Western Kentucky’s football team became devoted Bearkats fans on Friday, at least for a day.

The Hilltoppers needed help from Conference USA rival Sam Houston State – a win by the host Bearkats against Liberty in Friday’s matchup in Huntsville, Texas, would give the Tops a shot at reaching the CUSA championship game against Jacksonville State – provided the Tops also beat Jax State on Saturday at Houchens-Smith Stadium. Game time is 3 p.m. with ESPNU set to broadcast.

With WKU (7-4 overall, 5-2 CUSA) even with Liberty and Sam Houston, it could come down to tie-breakers to determine who gets to face host Jax State in next Friday’s CUSA championship. That’s why the Tops need the Bearkats to win since WKU has the head-to-head advantage against Sam Houston after winning the regular-season matchup 31-14 on Oct. 16. Liberty, which beat the Tops 38-21 last week, controls its own destiny and earns the spot with a win Friday. Sam Houston needs to win and for WKU to lose to reach the title game.

So a Liberty win in that Friday matchup means the defending champion Flames would play Jacksonville State – which has already clinched a spot and home field in the CUSA title game. In that case, the Tops enter Saturday’s 3 p.m. regular-season finale just looking to close out strong on senior day and looking forward to the bowl season.

That’s two very different scenarios – playing for a shot at reaching the championship, or not – but WKU head coach Tyson Helton expects his team to be plenty motivated to face the Gamecocks in either case.

“You control the controllables,” Helton said during Monday’s weekly news conference. “You don’t worry about things you can’t control. You play the game to win. So we’re not focused on that piece; we’re focused on beating Jacksonville State. Obviously Jacksonville State’s made the championship and I think you’ve got to have a championship mentality about you no matter what. They’re undefeated so our guys will be excited to have that opportunity to play that football team at home.

“A lot of guys are going to be playing their last game at home and that means a lot to those guys, so there’s a lot to play for no matter what the circumstances are. If anything else, it’s the next game. It’s the next opportunity and the pride that you have for yourself, this university and this program. We play the game to win.”

Jacksonville State (8-3, 7-0 CUSA) presents plenty of problems for the Hilltoppers. Since opening the season with three straight losses, the Gamecocks have reeled off eight consecutive wins. Jax State boasts the league’s top scoring offense (37.1 points per game) while the Tops are third – but still nearly 10 points behind at 27.4 points per outing.

Under veteran head coach Rich Rodriguez, the Gamecocks feature a dominant rushing attack spearheaded by running back Tre Stewart, CUSA’s leading rusher with 1,318 yards and 19 touchdowns. Jax State quarterback Tyler Huff ranks third in CUSA in rushing with 1,079 yards and 13 TDs.

That could spell trouble for WKU, which enters Saturday’s game with the league’s worst rushing defense (206.4 yards per game). But the Tops have managed for most of the season in spite of that by being CUSA’s toughest defense in the red zone and third best in scoring defense (22.6 points per game).

“Their quarterback, Tyler Huff, is a phenomenal player. He does a great job of running the scheme they want him to,” WKU defensive coordinator Tyson Summers said. “The backs, they have three or four that are really, really good, and obviously Tre Stewart kind of being the star in there and one of the leading rushers in the league, that’s kind of where it starts for them. They know who they are, they know who they want to be – downhill runners – and enough of kind of the split-zone read and those type of things to kind of be able to create problems. I think they do an excellent job.

“The receivers are good, they hit home runs. They’ve done a great job of being able to run past people throughout the season and then you see their O-line and their tight ends and they play together really, really well.”

WKU features CUSA’s top passing offense, with redshirt sophomore quarterback Caden Veltkamp leading the league in passing touchdowns (21) while completing 187-of-273 passes for 2,364 yards. Veltkamp, who has thrown 10 interceptions this season, has also run for seven touchdowns.

In last week’s loss at Liberty, Veltkamp passed for a pair of touchdowns but also had three interceptions. Helton said Veltkamp will start Saturday, with senior TJ Finley – who began the season as the starter before an injury opened the door for Veltkamp to emerge – available to play again for the third straight week.

“I don’t really see anything changing there,” Helton said. “Caden will be the guy and TJ has done a great job of supporting Caden. He’s ready to go whenever we need him.”

Jax State has been the league’s best at causing turnovers this season with 11 interceptions and 10 forced fumbles.

“They play fast. They hit. They rally to the ball,” WKU offensive coordinato Will Friend said. “They’ve got good pass rushers. All the things that equal forcing the offense to create turnovers. Teams that have a lot of turnovers usually fly around, they play hard and they’ve got guys that get after the quarterback. They create a lot of things, so it’ll be a big challenge for us, which is something that’s always, but I think it’ll be huge in this ballgame.”