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It looks like we are 5 point underdogs at home against Ball State according to the Vegas Insider Consensus line. That is the only line posted currently. It surprised me a little. BSU must be pretty good? I thought at home we might be the favorite. Hope we can beat the odds, as it would be lousy to start the league season with a loss at home against a team we need to beat in order to make a run.

I would take that right now

After 4 games I'm not sure what to expect from this team in MAC play.

In a way, I am not surprised by this.

This is a head-scratcher. BSU was picked last in the West in the media poll, and nothing in their first 4 games makes me go "Wow."

I don't expect a blowout by any means, but losing at home to BSU would be worrying. On paper, we 'should' beat them, CMU, and all three East opponents. NIU, EMU and Toledo (all road games) concern me most.

Vegas is essentially saying that Balls is an 8 point favorite on a neutral field? I don't see that at all.

I am not sure how we are dogs in this game... but doesn't bother me at all. At this point the team needs to prove themselves after a rough start to the season - even in victory the last two weeks...

Team has definitely shown marked improvement from a few areas that needed improvement most... QB and WR play... once we start to get that part of the offense clicking and match it back up with our already solid running game we will be tough offensively to match up with... Who cares what Vegas thinks...

Vegas is worried about QB play from reading too many press clippings. BSU lost to a weak Ill team, lost to a W Kentucky team that is down after a great 3-4 year run. Ill also beat WKU. BSU two wins are UAB which just restarted D1 football and is basically a JV team, and Tenn Tech that stands at 0-4. Riley Neal is the BSU gamemaker. WMU defense should be able to contain him. The Broncos had alot of room vs Wagner which they needed for confidence to run their game plan. They kept some key players out for rest and could have put 60 up on Wagner if Lester didn't slow down the 4th quarter to run only. The MAC is unpredictable but I see WMU winning this game. Too much depth on the Bronco side

(09-25-2017 08:37 AM)BuickBronco Wrote:  Vegas is worried about QB play from reading too many press clippings. BSU lost to a weak Ill team, lost to a W Kentucky team that is down after a great 3-4 year run. Ill also beat WKU. BSU two wins are UAB which just restarted D1 football and is basically a JV team, and Tenn Tech that stands at 0-4. Riley Neal is the BSU gamemaker. WMU defense should be able to contain him. The Broncos had alot of room vs Wagner which they needed for confidence to run their game plan. They kept some key players out for rest and could have put 60 up on Wagner if Lester didn't slow down the 4th quarter to run only. The MAC is unpredictable but I see WMU winning this game. Too much depth on the Bronco side

I see this game going down very similar to last year... It will be smash mouth and close for most of the first half... in fact I would bet that BSU likely gets on top of us early. WMU just wears them down and puts them away throughout the second half... IF Wassink continues his trajectory and our WR's continue their development, teams won't be able to keep playing one on one in coverage and the WMU running game will break open...

I saw Wassink check off of his RB pass options against Wagner... and if he waited just a split second longer they were coming WIDE open... Our RB out of the backfield pass options are dangerous and not used nearly enough...

(09-25-2017 08:37 AM)BuickBronco Wrote:  Vegas is worried about QB play from reading too many press clippings. BSU lost to a weak Ill team, lost to a W Kentucky team that is down after a great 3-4 year run. Ill also beat WKU. BSU two wins are UAB which just restarted D1 football and is basically a JV team, and Tenn Tech that stands at 0-4. Riley Neal is the BSU gamemaker. WMU defense should be able to contain him. The Broncos had alot of room vs Wagner which they needed for confidence to run their game plan. They kept some key players out for rest and could have put 60 up on Wagner if Lester didn't slow down the 4th quarter to run only. The MAC is unpredictable but I see WMU winning this game. Too much depth on the Bronco side

Good assessment. I agree!

Pleased WMU is the "dog" at home. That should be a prime motivator for the team.

WMU has had four games to "transition." Now is when the proverbial "rubber hits the road."

The lessons have been learned. Lester & Crew will have this team ready.

Losing to MSU and then their poor showing against ND probably has something to do with us being home dogs.

(09-25-2017 08:57 AM)MajorHoople Wrote:  Losing to MSU and then their poor showing against ND probably has something to do with us being home dogs.

Agreed.

MSU was a winnable game for the Broncos.

I loved how ND picked apart MSU on its opening drive with quick passes to the flats to WRs AND RBs. MSU's DBs and LBs did not have the speed to contain them.

While the Broncos are not ND, had they done more of that, I am confident it would have lead to at least one score by the offensive unit.

And I am still having nightmares about not accepting the personal foul and then lining-up in the shot-gun on 4th and inches when a QB sneak was almost a guaranteed success....

Oh well, bring-on the Cardinals and the conference season. WMU is defending MAC Champ for the first time in 30 years! Celebrate!

(09-25-2017 06:40 AM)Potro Wrote:  After 4 games I'm not sure what to expect from this team in MAC play.

Agreed, this team is still a mystery to me. We're not as good as we looked against USC for 3 quarters and we're not as bad as we looked against Idaho in the first half. So where are we? Somewhere in the vast between those two points.

To beat BSU we need some sort of passing game, can't beat them running alone. How good is our passing game? I missed the Wagner game, that would have helped making a judgement.

Being a 5 point underdog to BSU at this point is understandable to me. I agree with it. To make noise in the MAC west this season we need to progress every game. And our Defense needs to step up and stop some folks.

(09-25-2017 08:52 AM)flushtheherd Wrote:  

(09-25-2017 08:37 AM)BuickBronco Wrote:  Vegas is worried about QB play from reading too many press clippings. BSU lost to a weak Ill team, lost to a W Kentucky team that is down after a great 3-4 year run. Ill also beat WKU. BSU two wins are UAB which just restarted D1 football and is basically a JV team, and Tenn Tech that stands at 0-4. Riley Neal is the BSU gamemaker. WMU defense should be able to contain him. The Broncos had alot of room vs Wagner which they needed for confidence to run their game plan. They kept some key players out for rest and could have put 60 up on Wagner if Lester didn't slow down the 4th quarter to run only. The MAC is unpredictable but I see WMU winning this game. Too much depth on the Bronco side

I see this game going down very similar to last year... It will be smash mouth and close for most of the first half... in fact I would bet that BSU likely gets on top of us early. WMU just wears them down and puts them away throughout the second half... IF Wassink continues his trajectory and our WR's continue their development, teams won't be able to keep playing one on one in coverage and the WMU running game will break open...

I saw Wassink check off of his RB pass options against Wagner... and if he waited just a split second longer they were coming WIDE open... Our RB out of the backfield pass options are dangerous and not used nearly enough...

Agreed, Franklin is great coming off the screen. Maybe Lester is not showing his hand

(09-25-2017 09:24 AM)GullLake Wrote:  

(09-25-2017 08:57 AM)MajorHoople Wrote:  Losing to MSU and then their poor showing against ND probably has something to do with us being home dogs.

Agreed.

MSU was a winnable game for the Broncos.

I loved how ND picked apart MSU on its opening drive with quick passes to the flats to WRs AND RBs. MSU's DBs and LBs did not have the speed to contain them.

While the Broncos are not ND, had they done more of that, I am confident it would have lead to at least one score by the offensive unit.

And I am still having nightmares about not accepting the personal foul and then lining-up in the shot-gun on 4th and inches when a QB sneak was almost a guaranteed success....

Oh well, bring-on the Cardinals and the conference season. WMU is defending MAC Champ for the first time in 30 years! Celebrate!

I think Lesters playbook was actually too deep for the MSU game. Wassink was under pressure yet they still had him throwing some bombs. I think Lester was thinking MSU would flood the box after seeing Wassinks pass numbers from USC. Hard to break in new WRs at Sparty. We didn't use our top two short yardage pass weapons, Franklin and Ernsberger. Both have B10 size and likely would have made some plays.

I dont think we have looked good in any game, including Wagner. Frankly, I was surprised they scored at all against us. Our defense has been suspect, and overall we just havent had a game where we passed the eye test. But, I still thought we would be favored at home against a team that isnt expected to be all that good. The thing is, those oddsmakers are pretty accurate, which concerns me. If we do lose at home to BSU, that will be bad, and in my mind, unacceptable. I hope not only that we win, but that we finally put it together and win big. Lets be aggressive on D, but cant lose sight of that BSU QB, who was tough last year, and can run. More importantly, lets be creative and aggressive on offense. Maybe a fake punt at some point. Something that makes us feel that Lester has some balls when it comes to game decisions. He needs to get nasty. He can go back to being the super nice guy that he is right after the games.

Have to understand that we were short guys against Wagner... They held out guys such as Keenoy, Bellamy, Claiborne, Assoua, Arnett, Odell Miller... to name some. Quite a bit of youth got play time early and often in that game... Penalties at inopportune times and turn overs where the only reasons that Wagner scored...

Holding out Keenoy was BIG, he is the capstone of our OL. Has played every game except the Wagner game for 3 seasons. They want him to be 100% for BSU and that's understandable.

With him back our OL should be in great shape.

^^ Yep, running into the kicker gave Wagner a 30-yard field on a TD drive.

(09-25-2017 08:57 AM)MajorHoople Wrote:  Losing to MSU and then their poor showing against ND probably has something to do with us being home dogs.

And Idaho needing overtime to squeak by South Alabama last weekend.

That said, I think (hope) those ugly three quarters were a learning curve aberration of sorts.