#55 Western Michigan

Kalamazoo, MI

Waldo Stadium

November 9, 2021

Western Michigan 45 - Akron 40 (ESPN Recap)

When work trips take you to Grand Rapids, Michigan, you plea to have the meeting scheduled on a day that would slide in a few nearby MACtion stadiums. Flew into Detroit on Tuesday afternoon, rented a car, drove west and was tempted to spend some time in Ann Arbor but kept driving until I hit Kalamazoo. HopCat for dinner drinking Bell’s IPA and then to the game with Matt P, Karan, Robert, and KJ.

Cool build of the stadium where the field sits below street level so you walk down into it as you enter. It was a very chilly night and the stadium was pretty much dead (video of dead stadium below).

No student section. The band was 20% of all fans. Akron with their 2-7 record coming in as 24.5 point underdogs did not travel well to the Zoo.

We ended up catching a very exciting game that included: Two kickoff return TDs A pick-6 A near inadvertent on-sides kick A missed XP 30 points in Q4 Two lead changes in the final 2:30 of the game A 35-yard unsuccessful shot at the end zone on the last play of the game which would have flipped the score again (video of final play).

Kickoff temperature was 55 degrees, but by the start of the 2H it was 37 degrees. Luckily, it was dry and no wind. Lost my U62.5 bet and the 50/50 raffle, but won the O57 in-game as I placed it while the second kickoff return TD was occurring. It was one of those stadiums where I could watch the game from any seat I wanted, which is exactly what I did the last 10 minutes of the game.

Cool light celebrations on WMU touchdowns.

Pony hopping contest during a timeout for a gift certificate was interesting.

When Akron took the lead on a 39-yd FG with <2 mins left, it was exciting to see their sideline come to life and potentially win as 4-score underdogs. Their kicker was particularly thrilled with his go-ahead kick which was not a walk-off winning kick but based on his celebration you would think there was no time left and they won.

Can’t imagine a scenario in which I return to KZoo for another Broncos game, but enjoyed the closeness of this game which made up for the cold.