The MTSU football team faces rival Western Kentucky Thursday as the Blue Raiders are coming off a 38-21 win against North Texas last Saturday.

In preparing for the Hilltoppers, the team had to crunch down its practice time because of the short week.

The Blue Raider players and coaches know even with only four days to get ready for its long time rival, WKU, it will be a tough test for them.

“We have a short turnaround for next week,” MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill said after the win. “I’m really proud of how our team played today bouncing back from last week. But we have to get ready in hurry to play a good Western Kentucky team tonight.”

MTSU improved to (5-3, 3-1) on the season after a dominating performance over the Mean Green on Oct. 27.

The team got it done on both sides of the ball as junior signal caller Logan Kilgore passed for 349 yards with three touchdown passes and a running touchdown.

Blue Raider wide outs senior Anthony Amos and junior Kyle Griswould combined for 261 receiving yards and a trio of touchdown catches. It was the first time two Blue Raider receivers each had more than 100 yards receiving since 2009.

As for the Blue Raider defense it held the Mean Green scoreless in the first half, and picked off three UNT passes in the win. It was the first time MTSU intercepted three passes in a game since the Godaddy.com Bowl in 2011. Last season, the Blue Raiders only had two picks in all 12 games.

“That was our goal was to come in here and try to get turnovers on defense, and not turn the ball over on offense,” Amos said after the game.

Tonight, the Blue Raiders will look to get to six victories as it heads to WKU looking for its fourth win in a row in Bowling Green.

A win will get MTSU bowl eligible for the first time since the 2010 season. Under Stockstill, the team has been to three bowls with the last coming in the GoDaddy.com Bowl in Janurary 2011.

However, getting bowl eligible is the furthest thing on Stockstill’s mind. All he wants is a win against the Hilltoppers.

“Its way too early for a coach to worry about that,” Stockstill said. “All I’m thinking about is trying to beat WKU. It is too early for players to be thinking about bowl games.”

Also, the Blue Raiders are looking for payback after losing at home in double overtime to the Hilltoppers, 36-33 last season. However, the team is taking this game the same way it did last week.

“We love facing rivals, but every game is a big game,” junior linebacker Craig Allen said. “We got to face them like we faced North Texas.”

It’s a late night start at 8:15 p.m. tonight, and it will be televised on ESPNU.