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My expectations on the Toledo game was that WMU would hang for a bit then wear down and get blown out. That our defense would get thrashed for 50+ and our offense would eventually sputter at the end trying to keep up.

Well... I was wrong on ALL accounts.

We come out slow and get too far behind. Offense sputters from the get go and the Defense comes out huge in the second half to make a game of it... only giving up just over 30pts... Expectations blown!

Sure we lost. Sure yesterday during the game pretty much everyone was irritated with a number of things they saw on the field. Here are my concerns and positives from yesterday.

Concerns:
- Running up the middle on 1st down over and over and over again. Bellamy kicked it outside on his own and ran nearly 45yds for a score... These guys are FAST they aren't BRUISING up the gut type guys. A stiff breeze blows bellamy over so why are you ramming him directly into the teeth of the defense? Let him use his speed!

- Wassink seems to have lost his deep ball accuracy. He was throwing it really high and short all game. Some of that could have been pressure he thought he was feeling but for the most part he was kept clean on most of his deep shots and still failed.

- Offensive line was getting roughed up by the Toledo front and I personally found that surprising. After handling MSU and SU with success it seems odd to fall apart in the Glass Bowl...

- Personal fouls need to go... and from Senior leadership. Sure it only happened once but it was one time too many and cost us big time.

Positives:

- Defense finally figured out itself in a BIG way. Too bad it was after a half of mediocre ball but if the offense had asserted itself better in that first half I don't think we go into half in such a hole.

- Bellamy can run the damn ball when he gets into space. I mean he outran three Toledo defenders that had angles on him... POOF GONE! I hope the offensive coaches figure out some scheme to get him to the edge more often.

- Defensive play calling became aggressive down the stretch and succesfully... I loved it. We were getting after the QB and keeping him from escaping the pocket. Going to be interesting to see how we play similar QB's going forward in Glass and Rourke.

- Skyy Moore is a special talent at WR... he's not only got great hands and can find open seams on his routes but he's slippery after the catch. He's definitely taking the sting out of losing Reed.

- Again... this team never quit. I may bash on the coaches for discipline and preparation but these coaches have these kids playing with confidence no matter what the scoreboard says... Any other team could have given up after not scoring right after half... but they fought the entire game and almost tied it up at the end.

- I have said it before. I have seen better WMU teams get beat by lesser Toledo teams in that Glass Bowl. It's not an easy place to grab a W and against THIS Toledo team its almost impossible. WE needed a near flawless game and our offense came out flat... oh well. WE still kept it close.


Lots to look forward too as the season progresses. I hope the coaching staff can keep these kids focused and fiery going forward. A loss like this can really take the wind out of a team... We need to hope EMU can knock off Toledo in Ypsi... and we need to take care of the rest of our schedule.

GO BRONCOS!

I think Toledo plays EMU at home...along with NIU. Toledo does hit the road for games at Ball State, Buffalo and CMU...all of a sudden those games look a bit tougher. That being said, we need to worry about ourselves. Still waiting for us to play a strong 60 minute game. This team certainly shows flashes but needs consistency.