One down, one to go.

With Western’s first year of transition into the Football Bowl Subdivision over, the Toppers (7-5) head into their final bowl-ineligible season in 2008.

They take with them the momentum of Western’s 12th consecutive winning season.

Athletics Director Wood Selig said it was huge for the football program to continue its winning tradition, especially in the first year of transition to the FBS.

“I think it shows we can compete at the (FBS) level,” Selig said. “Next year, we’ll be bigger, faster and stronger.”

The Toppers face a tougher schedule in 2008, competing against 10 FBS teams and two Football Championship Subdivision affiliates.

In 2007, Western played six schools from the FBS and five from the FCS, finishing 1-5 against FBS opponents.

The Toppers were 1-2 against Sun Belt Conference teams with their lone victory coming in a 20-17 win at Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 20.

Western lost by a combined five points against Sun Belt affiliates’ Troy and North Texas.

“There’s going to be a level of consistent performance and production that we’re going to have to have week in and week out,” coach David Elson said.

Rival Eastern Kentucky and Murray State represent Western’s two FCS opponents in 2008.

Elson said those two games will bring the same level of emotion and competitiveness as the rest of next year’s schedule.

Because the Toppers will have less of a break between the higher caliber of opponents in the seasons to come, they will have to be able to adjust to that kind of intensity.

“We learned that there are no weeks off at (the FBS) level,” Selig said. “You have to come ready to play every single Saturday.”

The Toppers finished the 2007 season with a 27-26 loss at North Texas (2-9, 1-5 SBC) last Saturday.

Western led the Mean Green 20-7 at halftime, but was limited to two field goals in the second half.

North Texas gained 397 yards of total offense compared to the Toppers’ 349.

Western won the turnover battle, finishing the game with three interceptions. Junior defensive lineman Terald Clark returned one of those interceptions 44 yards for the first score of his career.

“We definitely felt that we had the better football team, and we felt we were ready to play,” junior quarterback David Wolke said. “They just made a few more plays at the end than we did.”

Wolke went 14-for-20 for 129 yards. He also rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown on 16 attempts.

Elson said the loss to North Texas was a learning experience.

“It’s one we’ll go back and talk about,” he said. “You can’t make the mistakes that we made against any team, let alone conference, on the road, (FBS) level.”

Selig said because of the outcome of the 2007 season, Western will have more confidence competing at that next level.

Reach Will Perkins at sports@chherald.com.