Eyes and discipline.

Trae Meadows repeated those two words three times after Wednesday’s practice when asked about the message to Western Kentucky’s defensive backs after a loss to Central Arkansas.

The Hilltoppers’ secondary was the obvious crux in allowing 21 unanswered points in a fourth-quarter meltdown to the FCS Bears last Thursday.

WKU (0-1) gave up 19.2 yards per completion and let the game slip away in part to four or five missed assignments in the secondary.

Fixing those issues in the first Conference USA matchup at FIU this Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN+) starts with mental discipline.

“At DB, everybody sees the big plays and the bomb,” the cornerback Meadows said. “If we don’t get it down and don’t have safety help, it’s touchdown. We can’t make mistakes because it’s going to show up on the scoreboard.”

Meadows was picked apart by UCA quarterback Breylin Smith last Thursday. The cornerback was hit with a pass interference penalty early and had Lujuan Winningham, a receiver he was covering, score two touchdowns in the second half.

Winningham beat him on a throw to the left side for a 20-yard touchdown reception early in the fourth quarter, then was wide open when the entire defense bit on the run for a halfback pass.

UCA made two more chunk plays of 38 and 35 yards down to the WKU 1-yard line on the next drive that set up the go-ahead touchdown.

“We have to be more disciplined with sound (assignments) and know the situation,” Meadows said. “Instead of just going out there and being an athlete, you have to be smart, too.”

Smith went on to complete 20 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns. UCA running back Carlos Blackmon’s 80-yard pass to Winningham gave the Bears 404 passing yards. Through Week 1, that passing defense puts WKU 122nd out of 129 FBS teams and the 234.95 metric on team defense pass efficiency ranks next to last nationally.

“Not really a lot (of mental errors), but they were costly,” WKU defensive coordinator Clayton White said. “You have to make sure to move on from it. … Playing defensive back (in) football is really, your mistakes show up on the scoreboard. We don’t get second and third downs. We make a mistake and it’s over. We have to make sure that we play the mental part of the game better situationally and I think things will be fine.

“Tough week to get it going to be honest with you. They look us in the eyes ready to come to work and understand it’s one game. The key is to rebound. We can’t let one loss trickle down to the next four, so let’s make sure we rebound and come back.”