Western Michigan is projected to win the MAC Championship in 2016. Allen Jordan/The Pit
Western Michigan is picked to win the Mid-American Conference football championship in a preseason poll released at MAC media days at Ford Field in Detroit.
WMU welcomes back 48 letter winners and 13 starters from last year’s team that went 8-5 overall and 6-2 in Conference play. The Broncos shared the West Division title and went on to the program’s first ever bowl victory — 45-31 over Middle Tennessee in the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl.
“I don’t know how you don’t pick a team that has won the west six years in a row in Northern Illinois,” Broncos coach P.J. Fleck said. “They’ve always been the class of the MAC and everybody is trying to chase them.”
This year’s offense will be paced by senior quarterback Zach Terrell, who threw for 3,510 yards and 29 touchdowns last season. Wide receiver Corey Davis is his favorite target as the senior collected 90 receptions for 1,436 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.
Western Michigan’s running game is very impressive with sophomore Jamauri Bogan (1,051 yards and 16 touchdowns) and junior Jarvion Franklin (735 yards, 5 touchdowns) as the Broncos ranked second in the league last season with 204.6 yards rushing per game.
With those high powered statistics and after last season’s accolades, it would be easy to some to consider Western the favorite to finish at the top this year. However, the Broncos aren’t buying into the hype and will let the results play out on the field.
“In terms of us, last year was last year and preseason was preseason for a reason,” Fleck said. “Our focus is on us and doing the best we can, nobody puts more pressure on our football team than us. So from the outside, expectations and predictions don’t mean a ton to us and we have to go out there and be the best football team that we know we’re capable of being.”
This reflects on the competitive nature of the MAC. In the last six years the conference has witnessed five different programs compete in the MAC Football Championship Game and in the last five years 11 different MAC football programs have received an invitation to a bowl game.
In the East Division, three-time defending East Division Champion Bowling Green was selected first with 136 total points, only two points greater that second-place selection Ohio Bobcats with 134 total points. Akron finished third with 107 points followed by Buffalo, Miami and Kent State.
Western Michigan racked up 19 first-place votes in the West Division to propel the Broncos to first place with a league-best 144 total points.
Aside from all the success from last season and the expectations that Western tries to downplay, Terrell does believe there is a end game to how it the Broncos will approach 2016.
“As far as confidence boost, it definitely helps no matter what,” Terrell said. “A lot of times, we don’t believe what they say. Especially with our team because we like to see results, and as we’ve gotten better every year and accomplishing things the school never done was a big deal.”
“Coming into the offseason it helped with our focus and paying attention to detail,” he said. “We have a lot of experience at key positions and a lot of guys coming back and understanding what it takes. It takes a lot in order to continue to be successful, to continue to get better each and every day because sometimes guys will rest on their lorals and settle for less, but really it’s all about getting better each and every day.”
WMU will open its season on September 3rd, as they travel to Northwestern. Kickoff is scheduled for noon on ESPNU.
