Western Michigan Broncos vs. Ohio Bobcats football preview: Talkin' sMACk

Kaleb Carter and Ben Roush here at Hustle Belt are generally nice people. But today they're going to call each other out about this Bronco-Bobcat match-up. Will Ohio get bowl-eligible on Saturday? Will the Broncos get back to .500? Let's see what these two have to say:

Kaleb: HEY YO WMU IS GOING DOWN.

Ben: Yeah, right. Have you seen our Davis/Braverman, Franklin/Bogan combos on offense? Gonna be tough to shut those guys down.

Kaleb: Have you seen Quentin Poling? Have you seen Jovon Johnson? Ian Wells? Nathan Carpenter? BRO, OUR DEFENSE PUTS TEAMS ON LOCKDOWN. I spit in the general direction of your special little combos on offense.

Ben: Yeah, your guys are okay I guess. And holding Marshall to only 10 points is marginally impressive. (I'll definitely say it's terrifying for the rest of us in the MAC that Poling is only a freaking sophomore.) But everybody thought Central's defense was the bees knees until we put 41 on them Saturday. Just saying, don't get too excited shutting down Akron and Miami.

Kaleb: Hey man, when I'm feeling pretty positive that OU can put up 45 points, you know your defense might be experiencing some problems. Can you even name CMU's offensive weapons? And the defense was lackadaisical to the point of surrendering 39 points to CMU? LAUGHABLE I SAY. Your Broncos were lucky enough to grab a MAC win against CMU, but we'll see what happens when the RowingBoaters take on the Bobcats in OUR HOUSE.

Ben: Ya know, you make some valid points. Our defense isn't awesome, and we kind of crapped the bed on the road against Georgia Southern. But I'm just not overly-frightened of the 10th best team in the conference in terms of yards per game. This might be a first-to-seven touchdowns kinda game, and I like Western in that race.

Kaleb: He's conceding! Time to dish out some body shots. We put up the offense when we have to, that much is for sure. The only team we've been beaten by was a Big Ten team. You've fallen to a Sun Belt squad. This is more likely to be a first-to-five touchdowns kind of game. You think you're gonna put up any more than 35 on this defense that is giving up just 15.6 points per game? I think not. Ohio will find ways. Derrius Vick has come along just fine and has shown a proclivity for managing the game well. When it comes down to it, the 'Cats are better built under this coaching staff to succeed under pressure while this Broncos team is struggling to stay afloat with a sea of expectations built underneath them.

Ben: Succeeding under pressure you say? Try running a 66-yard, 15 play, 8 minute, 24 second drive that allows you to hold onto a 2-point 4th quarter lead. Because that's what we did Saturday against Central. If that doesn't galvanize a team with confidence, nothing will. And let's not pretend Georgia Southern is some nobody team. They went undefeated in Sun Belt play last year. Granted, we lost to them in terrible fashion, but they're not exactly push-overs. And I'm pretty sure had you guys played some of the teams we faced (ya know, Michigan State and Ohio State), your stats wouldn't look quite as impressive.

Kaleb: Ayyyy SELF CLAP IF YOU'RE WESTERN. THEY GOT THEIR CRAP TOGETHER LAST WEEK. We'll see how it stacks up against a crew who really has their crap together. That's right, it's these Bobkitties. I'm less concerned about offensive stats, and a bit more concerned for those unfortunate fans back in Kalamazoo who have to watch from afar as their offense gets shut down.

Ben: Two things: 1) Y'all are in for a rude awakening when Fleck and the boys head into Athens. 2) You guys should have an adorable little kitten on the sideline for games because that would be amazing. So in this mystical world where Ohio beats WMU, what do you think the final score is?

Kaleb: Rufus would slash your silly Bronco. Tread carefully young steed. In this oh so real world, Ohio picks up the win, 31-21. What think you?

Ben: Careful, but with conviction. Broncos 34, Ohio 28.