The Liberty Flames (7-1, 4-2 CUSA) take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (7-3, 5-1 CUSA) in a critical Conference USA showdown on Saturday afternoon. The Flames and Hilltoppers are scheduled to meet at Williams Stadium with kickoff set for 1 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Both teams are in the CUSA Conference Championship race as we enter the last two weeks of the regular season, fighting with Jacksonville State and Sam Houston who also meet this weekend.

Many expected the Flames and Hilltoppers to be in the mix for the conference championship race. Those two teams have been picked as the top two teams in the CUSA preseason poll in each of the past two seasons, including this year when Liberty was the preseason favorite and WKU was picked to finish second.

“We’ll have to play really well versus Western Kentucky because they’re really good in all three phases, and it’s gonna be a big challenge for us,” said Liberty head coach Jamey Chadwell. “We’re gonna be an underdog. They’re better than us in all three phases right now, and so we’re going to have to play really well if we’re going to have a chance to beat them.”

The Flames are 4-0 all-time against the Hilltoppers, who have not visited Lynchburg since the 1995 season finale. WKU is the only Division I opponent which Liberty has faced at least four times without losing.

Liberty and WKU featuring contrasting offensive styles. The Flames rank No. 5 nationally in rushing yards per game at 249.8, while the Hilltoppers lead the CUSA with 267.9 passing yards per contest. In Liberty’s 42-29 win at WKU last season, the Flames rushed for 323 yards while the Hilltoppers racked up 365 passing yards.

The Flames improved to 8-0 and clinched a spot in the CUSA Championship Game with that win over WKU last season. Liberty rushed for 323 yards in the win, including 234 after halftime. Kaidon Salter completed 10 of 15 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed 13 times for 117 yards and a touchdown.

WKU is coming off a tough loss at home to Louisiana Tech, 12-7. The Hilltoppers scored their only points of the game early in the 2nd quarter to take the lead, but it would be all the homestanding Hilltoppers could muster on offense. The Bulldogs won the game despite not scoring a touchdown as they connected on four field goals.

Prior to the loss to Louisiana Tech on Saturday, WKU had only lost to Power Five opponents in Alabama and a 21-20 loss to Boston College in late September this season under head coach Tyson Helton. Helton is in his sixth season as the head coach of Western Kentucky. He has a 47-29 mark and 32-11 record in conference play at WKU. Helton and the Hilltoppers have won at least 8 games in four of his first five seasons and are just one win away from accomplishing that feat once again.

“They’re really good,” Chadwell said of WKU. “They’re playing with a lot of confidence. Obviously, they had a hiccup last week, but that’s college football. It’s hard to win every week. La Tech, if you check them out, they’re pretty good defensively. They’ve lost some games where their defense is giving up nine points. This league is pretty good from top to bottom, but they’re very talented. Tyson, his whole time of being here, I would argue it’s probably his most talented team that he’s had from top to bottom. He’d probably tell you that. Got a lot of experience, some key transfers, and they’ve all been in that system now for a few years.”

Caden Veltkamp took over as WKU’s starting quarterback in Week 3 after TJ Finley went down to an injury in the first quarter. Finley was a highly rated transfer, coming to WKU from Texas State where he threw for 3,439 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions for the Bobcats last season. Prior to that, Finley also played at LSU and Auburn.

Coming on in relief of Finley in Week 3 against Middle Tennessee, Veltkamp went on to throw for 398 yards and 5 touchdowns in the 49-21 win, and he has remained the starter since then, even after Finley has returned to practice and been cleared to play. Veltkamp has completed nearly 70% of his 239 passes for 2,102 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions on the season. He also has 166 rushing yards and 7 scores on the ground.

Veltkamp burst onto the scene in last year’s bowl game, leading Western Kentucky to a come from behind overtime win over Old Dominion in the Famous Toastery Bowl. He threw for 383 yards, 5 touchdowns, and 1 interception in the win.

“He’s playing with tons of confidence,” Chadwell said of Veltkamp. “He obviously won the bowl game, and then they brought somebody in, and he just kept doing his thing. Now, that’s his team, you can tell that. I think what makes him challenging is he throws a lot of timing, his rhythm. He gets it out quick. He doesn’t give up a lot of sacks, and he’s not going to put the ball in some situations where there’s just dangerous passes. Then he can move around the pocket and hurt you in some of the run stuff. He’s obviously the key to their ignition there, and does a great job of it. He knows how to get it out, get it in the right positions, to the people to go have some success. They are very talented. He’s done a really nice job.”

He likes to spread the ball around with eight different players having at least eight receptions on the season and six with at least 14 catches. Kisean Johnson leads the way and is the favorite target with 50 receptions for 685 yards and 5 scores. Easton Messer has 36 catches for 505 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Elijah Young has rushed 143 times for 587 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead the way for WKU on the ground.

On defense, WKU is holding opponents to 21 points per game. They allow 372.2 yards per game with 185 yards coming on the ground and 187 through the air. In 5 of their 6 conference games, the Hilltoppers have held their opponents to 21 points or fewer. They have not allowed an opponent to score 30 points this season except for the season opener against Alabama.

“Defensively, they’re tremendous,” said Chadwell. “They don’t give up any points, hardly, in the red zone. If you look at the majority, all their games, with the exception of Alabama, and they’ve played tremendous defense. They’ve put their team in a place to win games all the time, even this last week, to give up 12 points. La Tech got down there five, six times and could only come away with 12 points. So, they’re really good defensively.

PREDICTION

Liberty 31, Western Kentucky 28

Line: Liberty -1.5

Picks results this year:
Straight-up: 7-2
ATS: 6-3