The unofficial online home for fans of the Western Michigan University Broncos. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Be honest, what was your prediction before the season. I had 4-8 realistic and 5-7 optimistic.
Midway through the season I have WMU at 6-6 realistic and 7-5 optimistic. The way I see it, our harder games look a bit easier and our easier games now look a bit harder.
What's your mid season prediction?

5-7

I'm sticking with 8 wins.

I said 6 and 6 in the beginning of the year. I will stick with that and they could maybe be 7 and 5.

5-7

5-7. They won 2 that they should have in Idaho and Murray St. And one that I didn't think I'm Ball St.
But BSU isn't as good as predicted. The Toledo game could have been a blowout if the Rockets didn't shoot themselves in the foot. But I also take positives from the performances against Toledo and VaTech.

It's obvious that this team is improved. Better talent in Franklin and Braverman. Terrell is playing well.

I just keep taking pause because we saw the 2nd quarter against BSU Saturday and the meltdown late vs Toledo and I'm afraid to give too much credit.

I really don't think we know exactly what this team is. Even after 6 games. They are improved, but do we really know how much.

So I go from an original pick of 4-8 to 5-7.

6-6

3-9 realistic and 4-8 optimistic before the season.

5-7/6-6 realistic and 7-5 optimistic now.

(10-13-2014 12:56 PM)Hoekjeness Wrote:  3-9 realistic and 4-8 optimistic before the season.

5-7/6-6 realistic and 7-5 optimistic now.

What about counting the bowl game?

(10-13-2014 12:58 PM)Hiller4Hyz09 Wrote:  

(10-13-2014 12:56 PM)Hoekjeness Wrote:  3-9 realistic and 4-8 optimistic before the season.

5-7/6-6 realistic and 7-5 optimistic now.

What about counting the bowl game?

Now that's REAL optimistic.

It's one thing to become bowl eligible. It's another to receive a bid. Honestly, I don't see us making a bowl game unless we go 8-4.

I saw it as 3-9 / 4-8. We're 3-3 right now. :)

@BGSU : 35% Chance
Ohio: 65% Chance
@Miami: 60% Chance (Miami's tough at home; more dangerous than one thinks, finding their way)
EMU: 75% Chance (We're going to put the smack down on them at home so bad, out of raw angst...)
@CMU: 35% Chance (Don't count on it; when they're "on", they're better. When they are not so much, we're about equal. But it's AT CMU)
NIU: 40% Chance (NIU by this time "should" have their act together and vying to end season with 8 or 9 wins and not 7 or 8)

= 3.1 Wins. 6-6.

5-7: We go 2-4 the rest of the way; we come back down to earth; disappointing if we don't execute well in our losses
6-6: What we should expect with the mental momentum running thru. 3 More Wins.
7-5: Not likely, but would be Great. Holy smokes, we're going bowling? Likely not going to happen. But could. PJ has the power of a 1,000 field mice.

... and we should have beaten Toledo and were close to beating Purdue.

This team is 3 - 3 and could have been 5 - 1 if a few plays went their way.

Interesting season so far. However, I would caution on too much optimism.

High expectations make for a hard fall if they are not met.

(10-13-2014 11:58 AM)DesertBronco Wrote:  5-7

Yeah, that's my pick as well.

We'll win one we don't expect and we'll lose one we don't expect.

If we were to beat BG this week, and I believe that's entirely possible then I'd be on board for at least 7 wins. This game is a deal breaker in my opinion. It will validate the Ball State win, and the tight UT loss, and it will give us serious momentum going into the OU, Miami and Eastern stretch. BG is a major game changer.

(10-13-2014 01:16 PM)Hoekjeness Wrote:  It's one thing to become bowl eligible. It's another to receive a bid. Honestly, I don't see us making a bowl game unless we go 8-4.

I could be wrong, but isn't there an NCAA rule that a seven-win team must be accepted by a bowl before any six-win bowl-eligible teams can be selected?

I will go the optimistic route and say we finish 7-5 and in a bowl somewhere. Wins over Ohio, EMU, and Miami. Don't know which one, but we find a way to win one against either BG, CMU, or NIU...

I say 9-3. Then we beat a SEC team by two scores in a bowl game, and that's probably being a little conservative.

Fleck signs an extension.

DesertBronco and MajorHoople buy each other oars for Christmas, donating large sums of money towards a new scoreboard at PJ Fleck field.

And have a party when Peej goes on to complete his "Hazel imitation" in the B1G.

The team has already exceeded my expectations.

I had 3 wins before the season. Now, I'd say 5-7 is likely and 6-6 is not out of reach.

With the youth on this team and the possibility of key injuries coupled with the general unpredictability of the MAC, I'm leaning towards 5-7.

How crazy is the MAC? Just think, if WMU had managed to hold on and finish the UT game, the Broncos would be leading the west. Just that close. However, realistically, I think that UT, CMU and NIU are still stronger/better overall than our team right now.

If we go 6-6, basically, it's us to continue to go .500. Can we keep going .500?

1st Half of Season:
@Purdue: Lost by 11 (Purdue with sh!tty QB against us & CMU)
@Idaho: Won by 12 (Still a winless team)
Murray St: Won by 31 (Run-of-the-Mill D1AA)
@VaTech: Lost by 18 (VaTech has very poor O, but one of the toughest D's & great SPT)
Toledo: Lost by 1 (OT)
@BSU: Won by 4 (A tail of two halves, and PJ's strength of a 1,000 field mice)
3-3

2nd Half of Season:
@BGSU
Ohio
@Miami-OH
EMU
@CMU
NIU
3-3?

I would say:
@BGSU is comparable to @Purdue
Ohio is comparable to @BSU
@Miami-OH is comparable to @Idaho (+1 Diff; Miami-OH will be tougher than they)
EMU is comparable to Murray State (+1 Diff; Even though this isn't on the B&W field, EMU will be more difficult)
@CMU is comparable to @VaTech (-1 Diff; Even though we never win in Mt P, this will be 'easier')
NIU is comparable to Toledo

This teams main problem is youth and inexperience. They're mistake prone, and have shown they can dig a hole for themselves quickly.

Until I see a couple of games where they eliminate momentum changing errors I'm not a believer they can win 6 or more games. The BSU game was a thrilling comeback, but we had to come back because we gave away way too many easy scoring opportunities. Fumbled snaps, picks, great field position on kicks.

Special teams is a mistake waiting to happen. They ALWAYS give up good field position on kick offs. They routinely commit penalties on run backs. Even when the other team doesn't score, they start out so close to midfield they flip the field for us out of the gate and force us into starting inside the 20.

On the up side, we're committing fewer turnovers, but when we do they always seem to lead to a quick six, be it a pick six, or a dropped snap on a punt. We've caused some turnovers, but most have been deep in our own territory. While they stopped momentum, they haven't been turnovers that set us up to score.

If we can beat BG, I'm all over 7 wins. But to do that we have to eliminate the big turnover, and special teams has to stop the opponent from starting out near mid field. And they have to get consistent at doing that.