After playing eight games with a lot of L’s (losses) and not so many W’s (wins), senior quarterback David Wolke said that in order to break out of a four-game losing streak the Toppers have been working on a couple of E’s, execution and effort.

“One of the big points of emphasis in practice this week has been giving great effort,” Wolke said. “Looking back at film, it feels like we have given good effort. But we need more effort to go that extra step. We are really practicing hard. We are really focusing on giving great effort, finishing plays, fundamentals and things like that to put points on the board.”

The Toppers are coming off a bye week looking to re-enter the win column with a homecoming game against North Texas. Western has gone more than two months without a victory, its last win coming against Murray State on Sept. 20.

The Mean Green have been coming off a rough first eight games themselves, going 0-8 and losing by an average of more than 33 points a game.

The Toppers have yet to beat a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent this season.

Senior linebacker Ben Sowders said that the team is treating the rest of the year as a miniature four-game season, with the Toppers owning an 0-0 record as they try to complete their goal of a winning record in the Sun Belt Conference.

They hope to rebound from their Sun Belt opener, a close 24-20 loss to Florida Atlantic on Oct. 18.

Despite having two weeks in between games, coach David Elson said that the teams focus hasn’t wavered as they began practice Sunday in preparation for the Mean Green.

Part of this included starting off the week practicing in full pads, a tactic Elson said he usually doesn’t do but thought necessary given the bye week.

“Today we certainly feel a lot more prepared than we would on a normal Monday because we were able to study them last week,” Elson said. “There were some focus issues here and there, but I did not see it as an overall problem. Hopefully we will be fresh and ready come Saturday.”

Sowders said that he was also pleased with Sunday’s practice.

“I think a lot of guys were getting ready to get after it again,” Sowders said on Monday. “We had a great practice yesterday evening. I think it kind of cleared everybody’s mind and gave us a clean slate.”

The Toppers face North Texas for their Homecoming game at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Smith Stadium.

Reach Chris Acree at sports@chherald.com.