Limiting Middle Tennessee to field goals instead of touchdowns was an improvement of Western Kentucky’s defense in the red zone. The real challenge is sustaining that effort against the best running back in Conference USA.

Devin Singletary and Florida Atlantic will host the Hilltoppers for homecoming in Boca Raton, Fla., this Saturday coming off one of the best offensive weeks of the year. Singletary rushed for 184 yards and three touchdowns to earn the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week nod after the Owls’ 49-14 win over FIU in the Shula Bowl.

His 1,021 rushing yards through nine games is the best in the conference by nearly 200 yards.

“You can’t tackle him single-handedly,” WKU coach Mike Sanford said. “He’s not a guy who one defender in open space is going to be able to get him down.”

The Hilltoppers (1-8 overall, 0-5 C-USA) know exactly what Singletary is capable of doing. As a sophomore in Lane Kiffin’s first season coaching the Owls (4-5, 2-3) last year, Singletary ran 36 times for 244 yards and four touchdowns against the Hilltoppers.

WKU led 28-20 in that game before FAU scored 22 unanswered in the fourth quarter to win by two touchdowns. The Owls went on to win the C-USA championship, but 2018 has been a struggle. Before hanging 49 points on FIU, the Owls scored just one touchdown at Marshall and lost 21-13 at home to Louisiana Tech on Oct. 26.

FAU outscored the Panthers 28-0 in the fourth quarter last Saturday, while racking up 596 yards of offense for 7.8 yards per play. The Owls rushed 10 different players 60 times for 439 yards.

WKU defensive coordinator Clayton White recalled FAU’s fourth-quarter rally at Houchens-Smith Stadium last season and sees the Owls relying on that strength again this year.

“I think we did a good job for three quarters and then the fourth he let loose,” White said of Singletary. “I think that’s what FAU is. They’re going to get you tired and try to finish you with one of those backs.

“You know exactly their style and know what they depended on, especially late in games the past two years, that’s when I feel like he’s played his best football and that’s when he can create some problems for defenses and other teams.”

Singletary isn’t the only option in FAU’s backfield. Kerrith Whyte Jr. had 17 carries for 165 yards against FIU, good for an average of 9.7 yards per carry.

But Singletary is proving more consistent as the year winds down. It took Singletary until FAU’s fifth contest to reach 100 yards rushing in a game. In the last six games, he’s averaging 135.1 yards per outing with 11 rushing touchdowns.

“You can see they’ve gone through different phases offensively this year,” Sanford said. “I watch FAU’s offense almost every week. We watch them and study them, and they’ve gone through different waves. Chris Robinson is a very capable and talented quarterback, there have been games where he throws the ball upward of 30 times, then there are games like (the) last one where he threw 10 times and they ran the ball for 400-plus.

“You can tell that’s kind of their rhythm right now – they want the ball in Singletary’s hands and Kerrith Whyte’s hands.”

FAU capitalized for touchdowns on all five trips in the red zone last week. WKU held MTSU to one touchdown in the red zone and forced field goals on the other four trips.

Although WKU’s offense has to do its part, that bend but don’t break mentality is what Sanford wants again out of the Hilltopper defense against the Owls.

“Defensively, we had an opportunity to get some takeaways and got to do that in critical moments,” Sanford said. “The rush totals were high for our defense and that’s something I think we’ve done a good job of. I was happy with how we limited red-zone scoring chances. Big week this week. … They’re playing obviously at a very high level after last week’s convincing victory over FIU, ran the ball extremely well and we have to stop the run and we have to stay on the field offensively and score points.”{&end}