MIAMI – Western Kentucky’s loss Friday will be defined by one terrible special teams mistake.

And boy, was it a blunder. A botched Jake Collins punt in Hilltopper territory resulted in Florida International’s D’Vonte Price walking in for a fumble return touchdown.

But as video of the third-quarter blooper circulated on the college football Twitter-sphere, the rest of the Hilltoppers weren’t doing much better.

WKU’s 41-17 loss Friday to FIU at Riccardo Silva Stadium was an all-systems failure. It led to a disappointing end to the regular season for WKU (6-6 overall, 4-4 Conference USA).

“Everything,” said linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe, when asked what went wrong. “All three phases of the ball, we didn’t do well. Special teams, offense and defense, we just couldn’t get a rhythm going and it showed.”

Start with the offense unable to capitalize on three trips inside the red zone. The Toppers converted on just one of those chances, with kicker Ryan Nuss missing field goals on the other two.

Like the first 11 games of the season, the Toppers couldn’t protect quarterback Mike White in the 12th. He took five sacks, coming with a loss of 31 yards.

The normally solid pass defense? It finally caved, with FIU quarterback Alex McGough carving WKU up for 227 yards – 13.9 per completion – with a touchdown. He also set the Panthers (7-4, 5-3) up for a pair of short TD runs.

Many of those completions came on third down, as the Hilltoppers struggled getting off the field all night. FIU converted 7 of 14 third-down attempts, and were 7-of-11 at one point.

The Panthers then put the coup de grace on the evening by scoring a touchdown on a fake field goal attempt.

WKU led 17-13 early in the third quarter, then watched FIU roll to the game’s final 28 points.

“It sucks,” the redshirt senior White said. “I mean, it’s tough. It’s not ideal, it’s not what I know this team’s capable of, it’s not what this team’s worked for.

“I don’t know, it’s just something you don’t plan for. I’m at a loss for words right now, soaking it all in.”

The game was evenly played for the first half and the early moments of the second. White’s 14-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Nacarius Fant gave the Hilltoppers a 17-13 lead with 9:49 left in the third quarter.

FIU answered with a 42-yard bomb from McGough to wide receiver Darrius Scott, who caught the ball in the end zone over WKU’s Ta’Corian Darden. That made it 20-17 Panthers.

Then came the first turnover of the night, a Fant fumble inside WKU territory. FIU recovered and scored six plays later on a Shawndarri Phillips 1-yard TD run, going up 27-17 with 4:21 left in the third.

Rock bottom came at the end of the Tops’ next drive. The offense stalled and Jake Collins came out to punt.

Collins went through the motions of a rugby-style kick and, as coach Mike Sanford said he’s taught to do, held on to the ball to give his coverage unit a chance to get downfield.

Seeing that FIU only had one rusher, who was blocked at the time, Collins started running with the ball. The Panthers defender eluded his blocker and chased Collins down. The WKU punter reacted by running backward, but tripped over his own feet.

Collins dropped the ball and, after an FIU defender kicked it back to him, he batted it forward. That’s where Price was waiting, and he ran it back 38 yards for a touchdown.

“It was a strange play because they didn’t really rush anybody … and he felt like there was an opportunity to hold onto it and allow our guys to get even further down there,” said Sanford, who said it wasn’t a fake punt call. “Unfortunately he froze up a little bit and what happened was a tough play.”

The special teams mistake put FIU up 34-17 with 1:52 left in the third quarter, and WKU never threatened again after that. For good measure, the Panthers added a TD with 7:01 left in the game on a 24-yard fake field goal pass from Stone Wilson to Pharoah McKeever.

WKU’s loss Friday drained all the good vibes that came from the Hilltoppers’ 41-38, triple-overtime win last week against Middle Tennessee.

“This sucks, man,” said Iyiegbuniwe, who recorded seven tackles. “It’s tough. We had a lot of momentum from last week and we just didn’t show up this time.”

At 6-6, WKU is unlikely to be picked for any of Conference USA’s six primary bowl tie-ins, as the league unofficially tries to place seven-win teams in its bowls before dipping into the six-win pool. FIU is one of six teams in the league with at least seven wins.

The Hilltoppers are still bowl eligible with their six wins, and can be placed into a bowl if other leagues can’t fill all their bowl tie-ins.

“We left it in somebody else’s hands by not taking care of this game,” Sanford said. “That’s obviously a tough pill to swallow for all of us.”

Notes

Sanford is 6-6 in his first year at WKU and overall in his coaching career. White is 17-9 as the Hilltoppers’ starting quarterback. … WKU leads its all-time series against FIU 6-5 and is 3-4 against the Panthers in Miami. … The Toppers have been outscored 90-44 across the third quarters of games this season. … White (355 yards) has thrown for 300-plus yards in seven consecutive games and 16 times in 26 games overall as a Hilltopper. … Announced attendance at Riccardo Silva Stadium was 16,199.{&end}