BroncoBlitz.com - WMU vs KSU: Breakdown, prediction, weekly picks

October 30, 2009

D. Burgardt
Special to BroncoBlitz.com

Going into the Kent State game two words come to mind--Beat up. When you look down the list of the injured it's pretty long. Defensive stalwart Austin Pritchard is out with a concussion. Juan Nunez and Jordan White are out for another week as well. Matt Pickens will start ahead of Woody Legrier who is facing disciplinary issues.

None the less Bill Cubit sounded optimistic. "Everybody's beat up this time of year. That's the way it is when you don't get bye weeks."

Mitch Zajac will replace Austin Pritchard, and Chris Prom will see significant PT sa well. Defensive back Mario Armstrong returns to the lineup. Defensively, the Broncos should be fine. Kent is led by a freshmen QB in who can throw it, but hasn't yet got the green light from his coach that QB's in the MAC West seem to get.

This game will be won or lost by the Bronco offense. The Golden Flashes have struggled when going against solid passing quarterbacks, giving up 505 yards BG's Tyler Sheehan 337 yards to Miami's Zac Dysert. Hiller is better than both Sheehan and Dysert, and Brandon West is better than any running back BG or Miami threw on the field.

Kent leads the league in sacks with 26. Hiller has been sacked 7 times in MAC play. If the Broncos are to win Hiller has to have time in the pocket. As Cubit pointed out at his weekly press conference, Kent likes to get pressure and get quarterbacks throwing off their heel. "They force you to make bad throws that can get tipped or picked off."

We know Tim Hiller can get the job done, particularly if the pass blocking is solid. Now comes the "if." If Ansel Ponder, Trey Smith, Chleb Ravenell, and Robert Arnheim can build on last week's play. If they can than Kent will have a problem. I don't think this crew of newbies will take a step backwards, but with three freshmen on a long road game, you just don't know how they'll respond.

Prediction

Common sense tells me it's too long a trip, too many injuries, and an opponent that is feeling very confident. The other part of me says, "This is Kent State--a basketball program with a football team." Maybe I'm just not ready to crown a perennial loser as a "feared opponent." I simply can't see a freshmen quarterback getting the better of a Tim Hiller. Granted there's more to a football team than a QB, but this will be the best one Kent has seen to date. Just a hunch............

Western Michigan 31 Kent State 20

This week's games	D. Burgardt BB	Graham Couch KG	Bronco Philly	Mile High Bronco, Brown	Green Bronco, Gold
Western Michigan at Kent State	WMU	KS	WMU	WMU	WMU
CMU at Boston College	BC	BC	BC	BC	BC
Temple at Navy	Navy	Temple	Navy	Temple	Temple
Akron at NIU	NIU	NIU	NIU	NIU	NIU
USC at Oregon	USC	USC	USC	USC	Oregon
Texas at Oklahoma St.	OKS	TX	OKS	TX	TX
UM at Illinois	IL	UM	UM	UM	UM
Michigan State at Minnesota	MN	MSU	MSU	MN	MSU
(0-7) St. Louis at Detroit	Lions	Lions	Lions	Lions	Lions
Record	16-11	13-14	19-8	0-0	0-0