3 Keys to Victory vs. WMU

This weekend's game is going to be a very important one. Although WMU didn't fair very well against Michigan last week they are a team that generally beats 1-2 big ten teams a year. Almost every sporting site is picking WMU to win at Memorial Stadium this weekend so we need to come out ready to play. Here are my 3 keys to victory.

1. Limit the big plays- With Tim Hiller taking the snaps he is most likely going to throw for a ton of yards. The key will be to "bend not break" on defense. Michigan did a really good job of limiting the big plays last week except for Nunez's 71 TD catch. Big plays have the impact of swinging momentum and changing the whole nature of the game. We gave up a couple against EKU so hopefully this week in practice we have corrected some of the problems.

2. Turn the pressure on- We did a pretty good job last week getting consistent pressure but it didn't always result in a sack or a bad throw from EKU. Last time we played WMU we registered 5 sacks in the game and did a very good job getting in Hiller's face. WMU's O-line now averages over 300lbs so it will be critical to consistently get in Hiller's face and make him make a few bad decisions.

3. Run the ball better- Last week was not a great week on the ground. This week Justin Pagan is probable which should be a big boost. Unfortunately Darius Willis has been ruled out of the game with an ankle injury. I was really looking forward to see how he would bounce back and to see him get his feet wet before big ten play starts. I guess we will have to wait and see until Akron. We need to run the ball more efficiently this week and then it will open up the pass game more. We threw the ball well last week for the most part but I don't think Coach Lynch wants us to rely on airing the ball out all game long.

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