Kalamazoo, MI – The day was perfect for football. In the city that is between Detroit and Chicago, we saw a game that was perfectly even between two teams after 60 minutes of football. If I were a neutral, I would have appreciated more the strategy straight out of a 1990s football game plan: WMU wanted to play field position, rely on defense and the running game.
It nearly worked. The combination of a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-rubber-pellets and a QB with more effective legs than arms put up a 17-7 lead for the hosts. North Texas was pinned back inside the 5 a couple of times, and managed only one score. There were drops, and slips, and missed opportunities. After it was all said and done, the Mean Green had tied it up and had a chance to win. They took advantage and walked out 2-0.
Here are some quick thoughts:
1. The Defense Stood Tall … after some slips
We asked if the defense would travel. They did. The 300 yards allowed was good, even if 216 were on the ground. WMU only ran for less than 4 yards per attempt though, and circumstances meant that they had lots of opportunities to run. That is to say the offense didn’t do any early favors and the special teams were not great. The defense allowed 27 points in regulation and 30 overall, which is sill and improvement over last year’s defense. So this squad isn’t the Steel Curtain. It got stops, it got a sack, and it held WMU to a field goal in OT. It played winning football when it mattered.
2. Drew Mestemaker Was Good
The young QB who has only three starts had his first road game. He threw for 224 and a couple of scores, and was sacked. He looked a little less like the wunderkind we saw before, but not so much that he embarrassed himself. In fact, he led the two crucial drives to tie the game, and guided the team in OT. Along the way he also broke out some NFL quality throws.
He was slightly off on some targets, but his wide out corps didn’t help with that. There were some awful drops — we are talking about guys wide-open in space. The official tally was only one, but we saw more from our vantage in the stands.
His numbers were winning football ones, and won’t impress on the stat sheet. Ignore that fact, and just know he was a very solid player who played PLUS football for the winning squad.
3. Lo, and Behold! The Run Game had 181.
Yes, the much maligned run game scampered and scored. Becks, who was criticized for dancing too much, had a big 16-yarder to nearly put NT on top in regulation. Kiefer Sibley had a score. Makenzie McGill II had 102 yards and the winning score from a couple of yards out. The team averaged more than 6 yards per rush. On a day where the run game needed to carry the load, it certainly was a bright spot.
4. 2-0
The squad went on the road and got a win. The second week of the season is always tricky. You prepare all offseason, and talk about the week one opponent that it can be a little weird to then move on to week two. Think of the adage about how much teams improve in that week as well. All in all, getting a win when it doesn’t look great is important. This WMU team had a solid run game and the defense that performed better against Michigan State gave NT some difficulties.1
Winning and losing is a pass-fail deal. You don’t get half a win for winning ugly.
Next up: Washington State in Denton. As of this writing they are on the way to 2-0.
They held MSU to 4.1 yards per carry and sub-400 yards on the day.