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Western Michigan seeks to keep Victory Cannon for fourth straight season

Broncos set to host the Chippewas on Wednesday night at Waldo Stadium
Western Michigan looks to keep Victory Cannon
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KALAMAZOO, Mich. — It has been 1,461 days since Central Michigan has beaten Western Michigan on the football field.

The Broncos have won the last three in the rivalry and eight of the last ten.

Central Michigan head coach Jim McElwain, now in his third season in Mount Pleasant, is very aware of how his first two games in the series have gone.

"They beat the heck out of us the two years that I've been here," he said during Monday's press conference, "it hasn't even been close, so we have our work cut out for us."

WMU looks for fourth straight win over CMU

Meanwhile for Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester, he'll bring a 3-1 record as head coach into Wednesday night's meeting after going 2-2 as a player in the series from 1996-99.

"You can throw the records out the window," Lester said on Monday, "they mean nothing. There have been stretches, though, in this rivalry where one team has won this way or that way."

The Broncos are coming off of a loss at Toledo last week while the Chippewas are off of a bye week after blowing a lead to MAC West leader, Northern Illinois last Saturday.

"I'm looking forward to kicking off some midweek MACtion on a Wednesday," McElwain added.

While it's a hard fought 60 minutes of football, there's certainly respect among the two coaching staffs.

"It's two programs that have been doing this a long time and that respect each other," Lester added, "it's physical and obviously there's a trophy involved, so that adds something."

Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM on Wednesday night at Waldo Stadium.