KALAMAZOO, Mich.- Western Michigan football defeated Murray State on the 24th annual CommUniverCity Night for the Broncos' first win of the season, 52-20.
Redshirt junior quarterback
Zach Terrell tied a career high with four touchdown passes and threw for 355 yards, completing 25 of 30 attempts. Three of those strikes were in the first half as WMU opened a 24-6 lead.
Junior receivers
Daniel Braverman and
Corey Davis both caught two touchdowns and had over 100 yards receiving. It was Braverman's third-straight 100-yard receiving game and Davis' second of the season. Braverman finished with career-highs in receptions (14) and receiving yards (167), with the former mark tying for third in a single game at WMU.
Davis is now tied for fifth all-time in career touchdowns receptions at WMU with Juan Nunez, each with 24.
Sophomore running back
Jarvion Franklin had his first break-out game on the ground in 2015, rushing for 163 yards and his first score of the season. Included in that total was a 54-yard scamper off left tackle, the longest running play of the season for the Broncos.
The 52 points was the highest offensive production under third-year head coach
P.J. Fleck and the team finished with 628 yards of total offense, which was the most for the program since 2012 against Eastern Illinois.
Terrell found a rhythm early and hit Davis twice on a screen over the middle for touchdowns. At the end of the first quarter, Davis pulled in the pass and burst through the gap, sprinting 56 yards to the end zone. It was the longest offensive play thus far in 2015 for WMU. Davis ran the same screen route and raced in 14 yards for the score in the second quarter. Terrell hit Braverman on a 17-yard strike for WMU's third touchdown of game with five seconds remaining before the half.
The Broncos extended their lead to 38-6 in the third quarter. Franklin punched in a 2-yard TD run which also put him over the 100-yard rushing mark for the first time this season. Braverman hauled in his second touchdown, a 20-yard pass from Terrell with 4:22 left in the third.
Redshirt sophomore
Darius Phillips registered a defensive touchdown for the Broncos to start the fourth quarter, running back WMU's first pick-six (10 yards) since 2011. It was the first career interception for Phillips, who made the move to defensive back at the start of the season, and his second return touchdown of the season after taking a kick back 100 yards for a score in the season opener against Michigan State.
True freshman quarterback
Tom Flacco, younger brother of the Baltimore Raven's Joe Flacco, made his first career appearance, taking over under center with just over 10 minutes left in the game. Flacco ran in WMU's final touchdown on a 9-yard keeper with 8:05 remaining.
After scoring a touchdown on the opening drive of the second quarter - Janawski Davis catching a two-yard pass from KD Humphries - Murray State was kept off the board until midway through the fourth quarter. Roman Clay had a 3-yard TD run and Humphries scored on a 6-yard run.
The Broncos bottled up Murray State's ground game for the most part, only allowing 63 yards rushing. Redshirt sophomore linebacker
Caleb Bailey led the defense with eight tackles. Phillips and sophomore linebacker
Robert Spillane each had six stops.
Western Michigan (1-2) is on the road next Saturday, Sept. 26 at Ohio State for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff. The game will be televised on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. Ohio State survived a scare against fellow Mid-American Conference counterpart Northern Illinois Saturday, holding on for a 20-13 win over the Huskies in Columbus.