An initial look at Western Kentucky.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
2007 record: 7-5.
2007 Sagarin: 118
Conference: none (joining Sun Belt in 2009).
Coach: David Elson (6th season, 37-22).

Series: First meeting.

Official site.

Western Kentucky is in the second season of its gradual transition to Division I-A.* The Hilltoppers will join the Sun Belt Conference in 2009 but are an independent this year. WKU was a I-AA power in its last few years at that level; WKU made five straight playoff appearances from 2000 through 2004 and won the I-AA national championship in 2002 under the direction of Jack Harbaugh. As noted above, current coach David Elson has a solid record in his first five seasons at WKU. Elson is an Indianapolis native and graduated from Butler University and Cathedral High School. As this article from the Criterion, the newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, notes, IU coach Bill Lynch and Elson both hail from Christ the King parish/school on the north side of Indianapolis, and although Lynch is quite a bit older than Elson, they know quite a few people in common.

I haven't looked much as WKU's personnel yet (check back later in the week), but the Hilltoppers have gone 0-13 against members of BCS conferences (WKU is 12-19 against Louisville and 2-0 against Miami, but all wins came long before major conference affiliation). The only reasonably competitive game that the Hilltoppers have mounted against such an opponent was a 27-13 loss to Kansas State in 2004.

Of course, WKU is known best for basketball, but in general the school's mascot has been a regular on ESPN SportsCenter commercials, most famously in this classic:

*No, I will not use the silly FBS/FCS labels. I'm going to keep saying I-A and I-AA until the NCAA changes them back.