In 2011, Western Kentucky athletic director Ross Bjork and his No. 2 in charge, Todd Stewart, unsuccessfully tried to buy their football program’s way into the Military Bowl.

Four years later, a bowl berth is simply the icing on the cake, topping a tall stack of unprecedented accomplishments.

“Now it’s more the cherry on top, and I think it shows the growth of this program,” said Stewart, who is now WKU’s AD.

After rallying to beat Southern Miss 45-28 in Saturday’s Conference USA championship at Houchens-Smith Stadium, the Hilltoppers (11-2) will learn their bowl fate Sunday afternoon.

A news conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday to discuss WKU’s destination and opponent.

Winning the league title does not earn the Tops the right to choose their bowl, but it does make their preference carry more weight.

WKU will likely end up in the Miami Beach Bowl (Dec. 21) or St. Petersburg Bowl (Dec. 26), with Miami a heavy favorite.

“It’s really a combination of where we’d like to go, working with Conference USA, and certainly TV plays a role in that with matchups,” Stewart said. “What we have stated, really all along, is we would prefer a bowl in Florida, and pre-Christmas would be ideal, I think. The two bowls in our history, while they were both great for our program, they weren’t really fan-friendly bowls – going to Detroit on Dec. 26 and being in the Bahamas on Christmas Eve with the passports challenges. 

“We will be in Florida, for sure, and we’ll find out tomorrow. Barring something really unusual happening later today, and I can’t even imagine what that would be, we’ll be in Miami or St. Petersburg.”

Reports surfaced Saturday afternoon that Marshall is likely to face UConn in the St. Petersburg Bowl, which would send WKU to Miami.

The Tops would face a team from the American Athletic Conference, which ESPN reported earlier this week will be South Florida – led by Willie Taggart, a former WKU coach and player.

But there’s some time to breath before that game arrives, and the Tops plan to enjoy it.

“To me, this was our Super Bowl,” WKU coach Jeff Brohm said. “This was what it was all about. We laid all the eggs on the table, and we said, ‘Here we go, let’s try to win a championship.’ I feel great about what we’ve accomplished to this point, and really our reward is a chance now to go to a bowl game and see if we can add to it.

“We’re going to enjoy this one and have fun with it and get away from it for a little bit. These guys will take some tests and do well in class, and then we’ll get back at it and try to win one more.”

WKU sixth-year senior quarterback Brandon Doughty called the bowl game “the reward for a heck of a run we had.”

But Doughty also noted that a bowl victory would tie the 2002 season for the WKU record for most wins in a season in program history at 12, and that’s the motivation ahead.

“That’s something that’s incredible, something that you think back to a couple of years ago that was unheard of,” Doughty said. “This bowl game, whoever we’re playing, the goal is to win the game. We’re going to enjoy this one for a couple of days, but don’t take us lightly, whoever we’re playing, wherever we’re playing.”

This will be the third bowl game in program history and its third in the last four years.

Stewart said WKU couldn’t buy a bowl in 2011, had to “work the system” to get in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in 2012 and was denied with eight wins in 2013. The Tops beat Central Michigan 49-48 in the Bahamas Bowl last year.

Stewart said he knew Saturday’s accomplishment “means a lot to a lot of people,” including WKU Hall of Famer and Houston Texans defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, who texted him shortly after the win.

“I think it’s a monumental day for the program,” Stewart said. “When you look at the history of our program and then you look at where we were four or five years ago, I think to be 11-2 and conference champions – hopefully in the top 25 when those come out – I can’t imagine a lot of people thought that would be possible a few years ago.”

Brohm: ‘Without question, I love it here’

Job speculation surrounding Brohm died down Friday afternoon when Virginia hired BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall, but the Hilltopper coach was still asked in his postgame interview about being a hot name in national circles.

“My main comment is I don’t comment and I don’t worry about other jobs, rumors and speculation,” Brohm said. “Without question, I love it here. This is where I want to be. I feel we have a great situation where we can build a program, we can continue to try to gain steam and elevate it and get on the national scene. We can add players, add good teams to the schedule, compete in the conference.”

Brohm again alluded to his former coach at Louisville, Howard Schnellenberger, whom he labeled the “ultimate program-builder” for his work at U of L, Miami and Florida Atlantic.

Much like Schnellenberger saw in those programs, Brohm said he sees something special at WKU.

“You’ve got a chance to build something,” Brohm said. “You’ve got a chance to continue to grow each and every year – to try to raise the level of play, to raise the bar each and every year. We’ve got everything in place. We’ve got a great stadium, great facilities, we’re in a great conference. We have great fan support. We have great leadership at this university that wants sports to excel. They know the importance of winning, and we have a great group of guys.”

Injuries bring out the boos

WKU fans let out some boos Saturday, but they were for Southern Miss’ injured players.

The Golden Eagles had an usually high number of players go down hurt during the game – so many that the Hilltopper faithful seemed to become skeptical late in the game.

Many of the players were injured as WKU tried to milk clock in the fourth quarter, and their ailments caused the clock to stop – and the boos to start.

“I don’t know if I heard the booing, other than I know they had some injuries at the end,” Brohm said. “Hopefully they’re OK. A lot of people went down. For us, we just wanted to continue to try to move the ball, move the chains, and sometimes that slowed us down. But that’s part of the game, and injuries happen. I didn’t really have a reaction. Hopefully they’re OK.”

USM coach Todd Monken also had little to say about the boos in the wake of a disappointing title game defeat.

“I worried more about our guys,” Monken said. “… That’s just fans. If I worried about that, I’d be in trouble.”

Notes

Doughty became the 16th quarterback in FBS history to throw for 12,000 career yards and 100 touchdowns. He moved into a tie for fifth in C-USA history with 45 touchdowns in a single season. His 410 yards were third-most in C-USA title game history, as were his 34 completions. … Junior receiver Taywan Taylor set new WKU records for most career receiving touchdowns (24) and receiving yards (2,400). His 165 yards Saturday were the third-most in C-USA championship game history. … Senior kicker Garrett Schwettman moved into sixth in FBS history in career extra points with 230. … WKU won all its home games for the first time since 2004.

— Follow Assistant Sports Editor Zach Greenwell on Twitter at twitter.com/zach_greenwell or visit bgdailynews.com.