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

First, the obvious... 1) We won & 2) Darius Phillips

Our defensive line finally starting getting a push and got to Linehan in the 2nd half with more frequency. Fayad looked great. Easily one of my new favorite defensive players. Liked the way Foster and Balabini played also. Spillane also had a very good second half.

I thought Claiborne stood out and Ginwright had his moments. Had some really nice open field tackles. Nice bounce back interception from Obbie Jackson after he was badly beat earlier.

Wassink grew up in front of our eyes last night in a very big way. Once he let loose a little bit he looked awesome. You started to see his potential (which is very good) and why he won the job. This was a big moment for his confidence.

Not enough love given to our special teams besides Phillips. Claiborne was a stud, made some awesome tackles! Obbie Jackson with he huge hit to open it up for Darius. Our guys are blocking their asses off. Love it. Besides the missed PAT, Grant had another nice game, and Mitchell doesn't get nearly enough praise. He had some great punts to help our field position and assist our defense.

I feel WAY better about our receiving corps after tonight. Besides some of the silly mental mistakes we made, the talent is definitely there; Arnett, Ricci, Eskridge all showed us they can ball and get open. And we still have guys like Curtis, Watson, Sanders, and Ernsberger that can make plays too.

Here's the thing(s) I'll say about Lester...

1) Maybe you can chalk some of this up to first-time butterflies being back at home at Waldo Stadium. It's not an easy situation for any first time D1 coach. I'm willing to give him a pass on this one.

2) Although it's debatable who deserves true credit (Lester or Wassink?), there might be something to be said about him easing Wassink into the flow for the first couple games and not allowing him to lose his confidence early in the schedule. There's an argument to be made that this strategy allowed Wassink to bloom last night in the second half. Lester does deserve some credit for this.

Overall, I am glad we woke up in the second half and pulled this one out. It's a good sign for our future, but I am still a little nervous about how that kind of performance bodes against better teams in our division. If nothing else, it does show what we're capable of when we play at a high level. And that's worth still remaining positive.

This game reminds me of that game vs ball state in pj's 2nd year. 1st half was hot garbage and we came back in a big way to win it. Maybe this will be a similar turning point for the year.

(09-17-2017 07:55 AM)Bronc33 Wrote:  This game reminds me of that game vs ball state in pj's 2nd year. 1st half was hot garbage and we came back in a big way to win it. Maybe this will be a similar turning point for the year.

Hope you're right!!