Browsing the Media Notes

In lieu of a Q&A with a Western Michigan blogger, I defaulted to the next best thing: Western Michigan propaganda, er, PR game notes.

-- Missouri is WMU's third BCS conference opponent. The Broncos lost to West Virginia, 62-34, and to Indiana, 37-27.

-- In the all-time series between the two teams, Missouri is 1-0 against WMU, taking a 48-34 win in Columbia back in 1999.

-- Four WMU football team employees have ties to the Tigers. Former All-Big 12 lineman AJ Ricker, graduate assistant Chris Tabor, and Missouri graduate Kyle Blecha all serve on the staff of head coach Bill Cubit, who I'm sure most recall as Mizzou's co-offensive coordinator in 2000.

-- The last time WMU started 0-2 was 2005, when the Broncos responded by taking seven of their last nine games.

-- Opponents are outscoring WMU 59-21 in the first two quarters of games. Facing Mizzou's quick strike offense will likely not help that cause...

-- The Broncos are currently riding a 28-game turnover streak. To the contrary, Chase Daniel recently set the Big 12 record for most consecutive passes thrown without an interception, having thrown 235 passes to best the 205 set by Texas A&M's Reggie McNeal. Daniel is 36 passes away from the NCAA record, held by the immortal Trent Dilfer.

-- WMU is among the bottom in the MAC in the following categories: rushing offense, rushing defense, total defense, scoring defense, punt returns, turnover margin and sacks allowed. Then again, playing West Virginia tends to extrapolate those numbers a bit.

-- MU only attempted 23 passes in the 1999 game against Western Michigan. Don't be surprised if Mizzou attempts 23 passes in the first half alone in 2007.

-- On average, WMU is being outrushed by opponents, 268-31. No, that's not a typo.

-- When I went and did the math, the difference in capacity between Faurot Field (68,000) and WMU's Waldo Stadium (30,000) is greater than the enrollment at either school. I refuse to make a "Where's Waldo" pun here.

-- As great as the news is that the Tigers survived two BCS opponents away from home to open the season, here's a little more food for thought: Mizzou has won 8 of its last 10 home openers and has won 72 percent of home openers since 1980. Gary Pinkel is 4-2 in home openers, averaging a 36-point margin of victory in the four wins.