Chris Willis
Sports Reporter
The Western Michigan University football team will go back onto the road for its second
consecutive game this Saturday to face the Kent State University Golden Flashes.
WMU is planning to get back into the win column after suffering a heartbreaking, 30-24, overtime loss last week on the road against another Mid-American Conference foe, the Ball State University Cardinals.
The Broncos (3-4, 1-2 MAC) must win this conference game to have any serious shot at appearing in the MAC Championship game at Fold Field in Detroit on the last day
of November.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” said WMU head coach Bill Cubit. “But this is what I love about this game. You gotta get yourself back up after falling. It’s a life
lesson.”
The Golden Flashes (5-1, 3-0 MAC) possess the best record in school history coming into KSU’s homecoming and are looking to win five straight games for the first time
since the 1976 campaign. KSU has defeated its last seven MAC opponents.
“They got 17 starters back this year,” said Cubit. “The thing in this league is injuries and schedule. If you hit it right and go out there and not get your kids banged up,
you can get some momentum. That’s what they’re doing.”
This week will be an interesting matchup as WMU’s stout defense will face off against a Golden Flashes team that has rushed for more than 600 yards over its last two
games.
WMU leads the all-time series with KSU at 33-18-1, but hasn’t won at Dix Stadium since a 42-0 shutout of the Flashes during the 2000 season.
The Broncos have shown a potent rushing attack since Alex Carder has been injured, and added over 200 yards on the ground again at Ball State last week. A large part
of this has been due to the veteran WMU offensive line.
“As an offensive line we’re very critical on ourselves as a unit,” said senior offensive lineman John Deyo. “A play could be changed by a step, or six inches
or even arm movement so we’re just always trying to improve.”
Saturday’s game has a 3:30 p.m. scheduled start time and will be aired on ESPN3. With a loss, the Brown and Gold will need to win-out for the rest of the year to have
any realistic shot of appearing in a bowl game.
“There’s always that idea in your head,” said Deyo. “We need to attack each game in itself. We don’t go into games thinking we’re gonna lose. We go in prepared to
come away with a victory.”
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