What a difference a year makes – and sometimes even a single play.
The Western Michigan Broncos, just 1-11 last season, pounded the broken and battered Bowling Green State University Falcons 45-14, dominating BG after they knocked their biggest star, Omar Jacobs, out of the game with a separated shoulder late in the first quarter.
The loss was the first home defeat in the regular season for the Falcons since Nov. 3 when they lost 21-24 to the Miami RedHawks.
Suddenly a team that looked to have a stranglehold on the MAC East will have to really step up for the last four games to reach their ultimate goal – winning a MAC Championship.
“We still have control our destiny,” coach Gregg Brandon said after the game. “We’ve still got to understand that we can still be where we want to be in December, but we really have to step up on both sides of the ball.”
Things were looking relatively bright for the Falcons in the first quarter. Already up 6-0 the Falcons were again marching down the field when Jacobs dropped back to pass and scrambled to his left trying to find an opening the defense. WMU’s Matt Ledeman caught Jacobs and slammed him into the ground forcing a fumble that was taken back by Ameer Ismail 53 yards for a touchdown.
Jacobs did not return for the rest of the game. His status for this Saturday’s game against Akron is uncertain.
That one play – a double whammy of a fumble returned for a touchdown and losing the biggest key to your offensive engine – appeared to leave the Falcons shell-shocked.
The Broncos reeled off 31 unanswered points.
“It happened so quick,” said senior linebacker Ted Piepkow. “It was like a meltdown in every phase of the game and we weren’t able to handle it.”
The Broncos were led by freshman quarterback, Tim Hiller, who was making his first start of the season and threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for 38 yards on the ground. He was able to hook up with WMU’s star receiver Gregg Jennings eight times for 162 yards.
Jennings biggest play came on an 89 yard bomb. He was the only receiver in the formation and blew past the Falcon secondary, caught the ball at around midfield and sprinted his way into the endzone.
You could sum up coach Gregg Brandon’s thoughts about all the events of the evening into one word – disappointing. It was a theme he revisited many times in his postgame press conference.
“To just get dominated like that at home – and we had a great crowd – it’s just really disappointing,” he said.
“We’ve struggled all year defensively to stop the run. That is our Achilles heel right now. We can’t get off the field and it’s really disappointing.”
Coach Brandon said he was taken by surprise by the fumble, the injury, and how the team responded the rest of the way.
“Things were happening pretty fast. That’s football, I mean, guys get hurt,” he said. “You’ve got to overcome that.”
Redshirt freshman Anthony Turner replaced Jacobs, throwing for 242 yards, but also throwing two interceptions deep in Bronco territory.
“He scrambled around and made some plays, made some throws, but he also didn’t do some things,” said coach Gregg Brandon of Turner’s performance. “We’ve got to put him in a situation where he can use his ability.”
Turner said he was excited to get his first opportunity to get some extended playing time, we was just hoping it would be because the Falcons had blown a team out.
“It’s an adrenaline rush and your heart drops at the same time,” he said. “But every week you prepare yourself as if you’re starting, but you never know.”
Turner said he was well prepared for what he was going to see against the Broncos, but the tempo of the game was much different.
“The tempo of the game, it changes, from practice to the game time it changes a lot. And that is something I will have to get used to for next week,” he said.
He also said that going into a practice week with knowledge that he has a high probability be starting against Akron will change one thing about his preparation.
“I will definitely be watching a whole lot more film,” he said. “And things during practice will have to be a whole lot sharper. I’m not saying they’re not sharp, they just have to be sharper,” he said.
