.

WKU (1-8 overall, 0-5 C-USA) has lost five straight games overall, all coming in conference play. Dating to last season, coach Mike Sanford’s program has lost 13 of its last 15 contests, and 10 of its last 11.

The Toppers draw an Owls squad Saturday that’s posted a disappointing record (4-5, 2-3), but broke through last week with a 49-14 demolition of then-first place Florida International.

“We’ve got to go down there and make the plays we know we’re capable of making,” Sanford told the Daily News on Thursday. “It starts with belief and we’re excited to get down there and play a great game.

“We’re going down there with the mindset that it’s a business trip. We’re going down there for one thing, and that’s to win a football game.”

Quarterback Drew Eckels started WKU’s most recent game, a 29-10 loss Nov. 2 at Middle Tennessee. Sanford has ruled him out for this game with an upper-body injury, but hasn’t publicly named a starter between Steven Duncan, Davis Shanley and Kevaris Thomas.

FAU coach Lane Kiffin attributed some of the Tops’ struggles this season to the team’s QB inconsistencies.

WKU has rotated players through that position this year, due largely to injury, and ranks No. 125 nationally in points scored per game (18.7).

“When we got here, this was obviously one of the better teams in the conference,” Kiffin told the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post. “I think it’s a classic example of what I say all the time. When you have a good quarterback (Mike White) like they did a year ago, things go a lot better.”

Sanford said Thursday that he was still “waiting on final word” on wide receiver Jacquez Sloan, who left the MTSU game in the second quarter. He was seen after the game wearing a knee brace and was set to travel with the team to Boca Raton.

Sloan leads all Hilltopper pass-catchers in receiving yards per game (55) and yards per catch (16). If he can’t go, that could lead to a bigger role for Jahcour Pearson, who averages 16.8 receiving ypg and 13.4 ypc.

“I always feel the need to step up, and I feel like all the receivers feel like that every week,” said the redshirt sophomore Pearson, who’ll play Saturday near his hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“We just have to go out there and make plays when our name is called.”

Defensively, WKU faces the tall task of slowing down a Florida Atlantic running attack that averages 245 yards per game and 5.35 yards per carry. Those figures both rank No. 2 across Conference USA behind only Alabama-Birmingham.

Running back Devin Singletary, the reigning C-USA Offensive Player of the Week, has enjoyed an outstanding season despite his team’s losing record.

Singletary averages 113.44 rushing ypg, 5.29 ypc and has run for 18 touchdowns, most of anyone in the FBS.

“He’s got really good balance and good vision,” WKU linebacker Ben Holt said. “They run a lot of different run plays and do it out of different looks. … It should be a fun game.”

Broadcast info

Online stream: Stadium on Facebook (play-by-play: Chris Hassel; analyst: A.J. Hawk; reporter: Kristen Balboni)

Radio: 100.7-FM/1450-AM (play by play: Randy Lee; analyst: Leo Peckenpaugh; reporter: Terry Obee)

Notes

Sanford is 7-15 in two-plus seasons as WKU’s coach. He’s on pace to post the worst winning percentage (.318) of any Hilltopper coach since L.T. Smith went 2-5-1 (.313) in 1920-21. … Only five schools across the FBS have started three quarterbacks at least twice (WKU, Air Force, Coastal Carolina, Navy, New Mexico State). … WKU safety A.J. Brathwaite Jr. played high school football at Miami Central along with FAU cornerbacks Khamal Ellison and Malik Vigille and offensive linemen Junior Diaz and Reggie Bain. WKU offensive lineman Preston Mixon and FAU safety Zyon Gilbert both prepped at Jefferson Davis (Ala.). … WKU’s last conference road win came Oct. 20, 2017, at Old Dominion 35-31. … No Hilltopper has rushed for 100 yards in a single game under Sanford.{&end}