by Western Michigan Broncos
MAC West
Coach: Lance Taylor
Last year’s record: 5-7
The overcast
Last year was a disappointing season for the Broncos as they fell one game below bowl eligibility. Lance Taylor is the first-time head coach that is brought in to bring the Broncos back into the MAC title race. Treyson Bourguet comes in as a redshirt freshman and is listed as the starting QB for Western Michigan. Bourguet played a few games last year but preserved his redshirt by not playing in his final game. Bourguet leads a group of a offense with two freshman and a load of upperclassman. They lose their top receiving options but have a room full of WRs who saw time last year, this group will be looking to find its top receiving options so expect to see a solid rotation of WRs and TEs. The defense only has two starters returning to the lineup as they look to discover their defense identity under Taylor and 9 new starters. Taylor seems happy with his starting defense, expect their to be a drop off from last season due to the lack of depth on every position group.
Dom’s Overlook
Western Michigan is in a rebuild season, that statement might make it seem like their in the same boat as Kent but that’s not the case. The Broncos have most of their offense from a season ago as they rebuild the defense. I think that it will be a tough season for the Broncos similar to last season, I do think we will see this team be extremely competitive in most of their conference games this season. Treyson Bourguet was listed as the teams starter on the post camp depth chart. Wolff and Salopek are guys with experience, if Bourguet doesn’t play well they have two QBs that can play at a high level in MAC conference play. The offense will need to score a lot of points to stay in games due to the defense being new to the starting lineup. The defense will be the biggest thing that holds the Broncos back as they will fight for a 500 record this season. My emotions are mixed on the Broncos, that being said I think this team will give a lot of teams trouble throughout the MAC.
2023 prediction
Western Michigan is a bottom tier MAC west school in my eyes going into the season. The Broncos will be looking up at the rest of the MAC west as they will struggle to find a lot of wins this season. I see this team winning only three or four games, with a tough nonconference schedule this Broncos team will look to upset a few MAC teams this season in hopes of becoming bowl eligible. I wouldn’t be surprised if they stay in a few games they have no business winning this season. Even considering that This team will be a bottom feeder in the West with a tough conference schedule.
