Lance Taylor, Western Michigan elevated the standard, but work remains after Boise State loss
Western Michigan's football program is at it's highest heights in a decade, but got a reality check on how far it still needs to go to achieve the very biggest goals.
Kalamazoo — The good news for Western Michigan is 29,700 people came out to Waldo Stadium and saw the Broncos get pushed around against Boise State.
The bad news for Western Michigan: The wrong Broncos — them — got steamrolled in front of the biggest crowd at home in more than a decade.
And standing at his post game press conference trying to square the circle on those disparate truths was Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor.
“It was electric,” Taylor said of the fans and the atmosphere, “And, it was embarrassing. And you should be pissed off. And if you are, be mad at me. We will be better.”
Taylor, speaking through evident emotion, explained that for as brutal as the last three hours on the field had been, it presents an opportunity for his team. The College Football Playoff chatter will die off. All the goals this team wants to pursue in regards to winning another MAC title are still entirely in play. And unlike the aftermath of the game at Michigan, where the Broncos were stung by controversy but bullish on their play, the response after Boise State needs to be about Western Michigan looking in the mirror, recognizing how far this program has come in nearly four years, and committing themselves to the work of taking it even further.
“In three years, you know, we probably got to a MAC championship and 10 wins faster than I ever thought we would,” Taylor said. “And it's awesome, right? And now you elevate that goal. And we're relevant in the big picture. We're playing Boise at home. And how we played versus Michigan, and all of those things. But I think today was a — I think it can be a really good thing for us, if we allow it to.”
Andrew Graham
Taylor and the Broncos frequently speak about “elevating the standard,” the sort of phrase-turned-verbal tic common amongst college football programs. But in Kalamazoo, it hasn’t been empty rhetoric.
When Taylor arrived to take over the Broncos in 2023, his team was projected to finish at or near the bottom of the MAC. Western Michigan didn’t dazzle that year, but finished 4-8, going 3-5 in the league. Jalen Buckley emerged as a star running back.
Taylor hired Walt Bell to be his offensive coordinator ahead of the 2024 season (which enticed Broc Lowry to follow Bell from Indiana), and the Broncos made a bowl game. Offensive lineman Addison West earned a first-team All-American nod.
Ahead of the 2025 season, the defense got what turned out to be the catalyst additions: Taylor hiring Chris O’Leary to be the defensive coordinator and the Broncos bringing edge rusher Nadame Tucker to Kalamazoo from Houston. Western Michigan got picked seventh in the preseason MAC poll, and that looked like it might’ve been optimistic with an 0-3 start.
But some magic against Toledo kickstarted what turned into a historic season for Western Michigan. Tucker became an All-American and MAC defensive player of the year, and Lowry took home conference offensive player of the year honors. Taylor, coaching a team that won the conference title and went 10-4, was named MAC coach of the year. O'Leary is now the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers.
The table was set for an impressive 2026 when WMU retained 27 of the 28 players on its roster that they were intent on retaining in the portal poaching era.
“And the trajectory that we've been on, and the build, the building blocks and the growth that we've had, it's those young men in that locker room,” Taylor said. “And they came back because they believed in this place, they believed in each other, and they loved Western. They're obviously disappointed in how we played today.”
And no matter how the game ended in Ann Arbor between Michigan and Western Michigan, the Broncos physically handling the Wolverines was a promising omen.
WMU rode in Saturday’s game against Boise State at the program’s highest heights since 2016. There was College Football Playoff chatter. Then Boise State put more than a dent in the good vibes.
But amidst his blunt proclamations about his team being on the wrong end of a whooping, Taylor stressed that stumble doesn’t mean a fall.
“Can you be self aware to really take what it's telling you?” Taylor said of the result. “Listen, I mean, they're a really good football team. We did not play our best today, but we've got a ways to go. And I think that that's — progress is never linear, unfortunately.”
And what happened against Boise State does nothing to change Western Michigan’s outlook in trying to be the first repeat MAC champions since Northern Illinois went back-to-back in 2011 and 2012.
“That's exactly what I told our team,” Taylor said. “I said, ‘Listen, the narrative is going to be your season's over. You just lost the biggest game of your life and biggest game of your season. You have no chance to be in the playoff, and you might as well not show up tomorrow or the rest of the season.’ The reality of it is, is, we're going into MAC play. And the reality of it is, is we still have all of our goals still left on the table.”
Taylor did even allude to the playoff door not being shut, given the unpredictable turns of the season, but also seems to feel like the volume dying down in that department could be a good thing.
But above all else, Taylor seems to know how this team can respond.
“What matters is, you don't — not only how you prepare, you have to show up and play well on Saturdays,” Taylor said. “And so this is a good lesson for our team. We haven't really had this opportunity to grow. But for me, I'm thankful for how much these guys have grown our program. We’re relevant.”
