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October 17, 2009 If you wanted a prescription for emptying a stadium, the Broncos found it in the final two minutes of the half on Saturday. After scoring the game tying touchdown, Western Michigan proceeded to fall apart.It began with the penalty that every fan hates, the "excessive celebration" penalty. While it is a ridiculous penalty that has no bearing on football skills, it was called correctly. Several WMU players came off the sidelines after the touchdown. It is allowable for the 11 players on the field to celebrate with in reason, but it is not allowable for players to enter the field and celebrate. That forced John Potter to kick from his own 15, and gave CMU field position at midfield. That was followed by blown coverage on Bryan Anderson, and a minute later the Chips had the lead back. But the carnage wasn't over, as Tim Hiller threw a perfect strike to CMU linebacker Nick Bellore, and the fans headed for the exits. This game was a series of costly mistakes that helped keep the Broncos out of the end zone, and gave the Chips great field position. Ironically, the young Bronco defense did it's job, holding the Chips to only one third down conversion in 9 tries, while a veteran offense struggled. Critical penalties in the redzone killed scoring drives early, and injuries to Bronco wide outs Juan Nunez and Jordan White, made late drives difficult. One more "if-and-could-a," today was Toledo upsetting NIU. Had the Broncos won, there would have been a three way tie for first place in the MAC West. And speaking of "what ifs." The Bronco strategy of high, short kicks to Brown resulted in no long runbacks for Brown. However, it also resulted in an average starting position on the 41 yard line, and short field for CMU. While hind sight is 20/20, the Broncos may have fared better trying to kick it out of the endzone, something Potter has done frequently this year. Sadly, Bronco fans have seen this all before. While 7 and 8 win seasons are great, the Broncos have shown a knack for beating themselves in the big ones for too long. This game could have been a program builder, but could also be a program breaker, particularly from a Midwest recruiting standpoint. It was critical as well from an attendance standpoint. A win in this game would have guaranteed a good homecoming crowd. Many of those 28,000 who were there today would have been back. How the Broncos finish their season will be critical. Senior Quarterback Tim Hiller On the game: "That's all my fault, I really let the team down. You can't throw an interception in your own end, and I put the defense in a tough spot and the offense in an even tougher spot. I really let us down. The window was coming open, and the middle linebacker made the play on it, he was tracking our back, and didn't have time to get the dig, and he made a play. It's my fault, I know better." Senior Linebacker Austin Pritchard On the game: "We talked about how we had to be accountable, if it wasn't a lack of effort or intensity, or passion. It was execution. We talked all week, if every guy doesn't do his job, we as a defense didn't get the job done, and it starts with me. I didn't play well enough tonight." On execution: "We emphasized it, but just because you do that in one area doesn't mean you can let down in others. We may have done well in the third down, but we must not have done enough in the first or second." Senior Running Back Brandon West On the game: "It was just execution, like Austin said, we just didn't do it. With Tim's interception, I feel it was my fault. I let a guy hit him and the ball came out funny. Penalties killed us, I can say that. Not the maroon and gold, the penalties." Head Coach Bill Cubit On the game: " The big key to me is just the red zone, and other lost opportunities. Two holding penalties, a mis-fire on a guy that's open in the end zone and the missed field goal. You're talking about a lot of points that we left out there. I thought our kids lost Jordan White really early, but I give those other kids credit, the young kids went in there and did a nice job. The big disappointment was just the red zone, the penalties, because we had a lot of things down there that were good. I thought defensively we played well, we took away the passing game, and if we just covered, they aren't going to catch the ball. We got all excited when it was 13-13, and then Tim misses the throw, if he did it differently maybe we would have got something different. Two missed touchdowns right off the bat was discouraging, and I think that's what got us. "Yeah, after the penalty, you put yourself in a tough spot, I thought our coverage wasn't as good as it's been, but you've got to figure out where you have to kick it. I think they got the ball on the fifty, with that much time left, that's hard. All your hoping for there really is a field goal. I think that we did is what we had to do. If you can keep them under 35, it's a pretty good trade off. But I don't think we covered as well as we have done in the past." Central Michigan: Head Coach Butch Jones -On the game: "We knew what we were in store for, we knew they were disciplined and had play makers, and perseverance. Obviously (Dan's) play in the first half sparked us. As a football team, these kids have fought through adversity, and this was nothing different." -On the Seniors: "Well I can't say enough about them, their characters are impeccable, and we really challenged them. They have really stepped up and led this football team, and we have a lot of individuals hurt who have still decided to play. This football team is different than any I've ever coached. They have a great work ethic, they believe in themselves, and they come to work every day." -On the Dan LeFevour "That's what we expect from Dan, he did a great job. We knew things weren't going to come easy. They're defensive scheme is hard to go against, but we made some plays. Antonio made a big catch at the end and I thought we had some individuals step up and make some plays today."
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