DETROIT, Mich. — Mid American Conference football media day took place on Thursday in Detroit.
Among the festivities, the league announces its annual preseason coaches poll which saw Western Michigan picked to finish last in the West division.
"I will let the experts make predictions," first-year Broncos head coach Lance Taylor said. "Whether they pick you first or they pick you last, and they did pick us last, not that I noticed, but it really doesn't matter. We will settle it on the football field and it comes down to us controlling what we can control which are daily habits, preparing the right way, playing the game fast, physical and eliminating those critical errors."
WMU has questions at quarterback, lost its top two rushers, its leading receiver and almost the entire defense.
Junior defensive lineman Marshawn Kneeland out of Godwin Heights school flirted with coach Prime and Colorado but ended up returning to Kalamazoo to play for the Broncos, he is one of the few returners that saw significant playing time last fall.
"It doesn't really faze me too much," Kneeland said of the last place pick. "I know my ability, I know my team's ability. I think they, I'm not saying they like it, but they are thankful that at least they are thinking about us. They think that we are going to have a terrible season and they think of us as an underdog which I think is reasonable . We got a new coach, everybody left, they don't know what to expect so they are going to put us lower than what I think we actually will be at."
Western Michigan is scheduled to open the season at home on Friday August 31st against the University of Saint Francis, and FCS school that made the playoffs last year going 9-3.
