Bowling Green, Kentucky – This game between the Trojans and Hilltoppers started out “smash-mouth” more than any game attended in quite a while. In the end, the 34-27 win by the Trojans turned out to be a story book memory. However, unlike the Bible lesson about forgiveness in the Book of Luke, this story about a “prodigal” son was clearly about REVENGE! It made for a tense, hard-hitting, abusive, exciting football game.
QB Jarret Doege left WKU on short notice
For those unaware of the situation, before this season started, QB Jarret Doege left West Virginia through the transfer portal to become a graduate transfer at WKU. About ten days before this season started, he left WKU to take to the portal again to join the Trojans of Troy. It evidently and rightfully left a bad taste among Toppers in Bowling Green. Selfishly, no matter how one looks at it, Doege took advantage of his teammates. He possibly put their season at risk. He abused the uncontrolled portal system at the last days of summer practices before their first game.
We saw this as an incentive to attend this game even though we planned to see it any way. To our disappointment and to that of the Hilltopper team, Doege did not become the starter at Troy since he left WKU. However, with an injury to Trojan starting QB Gunnar Watson late in the third, jersey No. 9 with “Doege”, much to the “delight “of the Hilltopper team, stepped in to take his place. More than we anticipated, the ears of the Toppers pinned-back to take it out more physically on their prodigal brother. With the score tied at 20-20 at the time, how would the incentives on both teams affect the outcome of this game? How would the Trojans react on their side of the stadium?
To quote good ol’ Lindsey Nelson, “With the score tied, we move on to further action…”
To start, late in the third with less than two minutes remaining, Watson took a hard shove along the WKU sideline. He laid face down in a twisted mess before being escorted off the field. From this view point, the one-handed shove was intentional, but didn’t look that hard. On third and nine at the WKU 33, enter Doege. The already tense atmosphere on the field seemed to pick up right away. Doege’s first pass went incomplete.
Trojan HC Jon Sumrall decided to go for the first. Doege obliged with an 18-yard completion for a first down. Two plays later under pressure, Doege lofted a long pass far beyond his receiver in the end zone. The refs flagged him for intentional grounding, but they also flagged WKU for roughing the passer. Replaying the down, his next pass went for a three-yard loss. However, third pass proved the charm as he connected WR Jabre Barber for a 16-yard TD pass. While doing so, he absorbed another roughing the passer penalty, to the chagrin of Topper fans. We could agree from their perspective. Questionable call.
Mixed, but understood, emotions
As the Trojans lined up to kickoff from the 50, Doege was jostled, back-slapped, and supported by many teammates along the sideline. They anticipated the greeting he was getting from his former, angry, revenge-driven “ex-teammates”. On the ensuing drive, the Hilltoppers converted a fourth and one at their 49 for a first down. With a fourth and two at the Trojan 39, Troy stopped them and took over on downs. Doege and his offense returned. With 7:14 left to play, his ten-yard TD pass to Tez Johnson (six receptions for 105 yards, one TD, and threw for another on an option play to Watson) not only widened the lead, 34-20, but Doege incurred another roughing the passer call to kick again from the 50.
A play for the records
The ensuing Hilltopper drive becomes an asterisk in this tale. Had WKU won, this play would be legendary. On fourth and eleven from their 24 with time running out, Austin Reed’s pass intended for his receiver glanced off his hands. Suddenly, it was caught behind the line of scrimmage by RT Gunner Britton. The big lineman grabbed it, and unflinchingly ran 12 yards until tackled for a first down to keep the drive alive. He certainly looked like he knew what he was doing. A Hilltopper fan turned and shouted as we both laughed, “I’ve never seen that before!” I didn’t have time to explain, but in 642 games, neither had I!
No quit from the Hilltoppers
Two plays later, Reed connected with his longest pass of the day to WR Michael Mathison to put the Toppers at the six. On third and goal, he fired a pass to Daewood Davis (12 receptions, 122 yards, one TD) at the back of the end zone for six points. The PAT was good. The Toppers trailed the hated Trojans and their prodigal “brother”, 34-27, with 4:20 left to play. Doege and company started from the 25 with two time-outs in their pocket to the Toppers’ three. Over the next five plays, the Toppers ate two while the Trojans used one before punting away on fourth and two from their 44. The home team started from their ten with 1:56 left on the clock to tie or win.
A 26-yard pass to Malachi Corley put the Hilltoppers on the 50. Two short completions and a 12-yard run by Reed (39 for 56, 406 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) got the Toppers to the 32 with a second and eight. Next play, he dropped back under pressure, looked down field, and as he drew his arm back to throw, a hand came out from LB Richard Jibunor in on the sack to knock the ball loose. The Trojans recovered and ran out the clock with 1:01 remaining for the win.
It’s about time!
We never agreed with Doege’s short exit to Troy through the transfer portal. We had hoped the result of this game would have been different because of it. However, the drama witnessed added a lot of emotion to a very hard-fought game brought on by Doege’s selfish move. Thankfully, the NCAA announced it’s incurring time limits as to when players can exit a program in the future. It’s unfair to teams and coaching staffs for players to leave on such short -term notice. It’s also shameful if another program entices a player to do that.
Coming up in Week Six
Troy (3-2,0-1) returns home to host Sun Belt newcomer Southern Mississippi in a conference game. WKU (3-2,1-0) travels back to conference play in Conference USA against UTSA (3-2,1-0). We just saw UTSA at Middle Tennessee the night before. In Week Seven, we look forward to seeing WKU at MTSU in a Saturday afternoon, rivalry game. Should be good! Collegefootballfan.com goes SEC this weekend with South Carolina (3-2,0-1) at No. 13 Kentucky (4-1, 1-1) in Lexington.
Please check out our book!
Ed. by Steve Koreivo, Author of Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan who’s seen ‘em all! If you like this story, read our tales from when we saw all 120 FBS teams (at the time of publication) play for the first time. We also encourage you to submit a review when you do. Please click on the title or copy of the cover on our right sidebar to go to our Amazon page to buy and review. Thanks!
