SB Nation - Tim Hiller

MAC Title Still In Reach For Huskies

Jerry Burnes — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:30:33 -0000

DeMarcus Grady didn't have to do much when Chandler Harnish went out, but he posted some pretty numbers in those spots.

When the 2009 season began the Northern Illinois Huskies were projected to finish third in the Mid-American-West behind Western and Central Michigan.

Now 10 games into the season the Huskies (7-3, 5-1 MAC) will be no worse than the No. 2 team in the MAC West. With a win this coming Saturday over Ohio in Athens, NIU will head into its game at Central Michigan with a trip to Detroit hanging in the balance.

The Huskies did what they needed to do these past four games with wins over Miami (OH), Akron, Eastern Michigan and Ball State. Those teams entered the Huskies' four-game stretch with a 1-25 record and enter this next week 4-37. Any losses would have been devastating for a MAC team fighting for a bowl.

But masked in the impressive season NIU is putting up is the disappointing one Western Michigan has put up. The Broncos have struggled on defense and on the offensive line. Star quarterback Tim Hiller hasn't had nearly the time to throw which was evident against NIU. Their record (5-6, 4-3) record lingers as shocking.

NIU has waded through an injury to quarterback Chandler Harnish. How? With the run game that starred in the three games Harnish did not play, but struggled some against Ball State. Redshirt junior Chad Spann has been without doubt the Most Valuable Player of the Huskies team. Spann has 16 rushing touchdowns, which is tied for fourth in the nation, and has 17 total scores. He also has 830 yards and will look to become the first Huskie under Jerry Kill to rush for 1,000 yards.

The Huskies will have their hands full with Ohio (7-3, 5-1) before heading to Central Michigan (8-2, 6-0) and All-World quarterback Dan LeFevour. The win over Ball State has all but clinched a bowl game for the second straight season. A win over Ohio makes NIU the No. 3 team in the entire MAC, that will be a bowl game.

A win over Ohio sets up a MAC West title battle with CMU, for a chance at the first MAC title since 1983. That season Bill Mallory led the Huskies to a MAC Championship and the California Bowl. NIU's last appearance in Detroit was in 2005 when Akron upset the Huskies on a last second hail mary to Domenik Hixon.

History is in the hands of the Huskies. They control their own fate. It would not be a good time to have a lapse and put the MAC title out of reach before getting a shot at LeFevour.

Poll

If NIU faces CMU for the MAC West title, can they beat the Chippewas?

No. Why? Two words: Dan LeFevour

21 votes

Yes. The team is on a roll and will continue it.

37 votes

58 votes | Poll has closed

Preview: Michigan State vs. Western Michigan

LVS — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:13:59 -0000

More photos » by Al Goldis - AP

In happier times.

Browse more photos »

Your MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS vs. the WESTERN MICHIGAN BRONCOS
SPARTAN STADIUM, EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN
NOON (ET), BIG TEN NETWORK
WEATHER: PARTLY CLOUDY AND VERY WINDY (18-20 MPH), 55 DEGREES.

Every week's preview introduction seems to warn of ever-more-dire consequences if we lose the game on that particular Saturday. Well, this one's easy: lose this game and:

we'll suffer the indignity of being the first Michigan State team EVAR to lose to two MAC opponents in one season;
we'll suffer the indignity of those two MAC teams being freaking Central and Western;
our season will essentially be over; and,
I will cry.

So, now that we have that out of the way, let's get to the preview! This week with extra malaise!

Western has had an up-and-down season, to say the least. They're 4-5; the losses are an opening-week blowout at Michigan, a close road loss to Indiana, another blowout at the hands of Northern Illinois, a home loss to Central Michigan, and a defeat last week at Kent State. WMU was expected by many to challenge for their conference title, so a 4-5 record is a pretty huge disappointment for Bronco fans. (Sound familiar?) Nonetheless, this is an experienced team led by an accomplished senior quarterback. After the CMU game, I doubt that there was any chance we'd look past WMU . . . but if we somehow do, the Broncos may be talented enough to take advantage.

WHEN MICHIGAN STATE IS ON DEFENSE: Given the state of our defense, this advice probably will apply to all of our remaining games, but none more than this Saturday's: sell out to defend the pass, and make them beat us with the running game. Brandon West is the primary Bronco running back, and while his numbers (161 carries, 824 yards, 5.1 ypc) aren't terrible, the majority of those yards have come in three games: two against two middling-to-bad MAC rush defenses (Buffalo and Toledo), and one 1-AA opponent (Hofstra). As a team, WMU's rushing offense is 10th out of 13 in the MAC, averaging only a shade over 100 yards per game. Our rush defense has been good. We should have no problem stopping their rushing attack; in fact, every time they hand the ball off, it's essentially a win for our defense.

But the WMU passing offense . . . that's a bit different. WMU is 3rd in the MAC in passing offense (284 yards per game) and 6th in pass efficiency. Tim Hiller is obviously a standout and a potential NFL prospect; by the time he leaves Kalamazoo, he'll be the owner of every significant WMU career passing record. He's big (6'5" and 234 pounds) and not a real scrambling threat; this is disturbing only because that's the mold of most QBs that have given MSU real trouble this year (Clausen, Tolzien, Weber, etc.). In his other two starts against Big Ten defenses this season (and mediocre ones at that--Michigan and Indiana), Hiller was decent:

ATT COMP COMP % YARDS TD INT RATING

MICHIGAN 22 38 57.9 258 1 2 113.31

INDIANA 28 43 65.1 266 1 0 124.75

The Michigan stats are greatly inflated by a 73 yard garbage-time touchdown pass. The Indiana stats aren't terrible, but almost certainly won't be enough to win the game for WMU on Saturday.

Statistically, Hiller hasn't been as good this season as he was last year. His rating is way down, as is his completion percentage, his yards per game, yards per attempt and completion, and his TD-INT ratio. (All of this probably has lots to do with the fact that WMU's top two receivers in 2008 both graduated.) However, his sacks are up -- 16 already this year, against only 14 for the entirety of last season.

Hiller's main targets this year are Robert Arnheim and Juan Nunez, but the main thing that's notable about the receiver corps is how deep it is and how well the Broncos spread the ball around: 5 receivers have more htan 30 receptions on the year, and a sixth has more than 20. This could pose problems for an MSU secondary which is thin and has looked utterly clueless in countless instances this season.

Basically, the WMU pass offense isn't spectacular, but it's decent, and it's really the only thing that can keep WMU in the game. Nonetheless, given MSU's laughable track record against one-dimensional passing offenses this season, there's no guarantee of success on our part. The Broncos have allowed a fair amount of sacks this season, so we should really put an emphasis on getting to the quarterback and disrupting Hiller's rhythm. Beyond that, uh, we should cover their receivers? I think we all understand far too well at this point the areas which need improvement.

WHEN MICHIGAN STATE IS ON OFFENSE: . . . we should dominate a Western defense which has struggled mightily against the pass. The Broncos are 13th in the MAC in pass defense (dead last!) and 9th in pass efficiency defense. They have the second-fewest sacks in the MAC. At the beginning of the year, Tim Sullivan at mgoblog said this:

If Western's run defense was pretty bad last year, their pass defense was downright terrible. Facing the same motley crew of offenses, they finished #102 in the nation in pass defense. They were a more respectable #62 in pass efficiency defense.) That indicates they were in lots of shootouts last year (a couple) and games in which the opponent was trying to mount a comeback (a couple more).

The Bronco defense soared to those heights despite two players selected in the NFL Draft in Louis Delmas (2nd Round to the Lions, still technically in the NFL) and EJ Biggers (7th Round to the Buccaneers). I think it's safe to say that you can't expect WMU to replace two NFL-caliber players at one position group. Ohio State they are not. The lone returning starter is strong safety Mario Armstrong.

They've been as bad as advertised. And, For what it's worth, WMU's rush defense hasn't been much better: opponents are averaging 176 yards per game, good for 94th in the country. This also might be a game to see if Baker and Caper can break a few big runs and get some confidence.

This is a very, very short offensive preview for a reason: there's not much to say other than Western is a bad defense, and we should rack up a lot of yards and a lot of points against them. The fewest points WMU has allowed to a 1-A school this season is 23 (to Indiana, no less); overall, they're averaging more than 27 points allowed per game, good for 80th nationally. This. Is. Not. A. Good. Defense. And if we don't score at least 30 points . . . we'll (a) have either called off the dogs in a blowout, or (b) have played terribly on offense.I hate the "we can only stop ourselves" cliche, but here, it's true.

FINAL PREDICTION: I actually really agree with what Graham Couch of the Kalamazoo Gazette said, in an article KJ linked to earlier today:

If Michigan State hadn’t lost to Central Michigan already this year, a WMU win wouldn’t feel so farfetched. But it’s hard to imagine an uninspired effort from the Spartans considering that loss and how much they need this game. That said, the prospect of bowl-eligibility didn’t help Iowa or Illinois get up for the Broncos either of the last two years. Here’s the difference: Both Iowa and Illinois were bad offenses; Michigan State is not.

MSU the better team here, and we desperately need this win to keep ourselves in contention for a bowl berth. After losing to CMU earlier this year, there's no way we (should!) look past this game. In 2007, we lost a heartbreaker to Michigan, and then came back to beat Purdue and Penn State to clinch a bowl berth. This year, the task is substantially easier: beat WMU and Purdue and we're in a bowl. While last week's debacle clearly shows that this team is capable of losing nearly any game, I really doubt it happens here. 41-21, MSU.

And if it does happen here, I mean, last week's thread of shame is going to look like the post-Michigan discussion by comparison. Please, football team of my beloved Alma Mater, do not let this happen.

Week 10 Big Ten Preview

BoilerTMill — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:48:46 -0000

Clearly the biggest game this week is Ohio State at Penn State. The winner will still be alive for the BCS, while the loser is done. We also avoided the apocalypse this week at the Indiana-Wisconsin game. No, I don't mean that it has any bearing on the league race. The announcement that Bob Knight would not return to Bloomington for his IU Hall of Fame enshrinement prevents the world from ending. It's too bad, too. If he had announced he was coming IU might have had their elusive sellout in the expanded stadium. I am boycotting their ridiculous ticket prices for the Bucket game by waiting until the game, then scalping half price tickets.

Purdue (3-6, 2-3) at Michigan (5-4, 1-4) Noon, Big Ten Network.

(No Michigan blog has posted a preview yet, so pick your favorite.)

Well, this is it. Ironically, we carry an identical 3-6 record into the state of Michigan with fleeting bowl hopes just like last season. Unfortunately, everyone under 40 has memories of us actually winning at Spartan Stadium.

I don't like this game. People can try to talk it up and give us every chance possible, but I am beyond the point of believing we can win at Michigan. I have seen too many very good Purdue teams go up there and accomplish nothing. I don't care how bad Michigan has looked lately. There are few constants in this league, and Purdue not being competitive at Michigan Stadium is one of them.

What's so frustrating is seeing so many other teams that are worse than us go up there and have success. Illinois has two wins there in the last 10 years. Indiana played a close game there this year. Toledo, Applachian State, Utah, Oregon (far from being worse than us). All were given one chance to win there and they succeeded. We've been given 17 chances and can't even come close. We are more than capable of competing, even winning up there, but it is to the point where I won't believe it until I see it. Michigan 37, Purdue 10

Western Michigan (4-5) at Michigan State (4-5) Noon, Big Ten Network

SpartyMSU preview

The Broncos will try to avoid a last place finish in the pseudo-Big Ten. Syracuse and Notre Dame are the non-conference teams that have played three Big Ten teams each. With losses to Indiana and Michigan, Western Michigan will now become the third. The Broncos were supposed to be better than their 4-5 record behind quarterback Tim Hiller, but they got drilled by Michigan, had a late fumble against Indiana, and have also lost big to Northern Illinois.

Western also dropped a game to Central Michigan, who has a nice victory over Michigan State this year. If Sparty loses they will join us and possibly Illinois with a 1-3 non-conference record. Michigan State played an awful game last week against Minnesota, but I don't think they'll be that bad this week. I think Sparty wins to salvage bowl hopes for another week, making Purdue a huge game for them. Michigan State 31, Western Michigan 14

#21 Wisconsin (6-2, 3-2) at Indiana (4-5, 1-4) Noon, Big Ten Network

Crimson Quarry Preview

Bucky's 5^th Quarter Preview (Not yet posted)

This is the third of four games on the Big Ten Network this week. Living in Indy, I am going to be pretty pissed off if I get this game instead of Purdue-Michigan. Hopefully the overflow channels will be working. A Wisconsin win would all but end any IU bowl hopes, as the Hoosiers will not win at Penn State. Truth be told, Indiana should have about four more wins already if they could close games and beat awful teams *cough* Virginia *cough*.

Wisconsin was one of the most physically dominating teams I have seen in some time. They exerted their will on the first drive against Purdue last week and the Boilers folded. Will Indiana do the same? The Hoosier have a similar makeup with a solid defensive line, multi-faceted offense, and a shaky (at times) back seven. Ultimately, Indiana cannot close a game, and that will cost them. Wisconsin 27, Indiana 17

Illinois (2-6, 1-5) at Minnesota (5-4, 3-3) Noon, Big Ten Network

Hail to the Orange Preview

The Daily Gopher Preview (Not yet posted)

It is probably a sign of how crappy the Big Ten is, but both teams are coming in as some of the hottest in the league. Illinois for their "where the hell was THAT all year" win over Michigan, and Minnesota for the same reason on a smaller scale. I honestly think the Gophers are creating a bit of a home field advantage at TCF Bank Stadium. They are 3-2, but have played the better teams they have faced close.

Ultimately, this game will be decided by what Illinois team shows up. The Illini finally played like they were capable of playing last week. If they keep it up, they can probably win at least three of their remaining games and have some positive momentum going into next season. While they found a running game, Minnesota found a passing game. The Eric Decker injury may be a blessing in disguise. It has forced Adam Weber to look for other receivers and he spread the ball around well last week. That will be the difference as Minnesota has finally discovered the forward pass. Minnesota 27, Illinois 24

Northwestern (5-4, 2-3) at #4 Iowa (9-0, 5-0) Noon, ESPN

Black Heart Gold Pants Preview

Lake the Posts Preview

I love this game because there is some serious bad blood between the teams. Iowa won't admit it is a rivalry, but the Hawkeyes have struggled lately against the Wildcats, losing three of four. On the other end, a miserable Iowa team upset Northwestern in 2000 the day Purdue blew a game at Michigan State, denying the Wildcats the Rose Bowl and giving Purdue a reprieve. Iowa refers to them often as "Just Northwestern", which is about as bad as "Little Brother" in the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry.

Seriously though, do you want to pick against Iowa this year? They could easily be about 3-6, but they are 9-0 and on the short list of national title candidates. They were down to the final second at Michigan State, but somehow pulled it off. No margin is too steep for them. No injury is too much to overcome. I am not going to rip them for their close games. Instead, I am going to praise them for having the guts of a burglar. They are the Mariano Rivera of college football at the moment. Iowa 24, Northwestern 23

#16 Ohio State (7-2, 4-1) at #11 Penn State (8-1, 4-1) 3:30, ABC

Eleven Warriors Preview

Black Shoe Diaries Preview

This feels like the only game of any substance this week. Sure, Iowa-Northwestern will be exciting because the Hawkeyes are incapable of a ho-hum win. Minnesota-Illinois is intriguing because Illinois couldn't run until last week while Minnesota couldn't pass. The other games have serious blowout potential. This game, however, has some good storylines. To the winner, a possible BCS berth and Big Ten title if Iowa stumbles. It may be the first game in the Big Ten this year where both teams were ranked at kickoff.

Normally I would trust Penn State at home in a night game, but their struggles against Iowa jaded me. Ohio State has shown some semblance of an offense lately too, even if it was against Minnesota and New Mexico State. If they can keep that momentum going forward I like Ohio State's chances.

Penn State has been playing awfully well though. The Michigan win was particularly impressive given their own struggles in Ann Arbor. They have been on a mission since losing to Iowa, winning every game by at least 18 points. Since Iowa must lose two of its final three for Penn State to win the Big Ten that dream is probably gone, but an at large BCS is not at 11-1 (and let's pray they steal one from a possible 10-2 Notre Dame). Penn State 21, Ohio State 17

Western Michigan vs NIU: A Primer for Homecoming 2009

Mike Breese — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:29:19 -0000

View full size photo »

Kalamazoo is the closest city to Dekalb that houses a MAC squad being 3 1/2 hours away. They like to make inroads recruiting in the Chicago area, especially now that long-time NIU recruiting coordinator Mike Sabock has taken the same position east down I-94. The Broncos have also been our homecoming opponent both in 2007 and in 2003. The 2003 game was the most highly-attended game in Northern Illinois history with a total of 28,221 fans coming out to support the Huskies.

If Western Illinois is NIU's little brother than Western Michigan would have to be that kid that you beat up, who goes away for a little while and then comes up with some creative new strategies to beat you up yourself. Then he becomes king of the playground until you gather yourself and start controlling the turf again. What am I talking about?

1950-1982: 15-1 WMU
1983-1988: 5-0 NIU
1991-2000: 6-0 WMU
2001-2005: 5-0 NIU
2006-08: 3-0 WMU

Overall, we have an 11-23 overall record against the Broncos. I like the 10-9 since 1983 stat personally though. '83 was Mallory's last big year and we even beat Western the year after that with Lee Corso as our coach. In the 1990's we were bad, until Coach Novak started turning things around. Gary Darnell left WMU in 2004 and current HC Bill Cubit took the reigns and supremacy over the Huskies in these last few years.

Cubit was OC for WMU from 1997-99, went to Mizzou for a year and then had 2-year stints at both Rutgers & Stanford before landing back in Kalamazoo as the head ball coach.

Flashback to 2006: Garrett Wolfe has rattled off 10+ games of 150 yds or more until we come rolling in to Kalamazoo on what seems like a harmless game. We've beaten WMU every year, so that trend should continue right? Well, Wolfe got held to only 25 yds on 18 carries and the rest was history. Phil Horvath had 3 interceptions and was sacked 3x, while WR Britt Davis was the main offensive contributor. There goes the Heisman & there goes the MAC West. Does that make you cringe? Final score: 14-16.

2007 (Vintage RABA Recap): WMU was homecoming back then too and we came in to the game with a 1-5 record and almost beat the Broncos 13-17. It was the beginning of the Ryan Morris show at QB. This was the game where on a fake MPZ miraculously got off that deep pass for a TD. A couple interesting thoughts I had that day:

Crowd was 23K. So that means its a plus 4,000 to 5,000 fans if we actually have a good football team.

#15 QB Ryan Morris has no arm. He's a poor man's Phil Horvath. Not even that. I still heard "Nicholson Sucks" chants in the crowd when he wasn't even playing lol. There were men open that he couldn't even get the ball. Embarrassing.

Again, I'm very surprised that Joe Novak seems to keep Justin Anderson in there for every play. He just doesn't have that breakaway speed or any other attributes that make him special like a Wolfe or a Turner. I would like to see the other speed backs get a look. Outside runs with Justin Anderson just aren't going to work because his speed isn't good enough.

2008 (Vintage RABA Recap): I actually made the trip up to K-Zoo that year for the game and it was a great time. It only took me 5 days to get a recap up for some reason. 1st quarter of the game, the man that became an instant star against Minnesota the week before, Chandler Harnish, went down with an ankle injury. For the rest of the game, we had to use a mix of Dan Nicholson and Britt Davis. Neither were effective though, as Nicholson got sacked 4 times whereas Grady only ran the ball. On the ground #3 was pretty effective scoring a TD and averaging over 6 ypc. One thing of note was that stellar LG Jason Onyebuagu didn't play in the game last year, which may have added to the problems moving the ball offensively.

Overall, starting your second road game in a row, in-conference, with a rotating door at QB, with one of your best WRs not making the trip, with a new coach, with an inconsistent running game, with a freshman at LT is not going to be a good situation.

We actually outgained the Broncos 439-384 despite losing 26-29. The problem? Settling for FGs instead of TDs. Sound familiar? Just like Idaho. RB Brandon West tore us apart rushing for 175 yds on just 25 carries. WMU QB Tim Hiller tossed the ball around for 186 yds and 3 TDs. A key contributor in last years game in Jamarko Simmons who had 8 catches for 102 yds and a TD has since graduated to the NFL.

Reading Material

HuskieWire Writer's Bloc with WMU Beat Writer Graham Couch

NStar's Offensive Breakdown of WMU

NStar's Defensive Breakdown of WMU

So far this season

9/05	@ Michigan	0-1 (0-0)	L 31-7
9/12	@ Indiana	0-2 (0-0)	L 23-19
9/19	Miami (OH)	1-2 (1-0)	W 48-26
9/26	Hofstra	2-2 (1-0)	W 24-10

@ Michigan: Just domination all around by the Wolverines. Any types of yards or points by the Broncos happened well after UM was up 31-0. WR Juan Nunes had a nice 73 yd TD and that was it for the WMU offense. They averaged 1.6 ypc rushing in this game.

@ Indiana: This was a very odd game where each team wanted to give away the win to the opponent. The Hoosiers settled for 3 FGs and a missed FG whenever they got in to redzone situations. This plus 13 penalties for 106 yds allowed the Broncos to get back in to the game. WMU would have won it too, if they didn't fumble the ball 3 times on their last 3 possessions, allowing IU to get a safety and control the ball until the clock ran out. Total yds were 372-288 in favor of IU. Hiller had to pass the ball around again and rushing was only .8 ypc!

vs Miami: The score is deceiving because WMU got up to 35-0 early in the 3rd quarter. And then 6-48 later in the 3rd. Of course the Redhawks pretty much gave the Broncos the game giving them the ball 4x on the ground and once through the air. Plus 10 penalties for 77 yds. You have to hand it to Miami for fighting hard in garbage time, eventually coming in front of the yardage stat 421-370.

vs Hofstra: Just a lackluster performance against an FCS opponent that didn't have anything special to bring to the table. Early on, WMU couldn't convert a 4th down, threw an interception and settled for a field goal. The Pride managed to stick around until before the end of the 1st half, in which Brandon West ran it in after a long drive by the Broncos. The second half was sloppy too with Western fumbling the ball on both of their first 2 possessions in the 3rd quarter.

09_29_2009 WMU Broncos Football Press Conference

National Rankings

Category	National Rank	Actual	National Leader	Actual	Conf Rank	Mid-American Conference Leader	Actual
Rushing Offense	113	86.25	Air Force	319.00	11	Northern Ill.	188.00
Passing Offense	21	271.25	Hawaii	423.33	3	Toledo	320.50
Total Offense	73	357.50	Texas A&M	574.33	5	Toledo	473.25
Scoring Offense	T-81	24.50	Texas	49.50	4	Central Mich.	32.75
Rushing Defense	84	157.00	Oklahoma	40.67	4	Central Mich.	113.00
Pass Efficiency Defense	74	129.77	Florida	75.31	9	Eastern Mich.	79.69
Total Defense	95	390.25	North Carolina St.	201.25	11	Central Mich.	274.00
Scoring Defense	T-54	22.50	Oklahoma	4.67	3	Central Mich.	16.75
Net Punting	64	35.78	BYU	43.70	6	Ball St.	40.19
Punt Returns	66	8.00	Louisiana Tech	45.50	6	Central Mich.	17.90
Kickoff Returns	32	25.00	Stanford	41.67	3	Temple	28.15
Turnover Margin	91	-.75	Arizona St.	3.33	10	Ohio	1.00
Pass Defense	85	233.25	Eastern Mich.	78.00	11	Eastern Mich.	78.00
Passing Efficiency	51	134.76	Hawaii	180.65	3	Buffalo	143.97
Sacks	T-48	2.00	Texas A&M	4.67	2	Temple	2.67
Tackles For Loss	96	4.50	Oklahoma	11.33	11	Kent St.	7.00
Sacks Allowed	T-71	2.00	Iowa St.	.50	6	Toledo	.75

Notes

Offense - Rushing offense is terrible, but that doesn't mean RB Brandon West isn't a home run threat every time he touches the football.

Defense - Rush D is 84th nationally, but still 4th in the MAC? How bout those MAC defenses. You can pass on these Broncos and overall they are 95th nationally and 11th in the conference in defense. We should be able to pick our spots pretty good, because it's not like WMU's played some of the top offenses out there excluding Michigan in their debut. Bring a lot of pressure.

Special Teams/Other - Brandon West is their kickoff return specialist and he does a great job putting the Broncos in good field position. Turnovers will be huge in this game, because WMU likes to give the ball up a lot on the ground and sometimes through the air as well.

Impact Players

Category	Player	National Rank	Actual
Rushing	Brandon West	T-57	74.00
Passing Efficiency (Min. 15 Att./Game)	Tim Hiller	52	136.88
Total Offense	Tim Hiller	34	249.75
	Brandon West		74.00
Receptions Per Game	Jordan White	T-32	6.00
	Juan Nunez	T-40	5.75
	Robert Arnheim	T-78	4.50
	Chleb Ravenell		3.75
Receiving Yards Per Game	Juan Nunez	36	85.25
	Jordan White	T-81	63.00
	Chleb Ravenell		46.75
	Robert Arnheim		42.25
Interceptions	Jamail Berry		.25
	Deshon Lawrence		.25
Punting (Min. 3.6 Punts/Game)	Ben Armer	73	37.89
Punt Returns (Min. 1.2 Ret./Game)
Kickoff Returns (Min. 1.2 Ret./Game)	Brandon West	36	26.07
Field Goals	John Potter	T-99	.50
Scoring	John Potter		4.50
	Brandon West		4.50
	Juan Nunez		4.50
All-Purpose Runners	Brandon West	4	192.50
	Juan Nunez		85.25
	Jordan White		76.33
Sacks	Cody Cielenski	T-30	.75
	Vernon Stewart		.25
	Austin Pritchard		.25
	Paul Hazel		.25
Tackles	Austin Pritchard	T-21	10.00
Tackles For Loss	Cody Cielenski		1.00
	Austin Pritchard		.88

Notes

The usual suspects in QB Tim Hiller and RB Brandon West are effective on offense. The deep threat at WR is Juan Nunez, who ~~is questionable~~ WILL NOT PLAY this week with a knee bruise. WR Jordan White sees a lot of grabs, but is more of a posession guy. Let's see here...Brandon West, Brandon West, hmm I think we should watch out for Brandon West. Our kicking game and special teams coverage has to be sharp this week.

The O-Line needs to watch out for Cielinski on the defensive line and make sure he doesn't get in to the backfield. Austin Pritchard is Mr. Productive at the weakside LB position. A huge loss for the Broncos on this side of the ball is nickelback Doug Wiggins, who remains suspended for disciplinary reasons. That brings their depth in the secondary down extremely as Wiggins is one of their most talented players and a transfer from THE U of Miami.

The Gameplan

Play physical both on defense and on offense. This game will be won in the trenches and on special teams play. Hold on to the ball. Make sure to get pressure on Hiller so he doesn't have all day to throw. Keep an eye on RB Brandon West at all times and make tackles. Fundamentals and execution were Coach Kill's words of the week and it's time for these Huskies to give a homecoming performance nobody will forget!

Indiana 23, Western Michigan 19: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:00:33 -0000

Here are the stats. What do we see?

The good:

The final score, of course. While a 4 point home win over a MAC school isn't the stuff of legend, the oddsmakers had the game nearly even and practically all media and blog predictions favored the Broncos. All wins matter: just ask Michigan State.
IU outgained Western Michigan 372 to 288 and averaged 6.0 yards per play to Western's 4.0. This speaks particularly well of the defense, which was reasonably effective against one of the nation's most productive offenses of last year.
The rushing game was much, much better. IU ran the ball 33 times for 187 yards and averaged 5.7 yards per carry. Again, no one will confuse Western Michigan's front seven with Ohio State's, but IU ran the ball often and effectively. Even taking Demetrius McCray's 59-yard TD run out of the equation, IU averaged 4 yards per carry.
IU sacked Tim Hiller twice and pressured him more often than that. Jammie Kirlew got into the action with 1.5 sacks. Once again, Greg Middleton made little impact in the stat line other than his crucial forced fumble, but he clearly had an impact on the WMU passing game.
Tandon Doss continued to cement his status as the #1 receiver with 8 catches for 85 yards.
Speaking of McCray, he ran the ball 17 times for 137 yards for an average of nearly 8 yards per carry. Bryan Payton added 5-29 (5.8 ypc) and Mitchell Evans, working out of a Wildcat-like formation as quarterback, was 6-35 (also 5.8 ypc).
Redshirt freshman Nick Freeland continues to kick well. He made three of four field goals, and his only miss was a block. In other words, he hasn't shanked one yet (knock on wood).

The bad:

Once again, after a strong start, IU failed to put the game away despite ample opportunity to do so. IU had two scoring drives in the second half (plus a blocked field goal from the 5 yard line) compared to three in the first half, so IU moved the ball reasonably well in the second half, but managing at least one touchdown on those second half possessions would have given the Hoosiers some breathing room.
IU allowed 161 kick return yards to Brandon West, good enough for 26 yards per return.

The ugly:

13 penalties for 106 yards. On the key drive of the game, the fourth quarter drive that Middleton ended with his forced fumble at the five yard line, IU had four penalties, including three personal fouls. They were oddly clustered as well. IU had consecutive false starts in the first quarter by Tandon Doss and Pete Saxon. In a very odd sequence in the third quarter, tight end Troy Wagner, despite being "covered up" by another player on the line, left his three point stance on two consecutive plays, and each was a false start.

Western Michigan: key contributors.

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:03:47 -0000

by TONY DING - AP

Tim Hiller leads the WMU offense.

View full size photo »

I've talked a bit about WMU's strengths as a team, but who are the key contributors to watch on Saturday?

Tim Hiller, senior quarterback: Well, if you know anything about Western Michigan you knew that. Here are Hiller's official page and game log. Trivia: Hiller is from Orrville, Ohio, the same town as Bob Knight. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Hiller's numbers were passable overall, but his 57 percent completion percentage against Michigan was below his career average. Hiller completed nearly 65 percent of his passes as a junior and over 63 percent as a sophomore. Still, Michigan was Hiller's third consecutive subpar game: Tiller finished the 2008 season with a 15-32 performance in a loss to Ball State and 19-42 in a Texas Bowl loss to Rice. Hiller has held his own against BCS conference teams as well: in 2007, his performance against IU (28-51, 343 yards, 3 touchdowns) is well-known here, but the next week, against Missouri, Hiller was 30-43, 242, 1TD, 2 INT in a 52-24 loss at Missouri. Later in 2007, in a game that allowed IU to secure an Insight Bowl bid, Hiller was 26-45 for 367 yards and 3 TD 0 INT at Iowa. In 2008, Hiller was 30-49 for 342 yards and 2 TD in a 47-24 loss to Nebraska. Later in the season, in a home-neutral game at Ford Field, Hiller was 28-40 for 301 yards and 2 TD in a 23-17 win over Illinois. In short, Hiller hasn't been intimidated against teams from major conferences, and has a 2-3 career record against such teams.

Brandon West, senior running back: West, for his career, has run for 2548 yards and averaged 4.8 yards per carry. also, he has 746 career receiving yards. How has he done against the big boys? West was fine against IU in 2007, running 12 times for 51 yards and returning a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. Also in 2007, he was very effective against Iowa, running for 116 yards on 30 carries and gaining 93 yards and a TD on 9 receptions. In 2008, he didn't overwhelm against any of the major conference opponents and was less than impressive against Michigan last week.

Juan Nunez, junior wide receiver. Nunez was one of the few Broncos who played well against Michigan. After gaining 701 receiving yards as a sophomore, Nunez caught 7 balls for 151 yards, including a 73 yard touchdown reception, WMU's only score of the game. He did not play against IU in 2007.

Austin Pritchard, senior linebacker. Pritchard was a first-team all-MAC selection in 2008 and WMU's leading tackler. He led the way in tackles for WMU with 11 against Michigan last week.

Doug Wiggins, sophomore free safety. Wiggins transferred from Miami (Fla.) and recorded 9 tackles in his Bronco debut. Wiggins's transfer from Miami was an odd affair, with allegations by Wiggins that the Miami staff wanted to create a fraudulent injury so that he could gain a medical redshirt year after playing in four games. According to this arti cle , Wiggins, a top 50 recruit, nearly attended WMU in the first place. Strange story all around.

Those are the Broncos to watch. As I write this, IU is a 1.5 point favorite, meaning the Hoosiers would be an underdog on a neutral field. Hopefully, IU can begin a new MAC winning streak this year.

Week 2 Big Ten preview and picks

BoilerTMill — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:24:57 -0000

In last week's Big Ten Bloggers' pick ‘em I went 9-2, missing the upset I called of Western Michigan over Michigan. This week the Broncos take on another Big Ten team as they travel to Indiana. Unlike week one, Most teams are taking on heftier opponents than last week. There are still plenty of sweet, creamy cupcakes available as well.

Eastern Michigan (0-1) at Northwestern (1-0) Noon Big Ten Network

Lake The Posts preview

Expect Northwestern to have little trouble at home against the Eagles, who lost at home to Army last week. Eastern Michigan is not your typical MAC team that is good enough to challenge the Big Ten. In fact, they have long been one of the worst D-1A teams in the nation. They couldn't even protect their quarterback against Army. Northwestern will roll early and often. Northwestern 48, Eastern Michigan 10

Western Michigan (0-1) at Indiana (1-0) Noon Big Ten Network

Crimson Quarry preview

I really expected Western Michigan to put up a better offensive fight in Ann Arbor. They were quite awful, to be honest. Tim Hiller is a much better quarterback than that. Indiana is a much worse team than Illinois, whom the Broncos beat last year. Absolutely nothing impressed me about Indiana last week other than their ability to recover key fumbles inside the five yard line. That won't happen this time. At least Indiana will be celebrating 125 years of football in the way they are used to celebrating football-wise. Western Michigan 28, Indiana 21

Central Michigan (0-1) at Michigan State (1-0) Noon ESPN2

The Only Colors preview

I would feel a lot better about calling an upset here if Central Michigan had not struggled so badly against a mediocre Arizona team last week. For all the offense the Chips have, they still have only beaten one BCS team, that being Indiana last year. Michigan State's defense is not Indiana's. Michigan State actually has a defense. Central will likely score some points, but not enough. I think Lefevour would have to go absolutely nuts to beat the Spartans. Greg Jones will prevent that from happening and Michigan State will roll over the still-porous Chippewa defense. Michigan State 38, Central Michigan 17

Syracuse (0-1) at #7 Penn State (1-0) Noon Big Ten Network

Black Shoe Diaries Preview

If you take away the Orange's win at Illinois in 2006, Syracuse has scored 10 points in its last three visits to Big Ten schools (Northwestern 2008, Iowa 2007, Purdue 2004). With the number Penn State's first string defense did on Minnesota last week, expect more of the same. For a fun look at this game, check out The Rivalry Esq.'s Greg Paulus challenge. Sadly, the ‘Cuse probably blew its best chance to beat a Big Ten team in overtime last week. Penn State 41, Syracuse 10

Fresno State (1-0) at Wisconsin (1-0) Noon, ESPN

Bucky's 5^th Quarter preview

The Badgers get the marquee early game in the conference in a day when we can watch almost 13 straight hours of Big Ten football. Honestly, there is nothing compelling about this that doesn't make me want to stay home instead of doing something else until Ohio State-USC game. The most interesting thing about this game is that Wisconsin is battling some flu issues in the locker room, making it a major concern. Fresno had a 51-0 win over UC Davis last week, but that is just your typical 1-AA beatdown. I credit the Bulldogs for continuing their anytime, anywhere philosophy. They had a very narrow loss to Wisconsin last season in Fresno as well. This is the first in a three game run for the Bulldogs that features Boise State and Cincinnati afterwards. Fresno had over 500 yards of total offense last week, and if they keep that up against a potentially gassed Wisconsin defense we could have an upset. Wisconsin 24, Fresno State 21

Iowa (1-0) at Iowa State (1-0) 12:05 Fox Sports Network

Black Heart Gold Pants preview

Okay, should I do it?

I mean really, based on last week's results?

Okay

I have to

CRIPPLE FIGHT!!!!!!!!!

I hate this game. Both teams are proud they squeezed out wins over very good 1-AA teams last week. For the Cyclones, it was North Dakota State 34-17. We all know what Iowa did to nearly shame the conference. Even saying that, Iowa should win this because they are the better team. Iowa State has won nine games in three years, but Iowa historically plays an awful game in Ames. I'll probably regret this, but I am going with Iowa because they should feel ashamed if they lose to a team that was 2-10 last year. Iowa 16, Iowa State 10

#18 Notre Dame (1-0) at Michigan (1-0) 3:30 ABC

Maize N' Brew preview

Both teams honestly impressed me last week not for their offensive prowess, but for their defense. Both Nevada and Western Michigan each had pretty good offense last year, yet they combined for 7 points. I also think that it is Notre Dame's receivers catch Jimmy Montana's blind hurls down field that will make or break the season for the Irish. Michael Floyd and Golden Tate may be the best receiving tandem in the country, and they will make Pickles look a lot better than he really is. If Michigan can step up its coverage of those two it will help.

This game gets the rare two paragraph preview because I think this ultimately lies on Michigan's defense. Denard Robinson and Tate Forcier showed there is some serious talent on Michigan's offense this year. Playing at home will help these young players as well. Everyone is automatically handing this game to Notre Dame because the Fighting Irish are suddenly back after beating two WAC teams. I think Michigan brings them back down to earth a little bit and ruins the title dreams before USC finishes them off later. A late Jimmy Montana pick kills the game winning drive. Michigan 24, Notre Dame 20

Air Force (1-0) at Minnesota (1-0) 7pm Big Ten Network

The Daily Gopher preview

I know the Gophers are opening up TCF Bank Stadium, but 72 points thrown down by Air Force last week was damned impressive, even if it did come against Weber State. Minnesota struggled against a guy that had not played football in four years. Now they will have to stop a very disciplined option attack. I'm sorry, Goldy, but you picked the wrong team to debut the new Gopher hole against. A loss here means the Gophers will already be in serious trouble of returning to a bowl game this year. Air Force 27, Minnesota 24

#3 USC (1-0) at #8 Ohio State (1-0) 8pm ABC

Eleven Warriors preview

A finally, the big debate of the week. Will the Buckeyes defend conference pride and take down mighty USC, or will the Trojans continue to roll Big Ten teams at their mercy? Ohio State is one tough mother at home. The only true "What?" loss they had was to an overhyped Illinois team two years ago. They may play close games against inferior competition (see Navy last week and Purdue last year) but they always seem to make the one play needed to grab a win in the ‘shoe. This is the list of other teams that have won in Columbus since 2002: Penn State (2008, Big Ten champs, unbeaten at the time), Texas (2005, National Champs), Wisconsin (2004, undefeated before blowing the last two games of the season to MSU and Iowa). That's it. Four losses in seven plus years, only one of which came to a team that was not undefeated and a national contender going into their final few games.

The interesting thing to consider is that the only big game Ohio State has truly won in that time was the 2006 world-ender against Michigan. The Buckeyes sack up and play a marquee opponent during their non-conference schedule now (and will continue to with Miami and Virginia Tech coming in a few years), but they have struggled at home in those games. This should be a great game. I want to give a slight edge to OSU because of their great home crowds going up against a true freshman quarterback. I think OSU was holding back last week, and they will get it done for conference pride in a defensive slugfest that they love. Ohio State 17, USC 16

Purdue (1-0) at Oregon (0-1) 10:15pm Fox Sports Net

I was flipping through my GBI last night and I was disgusted by the people making the media madness picks. Every single person that picked an Oregon blowout without question obviously has no idea what college football is, nor did they watch a minute of either team last week. I am reminded of my experience at the spring game, where all the many were making jokes about how bad we would be. I actually went down on the field and got a sense of the team as a whole instead of listening to their higher-than-thou jackassery. I listened to see how they interacted not only with the coaching staff, but in the huddle and amongst themselves. What I learned that day was that this team, together, is much greater than its parts. I think you could see the trend turning a little in the general tembre coming from the media after last week's game. I think it can turn even more this week. Right now, this team is about the most together I have seen a Purdue team in years, and that will be huge Saturday night.

Yes, Autzen Stadium is a great home field advantage. Yes, Oregon has more raw talent than Purdue. Still, Purdue was humming much more efficiently on offense last week than anyone expected. The mistakes were minor fixes as opposed to the major overhaul that people felt we needed to just weather until Robert Marve was eligible.

You have to take into consideration that the Ducks are in severe disarray right now. They have an offensive line with major issues. They have inexperienced running backs that will have to work now in a complex offense, and they just played awful football last week. These backs are fast, but much has been said on Addicted to Quack this week about them being undersized. I know I outlined what we needed to do yesterday in order to win, and in my mind it was not that difficult to do. We don't need all-world talent to become suddenly available. We do not need to play out of our minds. We just need to play our game and correct a few fixable things from last week.

To me, Oregon has a lot more to overcome than we do. They are missing possibly their best players on both sides of the ball (Blount and T.J. Ward) and their fixes are much bigger than ours. To me, that evens the playing field and sets the stage for an exciting contest. I was originally going to go out for this game, but my travel plans just didn't mesh with my work schedule

I called a win way back in the summer when hopes looked a lot more dire than this. I am sticking to my guns. If Purdue wins, I look like a genius. if they lose, well, so what? I already look like an ass most of the time anyway. Wiggs bombs another long figgie home to send us home happy, and send some Alaskan Amber Ale (sadly not available in Indiana, but available in Oregon) to my home in Indiana because of the beer bet I have with J Shufelt over at ATQ. Purdue 30, Oregon 28

Unit by Unit: Breaking Down Michigan Football's Defense Following Its Win Over Western Michigan

Maize n Brew Dave — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:26:27 -0000

A new weekly post game feature here at Maize n Brew will be what we like to Unit by Unit. We'll take a hard look at the players and the coaches for each particular unit on the team, and bring them in for a pat on the back or a wag of the finger. After we've looked at each position, we'll give you a final wrap on the team's play on Offense and Defense (Special Teams too!). If you're looking for more detail, game bullets are here, the wrap up is here, the boxscore is here, and the general AP recap is here. There are the links, we've already broken down the Offense, so now let's take a good hard look at....

The Defense

Michigan's defense deserves some significant praise for an outstanding game on Saturday. Save a garbage time touchdown pass, the Defense played outstanding football. Despite being advertised as a 3-4 defense, Robinson's boys showed a lot of 4-3 alignments, hammering Western at the point of attack. Even when the Wolverines switched back to a 3-4, they were just as dangerous, getting penetration and thumping Hiller. What was the most impressive thing was the improvement in tackling. No more one arm whiffs. Michigan wrapped up and drove through its tackles. Sure there will be a few misses that show up in MGoBlog’s UFR, but over all it was night and day from 2008. Just nine months removed from looking slow and confused the Wolverine Defense was fast and furious. Hat’s off to Greg Robinson and the coaching staff for an excellent game plan and some great fall coaching.

Awesome Photo via John T. Greilick Detnews.com

The Defensive Line

With just one returning starter on the line, Michigan fans were rightfully petrified of what would happen when their defense saw the field. Last year was, after all, the worst defense in school history and Michigan is now breaking in its third defensive coordinator in three years.

Only thing is, the Defensive Line was really, really good. The Wolverines terrorized Tim Hiller all game. Brandon Graham didn't register a sack, but spent his entire afternoon introducing Mr. Hiller to the field turf, face first. Mike Martin was even better than advertised, clogging the middle of the line, penetrating into the pocket and disrupting plays. At one point Martin blew through the line and pancaked poor Tim Hiller before he had a chance to realize that an angry 300 pound man was approaching him. Both veterans were awesome. Want a kick ass stat? At halftime Western had just 2 rushing yards on 11 attempts. That’s a 0.2 YPC. How awesome is that? Overall, the line limited Western and its 2008 1000 yard rusher to just 38 total yards on the ground.

(More breakdown of the Michigan Defense after the jump.....)

Awesome Photo via John T. Greilick Detnews.com

Surprisingly, it wasn’t just the veteran linemen getting into the act. Brandon Herron, Ryan Van Bergen and Craig Roh were all over the offensive backfield, tallying 11 tackles and 2 TFL between them. A minor surprise amidst all the bigger ones was that Craig Roh (#88 at left) earned the start at the "hybrid" linebacker/DL position. Frankly, the kid was just as good as advertised in the pass rush. I was stunned to see him bull rush and flatten just about everyone who got in his way to the quarterback. What also surprised me is his discipline. He wasn’t just rushing the passer, he was stopping the run. It’s hard to get too excited about any player after a single game, but when he gets a full season in a college weight program he could really be something special. Even though he lost the starting nod to Roh, Brandon Herron looked fairly capable in the hybrid role. Herron got good penetration and was adequate manning his gaps. I didn’t see him out of position that often, and seemed to take on blockers without too much difficulty. Van Bergen looked pretty good as well, even if he was overshadowed a tad by Roh and Herron. Lining up as a hybrid DT/DE Van Bergen ate up two lineman at a time and still managed to get pressure on Hiller, meeting Roh at Hiller’s ribcage to split a sack.

I thought it was a great game from the Defense against a good offensive unit.

The Line Backers

Like the Defensive Line, the linebacking corps was a pleasant surprise on Saturday. The surprise being they actually looked like they knew what they were doing. Put bluntly, these guys couldn't find their ass with a flashlight and a GPS last year. Saturday was an entirely different story.

Awesome Photo via John T. Greilick Detnews.com

On Saturday they were flying around the field. Stevie Brown looked like an entirely different player on Saturday. Good in coverage, good at the line of scrimmage. Obi Ezeh and Jonas Mouton were flying to the gaps, and unlike last year, they were the right gaps. Any over pursuit was limited. Assignments weren't blown. I thought Ezeh, in particular, shed blocks very, very well, and tackled in space better than I’ve ever seen this group do. They actually looked like they knew what they were doing. Compare this to ANY point last season. It's night and day. 20 tackles 1.5 TFL and a pick. And what a pick.

If you’re looking to nit pick, and I’m sure you are, you can say that Ezeh and Mouton aren’t aggressively filling some of their gaps. You can say that Brown is still undersized and will have some problems when larger, faster linemen get up on him. Even if you say all of that, it was still a pretty good game from the Linebackers.

As an added bonus, Michigan was able to play J.B. Fitzgerald a bit. Greg Robinson may not be a miracle worker. He may not be a savior. Hell, this could all fall apart tomorrow. But for one day, we saw the Michigan defense, and in particular, the linebacking play we expect out of Michigan. And Robinson deserves a lot of credit for that.

The Secondary

Awesome Photo via John T. Greilic Detnews.com

With the exception of a 73 yard screw up, the secondary played very well. Because Western couldn’t move the ball at all, Tim Hiller was left to chuck the ball all over the field. As best he could. 39 times. That’s a lot of passes in comparison to 24 rushing attempts. But when you look at the boxscore at the end of the game and see 263 yards in the air, you really don’t get a true picture of just how dominant the pass defense was.

At halftime Michigan had limited Western to 81 passing yards on 24 attempts and 13 completions. One of those incompletions was a pick. That’s less than 4 yards an attempt and less than 7 yards a completion. So the halftime stats tell a better, more accurate account of how the group fared.

Individually, I thought Boo Boo played the best game out of the corners. Granted my view was obscured by the TV and all the Kentucky fans stumbling into the hotel lobby from the Kentucky/Miami of Ohio game (I was at a hotel in Cincinnati directly across from Paul Brown Stadium [Kentucky won 49-0, BTW]), but Boo Boo looked gooooood. He was good in tight coverage, pressing the receivers and dropping back into zone. His pick, while simply being in the right place at the right time, was impressive because of how he handled it. He caught it awkwardly, but kept his balance and actually shifted the ball away from the contact side as if he was a running back. The kid is impressive. If he can stay healthy, I think we’ve got a great player back there. Thankfully, it also looks like he’s going to be healthy to play against Notre Dame.

On the other side, it’s not like Donovan Warren had a bad game. He was pretty impressive as well, generally matching up against Western’s best WR, Juan Nunez, and shutting him down. You’ve gotta knock him down to a B+ because of one legit PI call, one bad PI call, and losing his cool. Warren was great in coverage for the most part. But he’s going to have play under control against the Irish to be successful.

As for the safeties, I didn’t really notice them that much. After a year of saying "Oh my god, the safeties," this was a welcome change. Troy Woolfolk and Mike Williams only combined for 7 tackles, but the fact they didn’t have to make that many stops is a welcome change. The lone screwup was a fourth quarter 73 yard TD pass. Williams and Woolfolk got sucked up into the box on play action and JT Floyd (subbing in for the injured Cissoko) let Nunez get away from him. Play action was a bit of a bugaboo for Michigan last season, so I have to admit the fact that it worked to the tune of a long touchdown concerns me a little bit. But overall, the safeties were very good.

If there’s a "meh" aspect of the secondary’s game, it was Floyd giving up the long touchdown. Once J.T. Turner is ready, I have to imagine he’ll take over the nickel job/first corner off the bench job.

Special Teams

With the exception of Zoltan Mesko, Space Emperor, Special Teams was a total question mark. Who was going to return punts and kick offs? Who’s going to kick field goals? Can anyone hold onto the damn ball?

Those questions were answered, and answered well. Jason Olesnavage booted a 44 yard field goal on his first opportunity ever. That’s going to be huge going into the Notre Dame game. Special props to Greg Mathews for fielding punts and not dropping them. I thought Mathews actually showed some shiftiness in the return game when given a chance, but most importantly, he didn’t fumble. Finally, I thought the kick coverage was fairly good.

Awesome Photo via John T. Greilick Detnews.com

Overall, a great game all around from the Wolverines.

Game 2: Indiana v. Western Michigan.

John M (The Crimson Quarry) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:03:30 -0000

by TONY DING - AP

There was very little of this when it mattered for WMU on Saturday.

View full size photo »

Western Michigan Broncos
2009 record: 0-1 (0-0 in MAC)
2008 record: 9-4 (6-2) (lost to Rice in the Texas Bowl)
2008 Sagarin: 79
Conference: Mid-American
Coach: Bill Cubit (5th year, 29-20)
Series: IU leads 4-0
TV: noon, Big Ten Network

IU begins the Division I-A portion of its schedule by hosting Western Michigan on Saturday. Last year, WMU produced one of the most potent offenses in the country, and senior quarterback Tim Hiller threw 36 touchdown passes and only 10 interceptions last season. After losing 31-7 to Michigan last Saturday, the Broncos will be looking to rebound and will try to hand IU its third consecutive loss to a MAC school. The Broncos lost badly to Michigan, but beat Illinois last season and sent IU to Tempe (rather than Detroit) by winning at Iowa on the same day as IU's 2007 win over Purdue.

The series: As noted above, IU is 4-0 against WMU. None of the games have been total blowouts: IU won 24-10 in 1995, 45-30 in 1998, 39-20 in 2006, and 37-27 in 2007. The 2007 game was at Kalamazoo, but all other games have been in Bloomington. The 1995 game is beyond the reach of the Internet, but here are nutshells of the others:

1998: While IU fans may not recall that WMU was the opponent, they will remember the game. Cam Cameron declined to name a quarterback before the opening game, although it was clear that either 1997 starter Jay Rodgers or redshirt freshman Antwaan Randle El would play. Randle El trotted onto the field, and the rest was history: Randle El completed 22 of 29 passes for 385 yards and 3 touchdown passes, and added 82 yards rushing and 3 rushing touchdowns.

2006: Blake Powers passed for 192 yards and Tracy Porter returned a punt for a touchdown in the season opener in Bloomington. IU led 29-6 before WMU scored some garbage time points.

2007: Much like in 2006, IU jumped out to a big lead. The Hoosiers led 34-7 late in the third quarter, but allowed Western Michigan to get back in the game, thanks in no small part to the performance of current Bronco quarterback Tim Hiller, who was 28-51 for 343 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The opener. The 31-7 final score doesn't capture how quickly the Wolverines put away WMU last weekend. When Michigan scored to make it 31-0 with 3:17 left in the second quarter, WMU had gained only 43 yards. Hiller's overall numbers were respectable (22-39, 259 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 2 sacks), but again, almost all were accumulated after the game was over.

Western Michigan v. the Big Ten.

Illinois 1-2

Indiana 0-4

Iowa 2-0

Michigan 0-4

Michigan State 2-8

Minnesota 0-3

Purdue 0-2

Wisconsin 1-3

WMU's wins against Michigan State came long before MSU joined the Big Ten, so the Broncos have four wins against Big Ten programs, but again, two have come during the previous two seasons.

More as the week continues.

Week 1: A tough week for the MAC

Jerry Burnes — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:45:09 -0000

Tyler Sheehan posted one of the bright spots in Week 1 of the NCAA season for the Mid-American Conference.

View full size photo »

Overview: The MAC had a tough go around in Week 1, going 3-10 overall and 0-4 versus the Big Ten. Winners were Buffalo, Bowling Green and Kent State; all MAC East teams. The three wins were not terribly impressive, however, it was good to see teams like Temple and Ohio in competitive games, especially Ohio versus Connecticut. Wisconsin beat themselves more in the second half than NIU did, but a 28-20 loss still looks good for the conference.

The High Point: Bowling Green trouncing Troy 31-14. Troy is tough opponent traditionally and usually makes bowl games with no problem. The game was close, 14-14 heading into the fourth quarter, until the Falcons tacked on 17 points. One of the potential stud MAC quarterbacks Tyler Sheehan was 32-for-44 passing for 339 yards and two scores. He did throw one pick. Freddie Barnes grabbed 15 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Willie Geter posted 49 yards on nine carries. Great win for BGSU to start of their season.

The Low Point: Ball State losing to North Texas 20-10. For this, let's compare last year's records: Ball State was 12-2, North Texas, 1-11. Redshirt freshman Kelly Page was as advertised when he ran with the ball (7-53) but was 15-for-34 throwing for just 140 yards, no scores and one interception. MiQuale Lewis carried the ball 15 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. The defense was the biggest letdown, as it allowed 296 rushing yards and 216 passing yards (Ball State had 169 and 140 respectively). The Cardinals really missed their opportunities. North Texas had nine penalties for 81 yards compared to 4-30. Turnovers were even but NT held the ball for over 37 minutes.

By The Numbers: 30. That's how many points were put up by the top four of the top five offenses in the MAC this week. Central Michigan scored six against Arizona, Western Michigan scored seven on Michigan, Ball State scored 10 and Akron scored seven on Penn State. I didn't have high scoring thoughts for the Zips but thought Ball State would roll, the Chips to score at 20 (lost 19-6) and Tim Hiller to get in a shootout in Ann Arbor. Hiller has the best excuse, his team has no defense so he was throwing a lot (38 times). He also apparently doesn't have an offensive line to stop Brandon Graham.

Biggest Hole To Fill: Northern Illinois had the top-ranked MAC defense last year and second most improved defense next to Navy in 2008. What helped the Huskies do that was a consistant pass rush of either Larry English, or the guy benefiting from the double teaming of Larry English. Against Wisconsin, the Huskies had no pass rush. In this case, hardly any of a pass defense. I thought I'd be more worried about Dan LeFevour's mediocre 18-for-31, 108 but once he hits MAC play he'll be back in form. NIU needs to address this quickly especailly with Purdue (52 points against Toledo), Tim Hiller and Toledo's passing attack on the horizon before the mid-point of the season.

Making A Statement: The MAC East showed up to play. Temple lost via last second field goal to Villanova, Bowling Green won decisively, Kent State shutout Coastal Carolina (as they should have), Buffalo won, Ohio played close and Akron faced a title contendor, so we'll let them off. The West faced tougher opponents but will be marred by Miami-OH's 42-0 loss to Kentucky, Ball State's shame, a lack of offense from its stud quarterbacks and a disappointing debut for Ron English. The West should be thankful Wisconsin broke down, as that game was on its way to ugly after a 28-6 score after three quarters.

This Week: Things don't look too much better in Week 2. It starts with a favorable matchup for Toledo against Colorado at the Glass Bowl. They have a chance to win. NIU should rout Western Illinois. Eastern Michigan draws Northwestern, Central takes on Michigan State, Western heads to Indiana and Akron duels with Morgan State, which might be comparable to a high school team after seeing Penn State. Ball State has New Hampshire and Ohio draws North Texas in two games with huge question marks after they was BSU and NT played last week. Now it gets ugly: Buffalo draws Pittsburgh but are at home so they can prove something here. Kent State travels to Boston College. Bowling Green takes on No. 25 Missouri who routed Illinois. Finally, Miami (Ohio) travels to No. 12 Boise State on the Smurf Turf.

Prediction Time: Toledo falls to Colorado; NIU wins big; EMU falls; Central loses again, Western beat Indiana; Akron rolls; Ball State wins; Ohio wins; Buffalo loses; Kent State loses pretty bad; Bowlling Green runs out of gas and falls hard; and Miami take a whipping.

Week's Record: 5-7

Poll

Which team was the biggest disappointment in Week 1?

Central Michigan

3 votes

Western Michigan

5 votes

Ball State

19 votes

Miami (Ohio)

1 votes

Northern Illinois

3 votes

31 votes | Poll has closed

	ATT	COMP	COMP %	YARDS	TD	INT	RATING
MICHIGAN	22	38	57.9	258	1	2	113.31
INDIANA	28	43	65.1	266	1	0	124.75