The Upside- Western Michigan | Syracusefan.com

The Upside- Western Michigan

SWC75

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- We won. People throw around the term “must win” a lot. I doubt Dino Babers has ever told his team that there was a game they didn’t have to win, but we needed this one. It evened our record at 2-2. Holy Cross next week should be an easy win to get us to 3-2. Then we’ll have a bye week to rest and heal up and then comes the games against the rest of the ACC that will really determine what kind of season this will be.

- Tommy DeVito had a huge game. Frist he proved that he could run the ball, bursting for 60 and 36 yards and a score. Then he showed why he was recruited here: to make amazing passes like the 59 yarder to Trishton Jackson, a pass that looked like one of Sterling Hofrichter’s punts and delivered when he knew he was going to get plastered by a defender as soon as he let go of the ball. Tommy was 27 for 35 for 287 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions plus a net 85 yards rushing and another score. I’ll take that!

- Trishton Jackson has become the #1 receiver we needed. Besides his catch of the long bomb, he caught a short pass and got past the lone defender in the area and motored 46 yards for another score. He wound up with 8 catches for 141 yards and those two scores.

- Babers decided it was time to utilize the tight end as a pass catcher. Aaron Hackett caught 6 passes for 48 yards, 2 scores and at least one first down. He’s a great weapon and it gives the defense something else to think about as do DeVito’s runs.

- Moe Neal had a great game, bracketing the scoring with 23 and 16 yard bursts for scores. In between he gained another 84 tough yards on 24 carries for a total of 26/123/2.

- The offensive line had a decent day. DeVito was sacked 3 times but for the most part had time to find his receiver. We ran for 258 yards. It’s getting better.

- The defense sprung some big leaks but they also made big plays. The biggest stat of a game full of big stats was that WMU was 1 for 5 on fourth down. the second biggest stat was that we forced 4 turnovers, including 3 fumbles. Everybody puts up big passing numbers these days. It pays to look at how many incomplete passes they had. Wassink was 23 for 46. Tommy was 27 for 34. Bellamy had two runs for 90 yards but on other running plays this team that rushed for 450 yards at 10.2 yards per carry last week gained 111 yards in 32 carries.

- Alton Robinson abused the guy in front of him and made or set up play after play. He had 3 TFLs and 1.5 sacks. Dwight Freeney is smiling somewhere over Alton’s strip sack of Wassink.

- Keith Mixon was averaging 38 yards a kickoff return and 11.5 yards a punt return. In this game he had 3 returns for 54 yards and never hurt us.

2-2 and 8+ to do

LET’S GO ORANGE!!!
 
No doubt the pressure on Wassink kept that pass/catch % down even though the sack numbers weren't high, it sure as heck helped.

I would have liked to watch Jones more at LB, he seemed to be active and it's nice to see a young LB that will be coming back contribute.

Hackett will be to TD as Provo was to Nassib...only better.

If this OL can form a pocket for TD on a regular basis....wow...watch out.

Liked seeing some pitches to the RB's, even though one was put on the ground, it's a nice addition. And the fake pitch and run was awesome.
 
No doubt the pressure on Wassink kept that pass/catch % down even though the sack numbers weren't high, it sure as heck helped.

I would have liked to watch Jones more at LB, he seemed to be active and it's nice to see a young LB that will be coming back contribute.

Hackett will be to TD as Provo was to Nassib...only better.

If this OL can form a pocket for TD on a regular basis...wow...watch out.

Liked seeing some pitches to the RB's, even though one was put on the ground, it's a nice addition. And the fake pitch and run was awesome.

Jones was actually in there quite a bit.
He got a decent amount of run.

And Kpogba (sp?) looks to be a regular on ST’s, so it appears neither will RS this year.
Which is fine, since both will be in line for major PT next year after Army & Lakeim graduate.

Agree on Wassink’s % - seemed like he was connecting on like 3/4 of his passes for most of the game (and maybe he was?), but they definitely clamped down and played tighter coverage as the game progressed.
 
Jones was actually in there quite a bit.
He got a decent amount of run.

And Kpogba (sp?) looks to be a regular on ST’s, so it appears neither will RS this year.
Which is fine, since both will be in line for major PT next year after Army & Lakeim graduate.

Agree on Wassink’s % - seemed like he was connecting on like 3/4 of his passes for most of the game (and maybe he was?), but they definitely clamped down and played tighter coverage as the game progressed.

Sorry 21Com...I meant I didn't watch/focus on him during the game to see how he was reacting/playing. Would love to see Kpogba(sp) get some reps vs Holy Cross at LB.

Yep the DB's fought and had some nice break ups, hope Cisco and Iffy are back and ready after the bye.
 

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