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Fun Facts: Western Michigan-Iowa, the Crunch Berries edition
Can you smell it? It’s the Broncos vs. the Hawkeyes, Kellogg vs. Quaker Oats
Sep. 14, 2023 1:37 pm, Updated: Sep. 14, 2023 2:07 pm
Western Michigan and Iowa football. Can you dig it? Here are the Fun Facts:
1. Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara is 9-for-11 passing against Western Michigan in his career, for 136 yards and two touchdowns in Michigan's 47-14 win over the Broncos in 2021.
2. The Hawkeyes are 25-4 against Mid-American Conference teams, and Western Michigan is 8-49 against the Big Ten. But Iowa is just 1-2 against WMU. However, the Hawkeyes have outscored the Broncos, 99-58.
3. Western Michigan is the only team from an FBS non-Power Five conference that has a winning record against Iowa.
4. Iowa is paying Western Michigan $1,500,000 to play this game.
5. Last season was the Broncos’ first with a losing record since 2013.
6. WMU has lost its last four games against Big Ten teams by an average of 33.8 points.
7. In Phil Steele's preseason power poll of all FBS teams, he ranked Western Michigan 133rd out of 133.
8. WMU Coach Lance Taylor was the running backs coach at Stanford when Christian McCaffrey led the Cardinal past Iowa in the Rose Bowl.
9. Taylor played professionally for the Colorado Crush and Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League, and the Green Bay Blizzard and Louisville Fire of AF2.
10. Marshawn Kneeland, a 275-pound defensive end, rushed for a touchdown in Western Michigan’s season-opening win over St. Francis (Pa.).
11. The Broncos wore white uniforms, white pants and white helmets for that game against St. Francis. Wearing all white was permissible because the game was before Labor Day.
12. Western Michigan is located in Kalamazoo. Abraham Lincoln gave a speech there in 1856.
13. The Ford Bronco always has been manufactured in Michigan.
14. Also happening Saturday: The Crunch Berry Run in Cedar Rapids' New Bo District. The Kellogg Company is in Battle Creek, Mich., 26 miles from Kalamazoo and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation benefits Western Michigan’s College of Aviation. But Quaker Oats is Cedar Rapids’ baby.
15. Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean attended OABCIG High School in western Iowa. The ‘O’ represents DeJean’s Odebolt hometown. The ‘BC’ is for Battle Creek.
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