KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan football team picked up its first win of the 2024 season after an offensive explosion led to a 59-31 win over Bethune-Cookman in front of 23,476 fans at Waldo Stadium on Saturday night.
The Broncos (1-2, 0-0 MAC) put up 677 yards of total offense in the win, the most since a total of 694 against Georgia State on Sept. 14, 2019. The mark was also 34 shy of tying the program record of 711.
Jaden Nixon had a career-high 189 yards on the ground, averaging 11.1 yards per carry on 17 rushes and contributed two touchdowns. Senior Zahir Abdus-Salaam had his first career 100-yard rushing game after reaching 104 on 18 carries and two touchdowns. Jamaal Hailey also had his first career rushing touchdown, after taking it 48 yards to the endzone late in the game. It was the first time that two WMU running backs had eclipsed 100 yards since the 2022 Quicklane Bowl (Sean Tyler/Jaxson Kinkaide).
Quarterback Hayden Wolff had a very efficient night, going 15-for-19 for 305 yards and three touchdowns. It's the second time in his WMU career that he has reached 300 yards passing. Anthony Sambucci led the Broncos with a career-high 103 yards receiving and one touchdown, while graduate transfer tight end Chris Toudle had three catches for 54 yards and his first touchdown reception as a Bronco. Also getting his first touchdown reception while wearing the Brown and Gold was junior Bugs Mortimer.
Defensively, the Broncos recorded four sacks and had 12 tackles for loss. Seven different players had at least 1.0 tackles for loss on the night, while Corey Walker and Isaiah Green each had full sacks, while Mason Nelson and Tyson Lee each had 0.5 sacks. Domanick Moon and Rodney McGraw led the team with seven tackles.
Western Michigan scored on the first play from scrimmage. After Sambucci returned a short kickoff to the WMU 46, Wolff connected with him for a 54-yard touchdown pass on the next play to give the Broncos a very early 7-0 lead.
WMU went up 14-0 late in the first quarter after Wolff passed it to Toudle and he broke tackles on his way to a 23-yard touchdown reception with 2:52 to go.
Early in the second quarter, Nixon got his first of two touchdowns, this one being run in from the 5 yard-yard line to cap off a 5-play, 55-yard drive. Abdus-Salaam ran his first touchdown in just five minute later to push the lead to 28-0 with 8:48 left in the second quarter. He punched it in from 8 yards out for his first of the season.
Bethune-Cookman got on the board at 6:36 after a three-yard touchdown run by Cam Ransom on a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive.
The Broncos went up 35-7 with just under a minute to play in the half on a touchdown reception by Mortimer. Wolff passed it to Mortimer out in the flat and he weaved his way through traffic to the endzone.
BCU's Darnell Deas then returned two straight kickoffs to cut into WMU's lead. The first came right after the Mortimer touchdown, for 95 yards. His second one came on the opening kickoff of the second half, this time from 98 to cut the lead to 35-21.
Nixon put the Broncos back up by three touchdowns after he ran one in from 38-yards out, breaking several tackles along the way to push the score to 42-21. Abdus-Salaam added his second touchdown of the night with 4:33 left in the third quarter, capping off a 6-play, 87-yard drive to make it 49-21.
Luka Zurak made his first field goal as a Bronco to put them up 52-24 early in the fourth quarter before Hailey finished off the scoring for Western Michigan with a 48-yard touchdown run with 2:39 to play.
Western Michigan is off next week before head on the road to take on former MAC rival Marshall on Saturday, Sept. 28. The time and broadcast information are still to be determined.
