WESTERN MICHIGAN (4-8, 2-6)
After eight seasons of walking the sidelines as head coach at Western Michigan, Bill Cubit was let go after a disappointing 4-8 season last year. Replacing him is P.J. Fleck, the former Northern Illinois wide receiver. Fleck, who played at NIU from 1999-2003, doesn’t have any head coaching experience, but he does have a lot of offensive experience. He was a wide receiver coach at Northern Illinois and Rutgers and for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the last position he held before coming to WMU. Maybe a fresh young face who knows the MAC is just what the Broncos need to turn around a tough 2012 season.
OFFENSE: The 2012 Western Michigan offense was thrown for a loop when starting quarterback Alex Carder hurt his throwing hand and was lost for part of the season. Junior Tyler Van Tubbergen came in and played well, throwing for 1,825 yards and 15 touchdowns in six games. Van Tubbergen is back for his final year, and he will have help, as both of Western Michigan’s top running backs from 2012 are back . Dareyon Chance and Brian Fields ran for nearly 1,300 yards and six touchdowns combined, so pieces are in place.
DEFENSE: This unit has a lot of returning talent from last year, including the top three leading tacklers in senior linebacker Johnnie Simon (103 tackles), junior LB Justin Currie (98), and senior LB Desmond Bozeman (90). This unit gave up 352 points last year (29.7 per game average), but look for improvement with three linebackers who have a lot of snaps under their belts coming back. But like all MAC teams, how they play in the defensive backfield is key in a throwing league like this.
OUR TAKE: The Broncos do have some senior leadership coming back in key positions all over the field, but a tough early schedule against three Big Ten teams may stunt some growth for a first-year coach and his staff. This team will win some games, but maybe not enough to compete for a MAC title.
COACH’S COMMENT: “There are a lot of people in this [program] that haven’t changed in 30 years. It’s hard to change after 30 years. Now you’ve got this young punk coming in here and telling you need that change and here is where we are going. Here is the direction we we are going, and hold on tight,” Fleck told the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun at MAC Media Day.
SCHEDULE:
8/30 Michigan State 8 p.m.
9/7 NICHOLLS STATE 7 p.m.
9/14 Northwestern 9 p.m.
9/21 Iowa TBA
9/28 KENT STATE 7 p.m.
10/5 Toledo 3 p.m.
10/12 BUFFALO 2 p.m.
10/19 BALL STATE 2 p.m.
10/26 Umass 3 p.m.
11/9 Eastern Michigan 1 p.m.
11/16 CENTRAL MICHIGAN Noon
11/26 Northern Illinois 7 p.m.