When head coach Tim Lester was hired in January 2017, he faced the loftiest expectations in Western Michigan football history.
Just several weeks prior to Lester’s hire, Western Michigan played its most important game in history. A 24-16 loss to Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl was not the way the Broncos hoped to finish a 13-win storybook season, but still, Western Michigan was the most coveted program among other MAC and Group of Five teams for one year.
The Broncos are still the only team from the MAC, C-USA, or Sun Belt to receive the automatic G5 bid into a New Year’s Six Bowl since the College Football Playoff remodeled the bowl system in 2014.