The Bronco football team is coming off a road victory to open the 2007 Mid-American Conference schedule. The team's intensity now turns towards Akron as the visiting Zips come into Waldo Stadium with a record that matches WMU, both overall and in the conference. Western Michigan hosts Education Day on Oct. 6 as well as awards lettermen's jackets and honors this year's WMU Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees at halftime.
THE GAME ? Western Michigan celebrates Education Day at Waldo Stadium on Oct. 6 when Mid-American Conference East rival Akron comes to town. The Broncos will also be honoring their WMU Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2007 at halftime and at an event scheduled for Oct. 5 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel. WMU and the Zips are taking the field against one another for the second-straight season
TELEVISION ? The Bronco football program continues to gain regional and national notoriety through television exposure. Western Michigan is scheduled to play on live television at least six times this season. WMU will air on the ESPN family networks twice at home in 2007. The Broncos will have two games on Comcast Local and another on Comcast SportsNet. The Akron game will not be televised.
RADIO ? This and all Western Michigan football games will be broadcast live on the Bronco Radio Network and its new flagship station, WZUU - 92.5 FM. Robin Hook (play-by-play) and Monty Porter (analysis) will have the call as they have together for the past nine seasons.
WEB SITE ? WMU home football games (not televised by the ESPN family of networks) can be seen live via the official athletics web site (www.wmubroncos.com) by subscribing to Bronco Insider, which can be found on the home page of the site. You are able to listen to each Bronco football game on the Internet by signing up with Yahoo Sports through the link at the bottom of the home page. Live Stats are available for FREE for all Bronco home games by clicking the link atop the home football page.
SERIES IN BRIEF ? The Broncos and Zips have taken the field against one another only 14 times in program history with WMU holding an 11-3 edge in the all-time series. Western Michigan has won the last three meetings against Akron with the last coming in the 2006 season finale, 17-0. WMU is 8-1 against Akron at Waldo Stadium.
THE COACHES ? Bill Cubit (Delaware, 1975) begins his third season as the head coach of Western Michigan. He is 16-12 overall (.571), 10-2 at Waldo Stadium (.833), at Western Michigan and led the Broncos to their first bowl game since 1988 last season. J.D. Brookhart (Colorado State, 1988) is 20-21 during his four-plus seasons at Akron. He led the Zips to their first MAC Football Championship in 2005, defeating Northern Illinois on a touchdown pass in the waning seconds at Ford Field.
UP NEXT ? The Broncos head back on the road to face a battle-tested Northern Illinois team. The game will take place at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb, Ill. Despite holding a 10-6-0 road edge in the series against the Huskies, WMU has not claimed victory against NIU on the road since 1999 (24-21). The last time these two teams met at Huskie Stadium was the 2005 season finale. The Northern Illinois win propelled them to the MAC Championship game, while the loss kept Western Michigan's hopes for a postseason bowl berth on the shelf until the 2006 campaign.
