Game Stats
Post-Game Notes
Post-Game Quotes
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Western Michigan suffered through a less-than well executed first half in the Broncos' 49-14 loss to Michigan State in front of the 10th largest crowd in program history (73,910).
Brandon West etched his name in the NCAA record book in the loss.
Trailing 35-0 heading into the second half, the Western Michigan offense relied on a pair of seniors to put points on the board. West took the opening hand off up the middle for an 80-yard TD run, the longest of his career. It was the second one-play drive of the season for WMU and lasted 14 seconds.
Earlier in the game, on his third kick return, West broke out for a 38-yard return. It put him at 2,978 kick return yards for his career and broke the NCAA Division I FBS career record for kickoff return yards. The former record of 2,945 yards was held by SMU's Jessie Henderson.
Tim Hiller tossed the 94th passing TD of his career when he led Western Michigan on an 11-yard drive that was capped by a 12-yard pass to the corner of the end zone to redshirt freshman tight end Blake Hammond. The yardage on the touchdown past also put Hiller over 100 yards through the air. He has still never thrown for less than 100 yards in a game he started or played to completion. It was the 11th time of Hiller's career he has been held under 200 yards passing in a game.
Hiller finished with 111 yards passing, the third fewest yards passing in his career and West finished two yards shy of is 13th career 100-yard rushing game. Mitch Zajac was one of three Broncos to finish with eight tackles and he led the team with a career-high 3.0 tackles for loss. Robert Arnheim had five catches for 40 yards to lead WMU in receiving.
Western Michigan had the hometown Spartans in third down situations six times during the first half and even though MSU converted only two of them, the Broncos bailed out the opposing offense with three roughing the passer penalties. Those extended drives resulted in three of MSU's five first-half touchdowns.
Michigan State opened the game with a 71-yard TD drive that lasted only three plays as Ashton Leggett bounced a third-down run to the outside for the longest rush given up by the WMU defense in 2009. After a Bronco fumble, the MSU had a short field to drive, scoring on eight plays on another Leggett rush, this time from two yards out.
MSU closed out the first quarter with Kirk Cousins' first passing TD of the game, a 13-yard strike top Garrett Celek. He followed up with a 48-yard pass to Keyshawn Martin from 48 yards out with 5:35 remaining in the opening half. The one-time WMU recruit finished 22-for-25 for 353 yards. The Spartans tacked on more score with under a minute to go before the break on Leggtt's third of the day.
The Broncos travel to Ypsilanti, Mich., to take on Eastern Michigan for the final road game of 2009 on Nov. 14. WMU will need a win in each of its last two games to end the regular season bowl eligible for the second-straight year.
