Western Kentucky has a tradition to uphold.

The Hilltoppers have a new coaching staff in place and some new faces on the field this fall.

But the goal is to keep winning big.

“Coaches change, but it’s on the players to go out there and execute the game plan,” defensive end Derik Overstreet said. “The game plan doesn’t really matter if the players don’t execute it. It’s just on us to continue the tradition.”

WKU starts its season Saturday by hosting Eastern Kentucky at Houchens-Smith Stadium (6 p.m., online stream at Flofootball.com). A win over the FCS program would start the Hilltoppers on the right foot toward their objectives for the upcoming campaign.

They want to win double-digit games for the third straight year – something that’s never been accomplished at WKU.

They want to beat a Power Five conference opponent. They’ll get two chances this fall with games at Illinois and at Vanderbilt.

They want to win a third straight Conference USA championship, something no C-USA program has ever done.

And not only do they want to win a fourth straight bowl game, they want to do so in a New Year’s Six bowl. The highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion each season gets to participate in such a contest, and coach Mike Sanford has set his players’ sights on becoming the first C-USA school to earn that distinction.

“If you aim small, that’s where you’re going to end up,” Sanford said. “We’ve got to aim big and give it all we’ve got.”

Sanford is the new leader of the WKU program after predecessor Jeff Brohm left in December to become Purdue’s new coach. The 35-year-old, once a Topper assistant in 2010, was hired at WKU after two years as Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Sanford has quite an act to follow in Brohm, who went 30-10 in three years as the Hilltoppers’ coach. The Louisville native coached WKU to C-USA championships in both 2015 and ’16.

“Coaches come and go, especially in today’s college football world,” quarterback Mike White said. “It’s crazy. So the one consistent thing is us. …

“I think it’s important to go out Game 1 and remember it might be a new staff and it might be new schemes. But at the end of the day it’s still us going out and making the tackles, throwing the ball, catching the ball.”

The redshirt senior White is a solid starting point when it comes to returning players. The former South Florida transfer took the QB job last season and completed 67.3 percent of his passes for 311.6 yards per game with 37 touchdowns against seven interceptions.

Running back D’Andre Ferby is back after suffering a season-ending injury on his first carry of the 2016 season. Speedy backup Quinton Baker is poised to make plays out of the backfield after serving a one-game suspension to start the year.

WKU is looking for playmaking pass catchers to fill the shoes of the school’s all-time leading receivers, Nicholas Norris and Taywan Taylor.

Lucky Jackson, Quin Jernighan and Nacarius Fant lead a wide receiving corps that was boosted by the August addition of Arkansas State grad transfer Cameron Echols-Luper. Deon Yelder, a former walk-on, will get a chance to start at tight end.

WKU lost three starters, including second-round NFL draft pick Forrest Lamp, off an offensive line that led the Hilltoppers to 45.5 points per game last year.

2016 starters Brandon Ray and Dennis Edwards will start at left guard and center, respectively, while left tackle Jimmie Sims, right guard Miles Pate and right tackle Matt Nord will become full-time starters.

“I think since Day 1 they came out with kind of a chip on their shoulder,” White said of the offensive line. “They said, ‘Yeah, we did lose some pretty great linemen in Forrest, Max (Halpin) and Diesel (Williams), but we’ve also got some damn good ones coming back.’

“I think they did a really good job of taking camp seriously and proving to ourselves that we’ve still got an offensive line that’s pretty damn good.”

The senior Overstreet highlights WKU’s defensive line alongside fellow D-end Carson Jordan and D-tackles Chris Johnson and Evan Sayner.

South Warren High School product Joel Iyiegbuniwe returns as a starting linebacker, where he’ll play next to Masai Whyte.

Five defensive backs will see the field in new coordinator Clayton White’s 4-2-5 scheme. Nickelback Leverick Johnson, cornerback Joe Brown and safeties Drell Greene and Marcus Ward are all likely starters. Roger Cray and DeAndre Farris are fighting for the other corner spot.

Ward described Clayton White’s defense as a look “with a lot of variation” in scheme.

“As much as I’ve been trying to get it, one thing I know is if we as a defense lock down on it and do everything correctly, we can beat anybody,” the graduate senior Ward said. “There won’t be anything we won’t be ready for when it comes to the season.”

Players like Overstreet, Ward and Mike White have all helped WKU to bowl wins and C-USA championships in the past.

There will be some new players around them and a new coaching staff, but the goals remain as high as ever.

“With what we’ve done the last two years, it would be nice to go out with a three-peat,” the redshirt junior Iyiegbuniwe said. “It’s not something that we use as motivation. We’re already self-motivated. But it’s something we’re looking to accomplish.”