4. Western Michigan’s the Second Best Program in Michigan
It’s an isolated world in the Mid-American Conference. No one pays attention to you until you schedule a non-conference game versus a Power 5 school. Even then, you’re considered a joke. Why show up for a game that you’re destined to lose?
In Western Michigan’s case, all chips are on the other side of the table. In Week 1 of this season, the Broncos of the MAC West had a game versus Northwestern. Northwestern headed into the season with some momentum, but that collapsed instantly. When you’re hosting an underdog, a win should be a guarantee. Western Michigan respectfully disagreed. Their 22-21 win over Northwestern woke up some critics.
They hushed another Big Ten opponent two weeks later. Staged in Champaign, Illinois, the Broncos turned the Fighting Illini into wussies. They ran Illinois ragged and into the ground. In fact, Western Michigan rushed for 287 yards to Illinois’ paltry three. Granted, Illinois isn’t a feared opponent for most teams. But for a MAC team to overcome a Big Ten program, it’s a big deal and Western Michigan deserves some love for that.
Slowly but surely, the program started to evolve under head coach P.J. Fleck. His first season with the team was an eye sore, but he regrouped in 2014. Since then, Western Michigan has whipped up its best winning records in program history.
It’s certainly not a season, where Western Michigan’s own offense is scoring less than their opponents. And that’s a stab at Michigan State, who’s margin of four points vs. opponents’ points total (21 vs. 25) is embarrassing. Don’t get me wrong, Mark Dantonio is a pioneer for the program. He’s led the Spartans to nine bowl games in his ten seasons as head coach there. When you lose to Indiana and BYU, though, that’s an issue. If Dantonio can’t rally against Northwestern and Maryland in the upcoming weeks, then Western Michigan is better than you.