Western Kentucky head coach Tyson Helton said after Saturday’s 20-17 win at Middle Tennessee – WKU’s first win of the season – that the performance reconfirmed what the Hilltoppers were defensively a season ago.

Defensive coordinator Clayton White believes it should naturally bring confidence to his unit moving forward and hopes the defense can keep improving, starting in Saturday’s game against unbeaten Marshall at Houchens-Smith Stadium.

“That’s the motivation, is to continue the progression,” White said Wednesday. “It’s not about what we did, it’s about whatever we did, let’s progress, let’s have fun while doing it, let’s make sure that we find a way to get to the last five minutes like coach Helton always speaks about and give the team the best chance to come out victorious.

“It’s all about improving every single step, every single day with this defense. There’s a lot of football left and we’re excited about it.”

The Hilltoppers (1-2 overall, 1-0 Conference USA) struggled defensively in losses to Louisville and Liberty in their first two games, allowing an average of 32.5 points in those defeats, but surrendered just 10 to the Blue Raiders to recreate the feeling of last year’s team, which had the best scoring defense in C-USA.

WKU focused on returning the energy and “juice” to the team during its bye week leading into the game, and is hopeful momentum carries into Saturday’s contest against Marshall (2-0, 0-0).

“We didn’t just turn up the juice on Saturday. It started on Sunday, really throughout the whole bye week and everything,” senior cornerback Dionte Ruffin said Wednesday. “Throughout the whole preparation we told ourselves we’ve got to get our swagger back, we’ve got to get back to us, how we know how to play and we did that exactly.”

Helton says WKU has carried the energy from the victory into this week’s preparation. He says the Hilltoppers had a team meeting Thursday to again discuss it.

“Winning helps, obviously,” Helton said. “They know this is an important game, they know it’s a rivalry game and so I think that energy has continued.”

As part of last week’s strong defensive performance, WKU allowed just 4 yards rushing to Middle Tennessee’s running backs – quarterback Asher O’Hara had 98 – but the Hilltoppers know they’ll have a tough task Saturday with Marshall’s Brenden Knox, the 2019 C-USA Most Valuable Player and the preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Knox has rushed for 223 yards and two touchdowns on 46 attempts, and hasn’t been brought down for a loss this year. The 6-foot, 223-pound redshirt junior had 84 yards on 19 carries in Marshall’s 26-23 victory last season, in which Justin Rohrwasser kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired to win it.

“He understands how to get an ugly four yards,” White said. “Sometimes you go against running backs that try to do too much and they won’t get anything, but he understands the scheme that they’re running, he understands the blocking schemes, he’s a big-time back, so your job is really to go out there and make sure that we fit our plays and the plays that are supposed to be dead, they should be dead based on how we play as well.

“We definitely don’t want to give him any layups. We want to make sure he goes to the free-throw line and earns everything he gets.”

Helton says Marshall QB Grant Wells “brings a different problem to our defense than the first three weeks.” The redshirt freshman has thrown for 470 yards and four touchdowns combined in the Thundering Herd’s 59-0 victory over Eastern Kentucky and its 17-7 win over then-No. 23 Appalachian State.

On the other side, WKU quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome has continued to improve in each of his three starts, and is coming off a C-USA Offensive Player of the Week performance in which he threw for 188 yards and two touchdowns on 21-of-36 passing. He’s one of three FBS quarterbacks with at least six touchdown passes and no interceptions this season. The others are Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Miami’s D’Eriq King.

“I think he’s made good steps the past three weeks,” Helton said Monday. “I’d like for him to have that breakout game a little bit, where you say, ‘Man, he’s really on it today.’ I think everybody right now says, ‘Hey, he’s doing a nice job. He’s taking care of the football. He’s running the ball well. He’s getting better throwing the ball. He’s getting more comfortable.’

“I think for him – and he knows this as well – we’d love to all pat him on the back and hug his neck and say, ‘Wow, that was a heckuva game, buddy.’ I think that day’s coming.”

Pigrome also leads WKU’s rushing attack with 197 yards on 47 attempts, and the offensive coordinator said this week the Hilltoppers will go with whatever running back has the hot hand.

Xavier Lane and Dayton Wade stepped up at receiver with seven catches each against Middle Tennessee – the Tops’ first game without Jahcour Pearson. WKU was also without Craig Burt Jr. in that game due to injury, but Helton says he expects Burt to be available Saturday, although he’s not sure if the receiver will be able to go the whole game.

With potential heavy rain in the forecast, the Hilltoppers have been preparing for a wet game Saturday. Helton says they’ve had managers stand over the ball with a bottle of water to make it wet in all the team scenarios and made the receivers wear rain gloves, and says he “feels pretty good about where we’re at right now” if WKU can take care of the football.

Marshall’s defense leads the nation with just 3.5 points allowed per game. The Thundering Herd are 13th nationally in rushing defense and 12th in passing defense, allowing 91 and 174 yards per game in those categories, respectively.

Saturday’s game will mark the seventh straight season the two programs have met. WKU took the first three, and Marshall has won the last three by a combined 13 points.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.