The win was the sixth in a row for the Broncos at Kelly Shorts Stadium and gave them a 9-3 series advantage over that twelve year period.

Several players from the 1980s also played professionally including Duane Wilson (USFL), John Offerdahl and Tom Toth for the Miami Dolphins, and Mark Garylchk.

In only his second year, Molde orchestrated one of the greatest seasons in WMU history, leading the Broncos to a postseason bowl game for the first time since 1961.

The following week against CMU, a then-record crowd of more than 32,000 jammed Waldo Stadium to see WMU rout the rival Chippewas 42–24, which stopped an 11-game winless streak in the heated rivalry dating back to 1976.

The winner would claim the outright MAC title and a berth in the California Bowl to face Big West champion Fresno State University.

Three field goals by John Creek along with an opportunistic defense carried WMU to the 16–13 win, locking up the school's first outright MAC football championship.

In the locker room after the game, Molde credited his players, coaches, and the Kalamazoo community for playing a part in helping to turn one of the MAC's worst programs into a champion in two short seasons.

However, WMU reeled off 17 straight points to take a 17–14 lead at halftime and the game remained close throughout, as Fresno State had to rally for a 35–30 win.

WMU set an NCAA record with four losses by a single point (to Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Toledo, and Bowling Green), and finished the 1989 season at 3–5 in the MAC and 5–6 overall.

The 1990 team bounced back to post a solid 7–4 campaign (5–3 in the MAC), and paved the way for a series of winning seasons in years to come.

Instead, Ball State finished 7–0–1 in the conference, won the title, and received the subsequent automatic berth in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The loss crushed WMU's momentum, as it had been knocking on the door of the AP and Coaches' polls and highlighted the one glaring weakness on Molde's resume.

The announcement ignited a controversy among many Bronco fans who were unhappy with the way Molde was treated by WMU, particularly by Haenicke, who was ultimately responsible for making the decision.

However, the disappointment wasn't enough to keep Darnell off the scouting list of BCS schools such as North Carolina, Rutgers, Missouri, Oklahoma State, and Virginia Tech.

Some optimism was felt in Kalamazoo for the 2003 season, with high expectations for the program dashed quickly, after a blowout by Virginia, and losses began mounting after the Broncos lost to Ball State, Northern Illinois, Marshall, and Toledo.

One of only a handful of setbacks that year, WMU lost both matchups against other contenders including another double digit defeat to Central Michigan 38–28 and again a few weeks later to Ball State.

Despite the poor start to his WMU coaching career, Fleck turned in the highest-rated recruiting class in MAC history during the following off-season.

[13] On November 19, ESPN's College GameDay hosted its weekly pregame show at Western Michigan for its home game against Buffalo.

Coincidentally, the first College Gameday visit to a MAC school was at Bowling Green in 2003, a game in which Fleck himself played for Northern Illinois.

[14][15] Western Michigan ended the regular 2016 season with a 55–35 win over rival Toledo, securing the MAC West division title.

[23] Although he inherited tons of talent from a team one season removed from the Cotton Bowl, Lester's 2017 Broncos were hit with the injury bug.

[30] The Broncos would then finish their conference schedule with a 5–3 record, amassing wins over Central Michigan, Miami (OH), Bowling Green, Ball State, and Ohio.

Western Michigan Quarterback Jon Wassink stumbled on an open field scramble to score the go ahead touchdown on third down.

[34] The Broncos came out of the gate strong with a 4–0 start, which included a thrashing of Akron (58–13), and high scoring contest with rival Central Michigan (52–44), a fourth quarter comeback against NIU (30–27), and a thrilling win over Toledo (41–38) where the Broncos recovered an onside kick within the final minute of the game and Sophomore quarterback Kaleb Eleby faked a spike to stop the clock and instead threw a 9 yard touchdown pass to seal the game.

They lost badly to NIU 42-28 and Bowling Green 31-13, and then were upset by rival Central Michigan 16-14, which eliminated WMU from a spot MAC Championship Game.

With a chilly game-time temperature and snow coming down at Waldo Stadium, both teams remained scoreless late in the 2nd quarter.

[47] During The Broncos' 34-24 Win against Akron on October 12 at Waldo Stadium, the game was delayed for 5 hours and 5 minutes due to lightning in Kalamazoo.

Play resumed at 11:05 pm Eastern Time, and The Broncos added a Luka Zurak 20-yard field goal after the stoppage to close out the win.

The Bronco Radio Network (BRN) covers football, hockey and men's and women's basketball in various southwestern Michigan markets.

Print media coverage is offered by the Kalamazoo Gazette and The Grand Rapids Press, as well as the school's daily newspaper, the Western Herald and http://mlive.com.