KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO) – Western Michigan University athletics held its weekly press luncheon for WMU football on Tuesday. The Broncos are coming off a 52-21 win against Eastern Illinois on Saturday in the first game at Waldo Stadium this season. 

With a game against Minnesota upcoming, head coach Bill Cubit said his squad still has a few things to work on.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement,” Cubit said. “I think there are some good things, but there are a lot of things we need to clean up.”

The Broncos offense was impressive on Saturday. Quarterback Alex Carder threw for 364 yards and five touchdowns in the game, giving him his twelfth career game with at least 300 yards passing. His performance against the Panthers was a dramatic turnaround from the first game of the season in which Carder struggled against a tough Illinois’ defense.

Cubit said Carder may have felt the pressure to make too many plays in the season opener.

“I think the first game Carder tried to do way too much,” Cubit said. “He tried to win the game by himself.”

However, Cubit said Carder’s following game at home proved to be a huge improvement.

“I was surprised by how many yards we threw for, because it didn’t even seem like that from the sidelines,” he said. “(Carder) looked better and I think he felt better, too.”

Cubit said he was disappointed with the running game against Eastern Illinois and wants to improve upon that moving forward.

“We tried to put it on Brian (Fields), but he fumbled twice,” Cubit said. “You just can’t do that. You just can’t fumble the ball. You just can’t put the ball on the ground, especially with the way we’re trying to play offense.”

Senior tight end Blake Hammond had his first multi-touchdown game of his career, bringing in two touchdown catches against Eastern Illinois.

Hammond said his offense is looking to improve the way they change their plays going forward.

“In great offenses, versatility is the name of the game,” Hammond said. “Not necessarily running different plays, just running those plays out of different formations.”

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