In Kalamazoo, the series began with a 29-0 Hilltoppers' (WMU's nickname until 1939) win in 1907. WMU's University Libraries Archives Curator John Winchell said WMU had a club team in 1905, but didn't offer varsity football until 1906.

Eleven decades, more than 3,350 combined points and 19 U.S. presidents later, a new chapter is being written in the rivalry's history, as CMU and WMU play for the 111th time on Saturday.

Having lost four of the last five matchups to the Broncos, the Chippewas enter Saturday's game with a 3-1 record — one of the program's best starts to a season in years.

Despite CMU's 49-35 loss to Virginia (1-3) last weekend, second-year head coach John Bonamego's team has looked like Mid-American Conference Championship contenders at times during its nonconference schedule.

Following the recent loss to UVA, senior quarterback Cooper Rush said the team's goals are still attainable.

"It’s the beginning of the (conference) season and (our goals) are still in front of us," Rush said. "Any time you have the rival coming to your place, it’s going to be a huge game. We will bounce back. We have a strong team, strong leadership. Losses hurt, but just like a win you have to hang on and keep going. Knowing that it’s the Western game will make that easy.”

Saturday is CMU's first step toward a conference title. Standing in the Chippewas' path is head coach P.J. Fleck's 4-0 Broncos.

Regarded as one of the hottest coaching commodities in college football, Fleck has undefeated Western Michigan on the cusp of a national ranking in the Associated Press Top 25.

The Broncos beat Georgia Southern 49-31 last weekend at Waldo Stadium and beat two Power 5 schools, Illinois and Northwestern, during nonconference play.

Reigning MAC West Offensive Player of the Week, WMU quarterback Zach Terrell said the Bronco's first four wins will be irrelevant once the lights come on and the game begins in Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

"This game is no bigger and no smaller," he said. "We are 0-0 in the CMU season and we are going to face an elite team on Saturday."

Acknowledging the necessity of beating Western in order to win a conference title, Bonamego said the rivalry game is more intense for him, having once played in it as a CMU walk-on in the mid-1980s.

"Being a former player here, there's definitely more intensity to it," he said. "But I tell the team, 'at the end of the season, it only counts as one game.' We'll prepare like we always do, but we understand the importance of the game. If we want to win the conference, have goals of winning the West (Division), we have to beat Western."

For former CMU head coach Herb Deromedi, who was 13-2-1 against the Broncos, the CMU-WMU game exemplifies how powerful a college football rivalry can be.

"A rivalry is when you know regardless of record, your opponent is going to come in ready to play a physical football game and you better feel the same way," Deromedi said. "It's a game in which tremendous competition is had between players who want it from both schools."

As Fleck said on Monday's MAC Football Head Coaches Media Teleconference, "This rivalry was around way before P.J. Fleck could row the boat. It will be around way after P.J. Fleck can row the boat."

"(What's) really special about (the rivalry) is the way both teams, universities, student bodies and both Chippewa nation and Bronco nation embraces the rivalry," Fleck said. "And it's always close. We seem to recruit a lot of the same area, a lot of the same kids and that's why I think it's always so close."

Winning the turnover margin battle and special teams, Fleck said, were keys to his team's success. MAC Special Teams Player of the Week Darius Phillips, a junior cornerback from Detroit, scored his second special teams touchdown of the season against Georgia Southern with a 100-yard kick return.

WMU beat CMU 41-39 last season in Kalamazoo. The last time Western Michigan came to Mount Pleasant, Nov. 22, 2014, CMU's four senior captains refused to shake the hands of Western Michigan's captains before the Chippewas' lost 32-20. The all-time series record is 47-37-2 in favor of Western Michigan.

Junior linebacker Malik Fountain, who leads CMU with 26 tackles, said the key to stopping the Broncos' MAC-best scoring offense is to simply play CMU's game, not bend to Western's game.

"We just gotta ball," he said. "If we play Chippewa defense, there's no way they are going to beat us. They can't stop us. We just have to play our defense. It's going to be a sight to see."

There are 140 players from the state of Michigan on CMU's and WMU's combined rosters.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Saturday at Kelly/Shorts Stadium. The game is being broadcast on CBS Sports Network.