Western Michigan: A Bullet Point Preview Without Bullets

​Negativity...

Yes, Western Michigan is from the MAC. Yes, Western Michigan has a 30,000 seat stadium. But they are not necessarily a crappy program. WMU ranks 48th all time in winning percentage. And while that is nearly the textbook definition of middle of the pack, let me throw a few teams at you that they rank above...

Texas Tech
Oregon
Missouri
Iowa
Illinois

And ya, they've padded their record in a mid-major, but they also beat Illinois last year in Detroit. And they are undefeated (2-0) against Iowa, knocking them off in 2007 and 2000. They have four all-time wins against the Big Ten, and three of those wins have occurred this decade. That puts them at 3-8 in their last 11 against Big Ten opponents, yet 2-2 against Big Ten competition under their current coach, Bill Cubit. In short, they are not coming here to lay down. They are not here for the half-million dollars we paid them to travel 100 miles. They are here to win. They are here to knock off a Wolverine team that, while wounded, still provides the opportunity for a signature victory for an upstart program.

Further proving that the Broncos are peaking...with aspect to overall history...is that they are a program that has only been to 4 bowl games in their 104 year history, and two of those have come in the last two seasons.  That makes WMU's bowl streak longer than ours.  Ugh.

The Broncos broke or tied several records last year, including wins, touchdowns, pass completions, and passing yards.  I'm thinking they will be testing our young secondary.  I'm also thinking that if Michigan's offense has their shit together, the OVER will be a pretty solid bet.

Positivity...

Rich Rodriguez is no stranger to the Broncos, as his Mountaineers hosted WMU back on September 1, 2007. West Virginia, led by 4 Slaton TDs, routed the Broncos 62-24.

Michigan is 4-0 all time against Western, including victories of 35-13 and 38-21 in 2002 and 2001 respectively.

Western Michigan hasn't won an opener against a Division 1-A opponent since 1998.

Random Facts...

Our tailgate leader, the Godfather, attended Western Michigan.  Other famous alumni include John Saunders, Tim Allen, Bill Lajoie (Detroit Tiger's GM in 1984) and Stephen Lynch.

Western Michigan is the home to the International Congress on Medieval Studies, with means they play a lot of LAIRE.

Western Michigan will also face Indiana and Michigan State this season.

A cubit is a unit of measurement found in Egyptian history and in the Bible.  It is also Western Michigan's Football coach's last name.  It is said to equal twelve palms, or about 45 centimeters.  You are all now smarter.