NASHVILLE – Western Kentucky still has some work to do if it wants to go bowling for a fourth straight season.

The Hilltoppers sit at 5-4 overall through nine games, having lost back-to-back contests against Florida Atlantic and Vanderbilt. Games now remain against Conference USA foes Marshall, Middle Tennessee and Florida International.

The Toppers will have to win at least one of those matchups to get to 6-6 and trigger bowl eligibility. WKU hasn’t finished with less than seven wins in a season since 2011.

“We’ve still got to have motivation to continue our season,” wide receiver Lucky Jackson said Saturday after the Hilltoppers’ 31-17 loss at Vandy. “ … We can’t let these losses bring us down. We have to finish this season strong with the same intensity we had to begin with.”

WKU coach Mike Sanford set clear on-field goals to begin the season. He wanted his team to win a third straight C-USA championship, defeat at least one Power Five conference opponent and compete for the Group of Five’s annual entry into a New Year’s Six bowl.

WKU came up short in its contests this season against Power Five teams. The Hilltoppers lost 20-7 on Sept. 9 at Illinois, then watched Vanderbilt score 17 of the game’s final 20 points Saturday to secure a 14-point victory over WKU.

The hopes for a conference championship three-peat took a blow Sept. 16. Louisiana Tech kicker Jonathan Barnes hit a field goal in the final seconds to lift the Bulldogs to a 23-22 win at Houchens-Smith Stadium, handing the Tops a 0-1 start to league play.

C-USA wins followed at Texas-El Paso, at home against Charlotte and then at Old Dominion. But a 42-28 home loss Oct. 28 to FAU – during which the Owls outscored WKU 22-0 in the fourth quarter – put the Hilltoppers in a hole.

Through play this weekend, WKU and Marshall are tied for third in the C-USA East Division with 3-2 conference records. Florida Atlantic is first at 5-0, followed by second-place FIU at 4-1.

The matchup Saturday between the Toppers and Thundering Herd (5:30 p.m. CST, Huntington, W.Va., BeIN Sports) is pretty much a C-USA elimination game.

WKU must beat Marshall on Saturday, MTSU on Nov. 17 and FIU on Nov. 24 to keep alive hopes for a three-way tie atop the East between itself, FAU and FIU. In that scenario, WKU would need FIU to beat FAU on Nov. 18 and then for FAU to lose to either Louisiana Tech on Saturday or at Charlotte on Nov. 25.

Another scenario exists where the Hilltoppers would win the East if they won out and if FAU lost each of its final three conference games – but that appears unlikely given how well the Owls, winners of five straight, are playing right now.

A Group of Five team must win its league to compete for the berth into a New Year’s Six game. Even if breaks went the Tops’ way and WKU won the East, and then won a C-USA Championship Game, it’s unlikely a four-loss C-USA champ would be selected over another Group of Five league champ with a better resume.

So the new goal for the Hilltoppers is to simply secure eligibility for a traditional, non-New Year’s Six bowl. WKU has been bowl eligible six straight years and went bowling four of those seasons, winning postseason games to finish each of its last three campaigns.

The Toppers’ road to six won’t be an easy one, with two road games against quality opponents sandwiched around a home matchup with its archrival.

All three of WKU’s remaining opponents sit ranked above the Hilltoppers in SB Nation’s S&P+ ratings.

The Hilltoppers, with a rating of (-3.3), dropped 16 spots in that 130-team metric this weekend after their loss to Vanderbilt, from No. 79 to No. 95. Marshall (3.0) is ranked 53rd, Middle Tennessee (-1.7) is ranked 80th and FIU (-1.1) is ranked 77th.

The good news for WKU is that if it secures six wins, there are likely to be bowl slots available – even if there are more eligible C-USA teams than its six primary tie-in bowls – because some Power Five leagues won’t have enough eligible teams to fill all their slots.

For example, the Southeastern Conference has 10 bowl slots to fill. Mississippi isn’t bowling this year because of self-imposed sanctions, and Florida, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Arkansas all have at least five losses with three weeks left in the season.

If the SEC can’t fill all their slots, those could open for eligible Group of Five teams like WKU.

National media bowl projections released Sunday varied in their predictions for the Tops’ postseason fate. Projections included WKU in the Hawaii Bowl against either Fresno State or Wyoming, the Armed Forces Bowl against Army, the Bahamas Bowl against Central Michigan, and the Boca Raton Bowl against either Temple or Central Michigan.

“We have a lot of football left – three games remaining, two of which (Marshall and MTSU) are significant rivalry games,” Sanford said. “In each one of those, we’re fighting tooth-and-nail to get bowl eligibility. We’re going to fight for that.”{&end}