Football: Elsewhere, upsets reigned. Not in Quebec.

The big story in the CIS this week was the upsets. UBC over Saskatchewan, Acadia over St. Mary's, Mount Allison over St. FX.

In Quebec? Nope. Montreal over Concordia, Bishop's over McGill and Laval over Sherbrooke. Pretty much as expected. In fact, it seems like the only thing Quebec has in common with the rest of the nation is injured quarterbacks. However, with the Q's new schedule, the first batch of interlock are set to go this weekend. We'll take a look at last week and the week ahead.


Bishop's (0-1) @ McGill (0-1) :: 26-19 Bishop's (2OT)

The most exciting game of the week happened at Molson Stadium, where McGill saw their second half comeback go for naught as Bishop's rebounded and forced the Redmen to go 3-and-out after a pair of field goals in the opening OT session.

McGill's Ryne Bondy, replacing Jonathan Collin who is out for the year, found Thomas Fortin in the end-zone with 25 seconds left in the game to force overtime.

For Bishop's, Jesse Andrews threw for over 200 yards and led the team in rushing with 70 yards. Matt Burke also had a big game, averaging 9.5 yards per carry for 57 yards as Bishop's racked up almost as many yards running (162) as passing (232).

Key Stats:
Penalties: 35 penalties for 221 yards between two teams (14/83 Bishop's, 21/138 McGill)
Justene Edwards (MCG): 5 catches, 85 yards
Elie Ngoyi (BIS): 8 tackles, 1 sack

#7 Montreal (1-0) @ #10 Concordia (1-0) :: 29-8 Montreal

Concordia was without starting quarterback Robert Mackay and Terrence Morsink, a second year quarterback, was pushed into his first career start. Concordia, despite having Montreal run all over them, was actually within a touchdown until two second half fumbles put the game out of reach.

If you tuned into our Live Blog, you probably heard about the Olivier Reniere touchdown that was called back because the referees thought he stepped out of bounds (he didn't) and Montreal failed in three attempts to score on the ensuing series of downs.

The big concern for the Stingers was their run defence. Between Reniere and Rotrand Sene, the Carabins had 256 yards rushing (177 for Sene, 61 for Reniere) and 491 yards total offence.

Morsink played well (19-30, 236 yards, TD, INT) but a lack of a running game plagued Concordia (1.4 yards per rush).

Key Stats:
Alex Lemire/Max Caron (CON): 19 combined tackles
Frank Bruno (MTL): 9 catches, 90 yards, TD
Julien Hamel (MTL): 6.5 tackles, forced fumble

#1 Laval (1-0) @ Sherbrooke (0-1) :: 36-6 Laval

Laval found another way to outshine the Carabins from Montreal. Montreal had 256 yards on the ground. Laval had 270. While Sebastien Levesque is expected to get 154 yards, Maxime Beland proves the well runs deep for Laval getting 87 yards on 13 carries.

Laval quarterback Bruno Prud'homme played well with 244 yards and a TD pass, and played the whole game despite the lopsided score because Laval is putting its confidence in him, and doesn't want to stir up a competition between him and backup QB Tristan Grenon.

For Sherbrooke, another good game from Alex Poirier on the receiving end, and they did put up 331 yards of offence, but yards tend to pile up when trailing like they were.

Key Stats:
Alex Poirier (SHE): 4 catches, 81 yards
Samuel Levaud (LAV): 7 tackles
Sebastien Levesque (LAV): 19 carries, 154 yards, 2 TD

Standings:
1. LAVAL 2-0
2. MONTREAL 2-0
3. CONCORDIA 1-1
4. BISHOP'S 1-1
5. SHERBROOKE 0-2
6. McGILL 0-2

The Week Ahead:
Concordia (1-1) @ McGill (0-2), Friday 7pm
Mount Allison (1-0) @ Sherbrooke (0-2), Friday 7pm
Montreal (2-0) @ St. FX (0-1), Saturday 1pm
Laval (2-0) @ St. Mary's (0-1), Saturday 1pm [TV: Eastlink, Radio-Canada]
Acadia (1-0) @ Bishop's (1-1), Saturday 1pm

This week will be a good barometer of how good the Quebec and Atlantic conferences actually are. The two top teams in each conference are playing each other, and the two Atlantic teams that beat those teams are battling teams fighting for a playoff position. Should be interesting.

On a personal note, two games more to recap. Darn. However, I am actually going to be attending my first CIS game of 2010 when I will be at McGill Stadium to see the Battle of (English) Montreal on Friday night.