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Michigan is opening up with a familiar foe come Saturday afternoon when it faces off against the Western Michigan Broncos.
The maize and blue hold a 7-0 all-time series lead against the Broncos, and the Wolverines have done extremely well against Mid-American Conference teams during its football existence going 33-1. The last time Michigan played against WMU was back in 2018 when the Wolverines dismantled it, 49-3.
Michigan had a disaster of a season last year going 2-4 with the last few games of the year getting canceled due to COVID-19. Western Michigan on the other hand had a solid season going 4-2 during its conference-only season. Even how both seasons panned out for the teams, the Wolverines are still 17-point favorites against the Broncos as of Tuesday.
Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester understands the challenge that awaits the Broncos when they travel to Ann Arbor and face 110,000-plus people in the stands. Lester met with the media and discussed the challenges, but also the belief that his team can compete.
“I think there is a belief there,” said Lester. “I think every player that plays at this level has the confidence that they can play with anybody, and hopefully they focus on what they’re doing and how to execute their job as opposed to thinking about who they’re doing it against. You know when you get a team that does that and worry about themselves so much and kind of crazy center focused on getting better you got a chance in every game no matter who you’re playing. Obviously, things that happen early on in the game will affect us, I mean you can get up and down early, that can really make it hard on teams in their first game. But, you know they know, I mean being from Michigan, most of the kids are from Michigan or the midwest. They know who we’re playing.”
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The Broncos return a prolific offense from last season where they finished ninth in the entire country in scoring with 42 points-per-game, and 16th in total offense with 480 yards-per-game. The team returns four out of five starting offensive linemen from last season, along with their star quarterback, Kaleb Eleby — who ranked third last year with a 195.08 passer rating. They also return two out of three starting receivers — Skyy Moore and Jaylen Hall Jr. — along with their bruising running back, La’Darius Jefferson.
Lester knows that he has a solid offense returning, which is why he really focused on talking about the Wolverine defense.
“They are an extremely talented team, big, fast and they have one of the best pass rushers (Aidan Hutchinson) in the country, projected to be a top-five pick so you have to know where he’s at all times,” Lester said. “They have a safety (Daxton Hill) who in my opinion is one of the best I’ve seen, obviously they’re surrounded by a bunch of really good players, but those two I think are special, and you have to keep an eye on those two and where they are on the field.”
Lester went on, talking about the new Michigan defensive coordinator, Mike Macdonald and what he brings to the table.
“Defensively they have a new D-coordinator and a whole new defensive staff,” he said. “So there’s a lot of question marks on how they are going to line up and what they’re going to do, so offensively we’re going to have to keep our knees bent, be light on our toes and kind of roll out there and see what they do to make adjustments”
If Western Michigan has any chance at all it will be because of their sophomore gun-slinger Kaleb Eleby — who threw for 1,715 yards, 18 touchdowns, and only 1 INT last season. Sure he only faced other MAC opponents, but he had a sensational year.
Eleby is up for the challenge, and he had similar sentiments about the Wolverines just like his coach did.
“They are a disciplined group, you know those guys are well-coached,” Eleby said. “They have good, speed, size, and athleticism. It’s a good challenge for us and I’m looking forward to it, I’m excited. I’m looking forward to Saturday to go out and play.”
Come Saturday, we will see if the Wolverines can shut down the high-powered offense that the Broncos will trot out there, and they will try to go 8-0 in the all-time series between the two teams.
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