The 2022 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football team represented

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...

as a member of

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

(C-USA) during the

2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season will be the 153rd season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS ...

. They were led by head coach

Tyson Helton Tyson Helton (born June 20, 1977) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current head coach of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. He played college football at Houston from 1996 to 1999. He previously served as the offen ...

, who was coaching his fourth season with the team. The Hilltoppers played their home games at

Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium Houchens Industries–L. T. Smith Stadium at Jimmy Feix Field is a 22,000-seat multi-purpose stadium in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Bowling Green, in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is home to the Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky Hilltoppe ...

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. As of the 2 ...

. The team was led on offense by quarterback Austin Reed who joined the team in 2022 via the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool launched on October 15, 2018, to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member i ...

. Through the first two games, Reed had 550 passing yards, ranking third in the nation.

Previous season

The 2021 team finished the regular season with a record of 9–4. The team went 7–1 in Conference USA play, finishing in first place in the East Division; Western Kentucky's lone conference loss was against UTSA. The Hilltoppers made the Conference USA Championship Game in a rematch against UTSA; the Hilltoppers would lose 41–49. Western Kentucky accepted an invitation to the

Boca Raton Bowl The Boca Raton Bowl is an annual National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned post-season Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game played in Boca Raton, Florida, since December 2014 on the campus of Fl ...

, defeating

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

59–38 to finish the season with an overall record of 9–5.

Preseason

C-USA media day

The Conference USA media day was held on July 27 at

Globe Life Field Globe Life Field is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers. It is located just south of Choctaw Stadium, the Rangers' former home ballpark. History Background On May ...

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

. The Hilltoppers were represented by head coach

, tight end Joey Beljan, and defensive end Juwuan Jones. The Hilltoppers were predicted to finish third in the conference's preseason poll.

Roster

Schedule

Western Kentucky and Conference USA announced the 2022 football schedule on March 30, 2022.

Game summaries

Austin Peay

at Hawaii

at Indiana

FIU

Troy

at UTSA

at Middle Tennessee

UAB

North Texas

at Charlotte

Rice

at Auburn

at Florida Atlantic

South Alabama (New Orleans Bowl)

References

{{Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football navbox

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football seasons New Orleans Bowl champion seasons

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football program is a college football team that represents Western Kentucky University. The team competes at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level and represents the university as a member of Confer ...