For only the second time all season, Ohio will spend the week prepping to avenge a loss from last weekend. Ohio was most recently defeated on the road at Northern Illinois in a 23-13 loss.
Ohio is fresh off one of its worst offensive performances of the year and will now come to its home turf looking not only to rebound, but also add on to its nine straight wins at home, dating back to the 2022 season.
Here is everything you need to know before Western Michigan comes to town:
Head Coach
Lance Taylor is in his first year as a head coach for the Broncos after being hired in December 2022. Taylor was most recently the offensive coordinator at Louisville but has also seen time in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers as a wide receivers coach and at Notre Dame as the team’s running backs coach. To start his head coaching career, Taylor has the Broncos sitting at 2-5, which includes one win in the Mid-American Conference over Ball State.
Quarterback
Western Michigan has yet to find consistency at the quarterback position, rotating several players in and out as it looks for one true starter. Most recently, it was Hayden Wolff who led Western Michigan in passing during its last game against Miami. Wolff has only played in three games this season for the Broncos, and the redshirt junior has become the team's second-best passer in terms of passing yards thrown with 408.
Redshirt freshman Treyson Bourguet is the leader for the Broncos in passing this season. Bourguet split playing time with Wolff in Western Michigan’s last game against Miami. Bourguet most notably won MAC Offensive Player of the Week in Week 5 against Ball State, during which he threw for 328 yards and three touchdowns.
Running back
The Broncos rushing attack has been led by Jalen Buckley and Zahir Abdus-Salaam. Both running backs have put forth five touchdowns for the team so far this season with Buckley leading the team with 618 yards gained on the ground. With potential injuries and inconsistency in the passing game, a lot of the offense has been carried by Buckley and Adbus-Salaam.
Receivers
Sophomore Kenneth Womack leads the Broncos in receiving with 348 yards, despite having yet to find the end zone so far this season. Junior Anthony Sambucci is the team leader with four touchdowns receiving, which included a three-touchdown performance against Ball State.
Defense
Early on in the season, the Western Michigan defense has struggled. Allowing just over 36 points per game, the Bronco defense has struggled to stop the run game all season long. Opponents are averaging over 150 rush yards a game when facing the Bronco defense.
Safety Tate Hallock is tied for the team-high with two interceptions and leads the team with 32 solo tackles. Redshirt junior Donald Willis is tied for the team lead in sacks with three.
