Football: Still big fans of Laval, Hawks, Carabins and Clan also on the rise

Football has made its return to campus.

The Fan’s Top 10 poll held off after Week 1 as there was only one game played out West, making this poll a week 1 and 2 merged effort. While the Atlantic Conference still awaits their season openers the rest of the country has now kicked off the 2009 season.

And after the first week the reigning national champions Laval Rouge et Or (#1) reinforced their claim over the top position in the country. In a top ten showdown to start the QUFL season the Rouge et Or shut out the sixth ranked Concordia 51-0 at home, a very strong start to their title defense. Laval once again received every first place vote thanks to their dominating season opening victory.

The Western Mustangs (#2) kept their second place ranking by defeating the Ottawa Gee Gee’s 32-17 in the nation’s capital to launch the OUA schedule. The game started off as a very close contest but the Mustangs pulled away in the end and won a hard fought victory on the road. This weekend does not get any easier for Western as their home opener turns into a Top 10 showdown against long time rivals Wilfrid Laurier

The one game that went into overtime this past weekend actually required two periods before a winner was chosen with the Saskatchewan Huskies (#3) narrowly edging Calgary in what has become an instant classic. This game was a great precursor to what’s to come in the Canada West Conference. Thanks to that result the St. Mary’s Huskies (#4) jumped up one spot while still waiting to open their season while the Calgary Dinos (#5) fell one position in the minds of fans after the overtime loss.

The two biggest jumps of the week came from both the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (#6) and the Montreal Carabins (#7), each moving up two spots. Both teams put in convincing victories, Laurier blanking the Toronto Varsity Blues 36-0, and Montreal defeating the McGill Redmen 66-14. The Queen’s Golden Gaels (#8) fell one position in the rankings after being pushed to the limit by the Guelph Gryphons in a last second field goal winning thriller in Kingston. Queen’s did come out the victors on the right side of a high scoring 52-49 showdown.

The Simon Fraser Clan (#9) claim the ninth spot, moving up thanks to a win in the lone Week 1 matchup over UBC, 26-7. The Clan did not play this past week as they had a bye week; the Clan returns to action this coming weekend. And rounding out the Top 10 are the Concordia Stingers (#10) who take the biggest fall of the week, dropping four positions after being shutout on the road by Laval.

This weekend the Atlantic Conference will kick off their regular season schedule, returning University Football action from coast to coast.