Western Michigan: Pregame Thread

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Gopher07

Gopher07

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Good win yesterday. Time to move on to week 3, and the Western Michigan Broncos. After getting rolled against Illinois in week one 27-7, the Broncos bounced back in week two, beating FCS Eastern Illinois 52-21.

WMU is led by senior QB Alex Carder who is no slouch. He has taken on 5 Big Ten teams in his career:

2010 vs. Michigan State, 27/49 220 yards 2 TD 1 INT
2011 vs. Michigan 22/31 188 yards 0 TD 1 INT
2011 vs. Illinois 30/48 306 yards 2 TD 1 INT
2011 vs. Purdue 31/57 439 yards 3 TD 4 INT
2012 vs. Illinois 26/43 239 yards 1 TD 3 INT

So if history is any indication, he'll get his yards and they'll throw quite a bit but he'll probably give the defense a few chances to make big plays and get turnovers. This certainly looks to be our toughest game of the young season yet. Let's hope we continue to improve.
 

Feeling really good coming off of the New Hampshire win. People shouldn't confuse New Hampshire and Eastern Illinois as both just being FCS teams. Although New Hampshire certainly doesn't seem to be as good as in years past, they are still in a different FCS class than Eastern Illinois.

The biggest reason why WMU got thumped by Illinois was the four turnovers they committed, including the 3 INTs by Carder. Their defense actually played Illinois pretty well, but Carder just had a subpar game. As shown above, Carder has thrown at least one pick in every Big Ten game. To win, we'll have to contain the passing game on defense and cause turnovers. Given the play of the defense so far, I'm feeling positive about that matchup, but obviously this isn't a game we should take for granted.

I'll stick with my 28-17 prediction, but it could certainly be a lot closer than that.
 

o-line needs to establish the run, grind the clock and keep the WMU qb on the bench.
 

popeyoung5 said:
o-line needs to establish the run, grind the clock and keep the WMU qb on the bench.
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This. For sure. Over 40 pass attempts in 4 out 5 games for them. We need the pass rush to continue to be a factor, force some bad/early throws.
 

Its only two games, but in both we have gotten all over the opponents QB. They hit, sacked, and hurried Nick Sherry. They knocked him down 12-15 times. They knocked Sean Goldrich out the game. The defensive line play along with tight secondary coverage so far should take care of Carder. Just one look at Haggeman and the game plan should change to roll outs, no wait Wilhite. I know we are better than Illinios.
 


I watched the WMU-Illinois game this morning and I have to say, I really like the way our defense matches up with their offense. WMU doesn't run the ball very well, and Carder makes a lot of risky decisions (I would say bad, but who knows what his coaches allow him to do). Carder is going to get a lot of talk because he's the quarterback with the big stats, but I'm not terribly impressed, to be honest. They also are not good at holding onto the ball as a team. This should create a lot of opportunities for good field position.

On the other hand, I actually like their defense quite a bit. People are going to look at the 21 points to Eastern Illinois and assume they can't play, but they are solid in run defense and played Nathan Scheelhaase very well before he went out with injury. Marquis isn't going to be able to bowl them over like he did with UNH, which is going to force him to sit in the pocket and go through his progressions.

They also play solid special teams.

I think this game will come down to turnovers. We're going to need good Marquis to show up and to create good field position with our defense and special teams. I think we can do that, but I might take the under, whatever it is.
 


Like husker70 said, the key is getting pressure on this guy. If he has time and space, he will sling it all over the place. If not, he will throw it away. Win the turnover battle and limit WMU from any giant offensive plays and we will have a very good chance at 3-0.
 




I'm always on the Gopher bandwagon, but if we win Saturday I'm a believer.
 

The schedule couldn't progress any better than it does this year. With each non conference opponent getting progressively stronger, and then starting on the road at Iowa. This is going to be really fun!
Can't wait to see if the defense and offense still look faster/better against a stronger opponent.
 

denguegopher said:
I'm always on the Gopher bandwagon, but if we win Saturday I'm a believer.
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I'm with you 100%, T. I have major concerns about this game, actually moreso on offense than defense. I think the defense will hold up fairly well and will probably hold WMU to a low enough point total that the Gophers SHOULD win. I just hope the Gophers can score enough to win. They will have to take some major steps forward offensively if they expect to score enough points against WMU to win.

I think Q has to throw for 200+ yards for the Gophers to win this game, and that will have to be against an actual FBS defense (sorry UNLV). I think he'll have some open receivers to throw to though. Time to make the next step!!
 




Keep in mind, what we have shown so far is on tape. Tape that is exchanged. The key is showing just enough to win, and practicing wrinkles and adjustments that will be needed. I think we can beat Western Michigan straight up. First, as we saw last week when Gray is 6 for 8 and the recievers are running open this offense is hitting on 6 cylinders. If we settle on Kirkwood and realize he can carry the ball 35 times, the consistency will improve, the threat is established, and Gray becomes a real problem for a defense. He needs to maybe throw it 12 -15 times. But he must hit 9-10. At that level Kirkwood is somewhere around 150, Gray chips in 80, and he hits on 2 TDs and has over 50% on third down. This will beat Western Michigan.

The Defense has pressured well since last years Illinois game. They have controlled the game on defense. The pressure and good cornerback play, combined with savy safeties have been able to take the ball away, stop drives, and given the offense time to get it together. Possibly the missing link has been found. Christian Eldred. He is not only reliable, but a weapon. Lost in last week's stats was his first punt which, New Hampshire failed to field on about the twenty it bounded down to about the 12. 52 yards. That openning safety was partly due to that field position. One thing I thought of when the ball went through the punters hands, was Wisconsin. Stay with me, the New Hampshire punter sprinted to the ball and spiked it out of the back of the endzone. That was a great play on his part at the time. Giving up only 2.
 

husker70 said:
Keep in mind, what we have shown so far is on tape. Tape that is exchanged. The key is showing just enough to win, and practicing wrinkles and adjustments that will be needed. I think we can beat Western Michigan straight up..
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I thought about that over the weekend. Particularly in the second half, I think the Gophers kept things pretty vanilla on offense. I sure hope that was the case.

Kill and Co are definitely familiar with Carder. Carder threw it for 360 yards as a sophomore against Kill and NIU in 2010, but NIU won by a TD. Hopefully that helps a little bit. Not sure if WMU's familiarity with Kill and his staff helps them that much as I'm sure Limegrover will be calling a significantly different game with Gray at QB than he did with Harnish.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
I thought about that over the weekend. Particularly in the second half, I think the Gophers kept things pretty vanilla on offense. I sure hope that was the case.

Kill and Co are definitely familiar with Carder. Carder threw it for 360 yards as a sophomore against Kill and NIU in 2010, but NIU won by a TD. Hopefully that helps a little bit. Not sure if WMU's familiarity with Kill and his staff helps them that much as I'm sure Limegrover will be calling a significantly different game with Gray at QB than he did with Harnish.
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The biggest thing we don't have to worry about is the coaching staff looking ahead to future games. Kill and Co spent time in the MAC so they know there are quality teams in that league and you can bet they won't let the players heads get too big after 2 wins against sub par competition. A win in this one would a huge boost for the program and a very big step in the right direction....but it goes without saying the Gophers will have to play their best game to date in order to win this one.
 

GopherInPittsburgh said:
The importance of this game cannot be overstated. We need to win this game.
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This. This is the game that gets people to start to notice the Gophers. Win and people start to think this team may be better than advertised heading into the season. Lose, and we're the "same ol' Gophers." We need a W. Any W will do.

On that note, I sure hope the fans come out and are loud on Saturday. Homefield advantage should be an advantage!
 

I think Coach Kill is locked into one game at a time. We can only play Western Michigan and everything has to go into beating them. Offense, Defense, and Special Teams, The Students, The Fans, The Band. BEAT WMU!
 



I'm nervous over this game. We should win and win by couple TDs but if their QB gets rolling we could be in deep stuff and their defense isn't bad either.
 

Offense just needs to continue to improve, Gray in particular. He hit on the few throws he put up, but assuming he gets more attempts up this week, he'll have to continue to improve on those other routes he whiffed on @UNLV. I don't think it'll be a problem, but it's just something to keep an eye on. Also blitz pickup could improve.

Defensively, I like what I've seen. Hopefully we can get some heat on this guy as well and derail their offensive rhythm.
 

This is Western Michigan we are talking about.

The Gophers should handle them at home on Saturday. We have superior athletes at every position, period. If we take them seriously this game IMO is over at half. With guys like Derrick Wells, Rashede Hageman and D.L Wilhite on D it's tough for me to see them moving the ball that well, my prediction 42-13 Gophs in a rout.
 



Gopher07 said:
Jerry Palm still thinks we should get rolled in this game: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/rankings/124/index2

Western Michigan #47
Minnesota #94

I'm therefore dubbing this the "Prove Jerry Palm Wrong" game.
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That's just a lazy list. The Gophers are 30 places behind an 0-2 Wyoming team. Arizona is in the Top 25 in the real polls, this clown has them ranked at 55. He has 2-0 Arizona State ranked below Penn State.
 





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