Western Michigan hopes small tweaks keep resulting in big pass rush gains
The Broncos had struggled to get sacks until running up five vs. Buffalo, and feel like they're cracking the code on the pass rush being effective going forward.
Kalamazoo — Havoc plays on defense fueled Western Michigan’s dominance in 2025, and had been conspicuously absent for the Broncos through four weeks.
WMU produced five takeaways in its first two games, but none the following two weeks, and had just three sacks in four games after being one of the top sack-getting units in the country a year ago. It was an obvious point of improvement for head coach Lance Taylor as the Broncos headed to Buffalo, namely getting sacks.
“Defensive line, we've got to find a way to rush the passer, and have not created enough havoc plays, tackles for laws, sacks, hurries, pressures, those things,” Taylor said. “So we're dialed in on that, we got the right guys. We've got a really good group, and we're rotating a bunch of guys. Got to get the right combination, the pressure level, to rush the passer.”
The Broncos (3-2, 1-0 MAC) answered the bell with five sacks — among seven tackles for loss — against Buffalo in a win where the defense gave up 17 points. It’s a good start but also what Taylor and Co. hope is just the beginning of a run through conference play where the defensive front clicks into place and is the sort of sack-happy group from a year ago. And Taylor did let on that WMU made a few tweaks to try and optimize the pass rush as Kent State (2-3, 0-1 MAC) visits Waldo Stadium this Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.
