Chris Willis
Sports Reporter
Jordan White, Chleb Ravenell, and John Potter have all moved on from the Western Michigan University football team.
This stat is a key factor because those three players accounted for all of the Broncos (1-2, 0-0 MAC) points in the Brown and Gold’s 38-31 victory last season against the hosting University of Connecticut Huskies (2-1, 0-0 Big East).
The Broncos are 1-1 all-time against UCONN and will be hosting its first Big East Conference team in the history of Waldo Stadium.
WMU returns to Waldo this Saturday after another close loss against a Big Ten opponent. The Broncos fell 28-23 at the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers last week to fall to 1-2.
The Brown and Gold had plenty of chances at victory, but turnovers coupled with too many missed opportunities doomed the Broncos in Minneapolis.
“The [Minnesota] game was a tough loss,” said WMU head coach Bill Cubit. “I took the football team and showed them that any one of seven plays and we’d have been in the win column. It’s unfortunate. That touchdown before the half was predicated by a mishap on offense.”
The brightest spot besides the consistent WMU defense was Broncos Junior running back Dareyon Chance performance. Chance gained a school record against a Big Ten opponent with his 144 rushing yards.
“It just lets us know that we can run the ball,” said WMU RB Dareyon Chance. “It wasn’t on a small scale against an [Eastern Illinois]. It was actually against a Big Ten team where some people might not give us credit to get 100-yards of total offense. It gives us confidence as an offense and a team overall.”
WMU has a chance to bounce back this week and get the season back on track over the next three weeks in Kalamazoo.
After UCONN, the Broncos have a chance to avenge last seasons’66-63 loss against hated Mid-American Conference West division foe, the University of Toledo Rockets. WMU finishes up the home stance with homecoming weekend against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen.
UCONN will be looking to repay WMU for beating them in front of its home crowd with a win at Waldo Saturday.
“We have to move past the win last season,” said Chance. “They have a new team and new game plan just like we do. They lose players and gain players and so do we. They’re definitely looking for revenge so we’ll have to come out ready.”
WMU was undefeated at home last season.
Kickoff will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo.
“We put up their schedule and they were 5-7 last year and would’ve been 6-6 and went to a bowl game if it wasn’t for losing to us,” said Cubit. “It’ll be tough. That was last year.”
Follow Chris Willis @Cwilltherealist on twitter on WMU football gamedays for constant updates.
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