2005 Western Michigan Broncos Handicapping Review

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

Years ago, before Mid-American Athletic Conference teams began appearing on the online sports betting lines and casino sportsbook boards, Western Michigan was one of the league’s better teams. Those days seem like long ago, however, as the Broncos have now posted four consecutive losing seasons both straight up and against the spread and, in fact, Western Michigan has been in had sports bettors in the red in six of the past seven seasons. Entering the 2004 season, however, there appeared to be an element of hope for this program as it was coming off a 5-7 straight up record with just one loss against the odds in their final four games. Often times in college football, a sports handicapping axiom is to keep an eye on teams that finished well.

In their 2004 season opener in an unlined game against 1-AA Tennessee Martin, the Broncos posted an expected 42-0 shutout. In their next game at Virginia Tech, as 25-point dogs, they were annihilated 0-63 and never recovered from that nuking. Their 27-30 loss at Illinois as 9.5-point dogs was a mirage in a season long desert rather than an oasis of hope to sports bettors.

In their next game as 3.5-point chalks at Ball State, Western Michigan was bombed out 14-41, which served as definite confirmation as to their weakness as Ball State is a perennial MAC also ran. Hosting Toledo in their next game as 13.5-point home dogs, the Broncos were soundly beaten again 33-59. If there were any doubters amongst the sports handicapping community, they would lose what little possible faith could have remained for this team the following week when, after being posted as 3.5-point home chalks by the sports betting odds makers against traditional MAC doormat Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan lost 31-35 in their homecoming game. The next week Western Michigan was served the indignity of being a 19.5-point home dog against MAC power Northern Illinois and lost 38-59.

Hitting the road as a 7-point dog at struggling Central Michigan, Western got the money in a 21-24 loss. By this time, however, none of the sports betting bloggers or tout services was giving any mention of the Broncos. Western Michigan went on to lose their next two games both straight up and against the odds before covering at Marshall as 27.5-point dogs in a 21-31 loss. Western finished 1-10 straight up and 3-7 against the odds.