Western Michigan Football: Elite offense leads the way for Broncos in 2021

Last season, it looked like Western Michigan football was going capture the West division and head to the MAC title game and capture yet another conference title.

The Broncos were up double digits on eventual MAC champion Ball State but blew the lead and the Cardinals were the ones celebrating a conference title. Now, Western Michigan is returning most of their elite offense from a year ago and is ready to make another run at the title.

Western Michigan is a program that has slowly risen over the course of the past decade. Former head coach Bill Cubit had the program going steady, but could not quite make that big breakthrough in the MAC. Everything changes when Western Michigan hired PJ Fleck to row the boat and lead the program going forward. The first year was a struggle for the Broncos, going 1-11, but after that, it was full steam ahead for Western Michigan.

Fleck proceeded to go 8-5 in back-to-back years and had some legit NFL talent in guys like Corey Davis, who became the program’s first top-five draft pick in history. The Fleck era peaked with a Cotton Bowl appearance in 2016, losing a close game to Wisconsin and that led to Fleck taking the head coaching job at Minnesota.

Western Michigan hired former Western Michigan quarterback Tim Lester and he has kept the program relevant since Fleck’s departure, although they have not been able to get back to a big bowl game like the Cotton Bowl.

This season feels like something that Lester and the Broncos have been building towards since he got the job and with an offense like this, I think Western Michigan is going to be a pain for anyone to play this season.