Football: Make your predictions now!

[Originally posted Aug. 14.]

The calendar has flipped over to August, the unofficial start of a new year at The CIS Blog. (Our fifth year covering university sports, by the way.)

And August usually means the start of football. Of course here on the blog we are no different, and our football previews — also a multi-year project — will start soon.

But before we get into our contributors' thoughts on the 2011 football season, we want to know your thoughts. We have put together a form where you can enter your predictions for each team's W-L record and your best guess of who participate in and win each of the bowl games and Vanier Cup.

The two-part contest will award one No-Prize for being the closest to each team's W-L record, and another for guessing the bowl game participants and winners correctly.

And that prize is precisely that which is awarded for the MUBL: bragging rights. So enter now!
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7 comments:

  1. Although I can't see Western going unbeaten through the OUA regular season, this year's collection of purple ponies are ready to go all the way to Vancouver.

    The loss of the entire starting linebacker group, to say nothing of the pro-graduations of Robinson and Butler, will likely mean an additional 50 to 75 points scored against. No matter, Western's march to the Vanier will be powered by a explosive and veteran offence.

    As magical as the Faulds' era was, this year's Mustang offence is a potential 60-yard play on every snap. A 4th-year motivated Riva, Hipperson's proven performance and confidence, Thibaudeau’s continued growth, the enigma of Tyler Varga, and the birth right of Donnie Marshall's destiny . . . as J.J. (from Good Times) would say, "Dynamite!"

    The latest incarnation of the 'little big man,’ Donnie Marshall will be the operational distributor that his Pop envisioned. Last year's trials, tribulations, successes, and heartbreak will result in a wonderful season of vindication for the little field marshal. People took a lot of shots at No. 7 last year, this season the coach's son puts it all together and demonstrates just how dynamic an athlete and QB (can anyone say, Eric Crouch) he has evolved into.

    Going out on a limb here kids, the littlest Marshall will be in the mix for the Hec Crighton.

    ...in short, its gonna by a bitter and uncomfortable year for all those unfortunates that didn't get into Western.

    ...oh well, there's always curling, right?

    Regards,
    The Righteous Happy Slide

    PS. Go Stangs Go

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  2. How effective was Eric Crouch in 3-down football? Oh, right. Wish Western all the best this season but good luck fitting a square-peg run-based offence into the round Canadian football hole.

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  4. Agree that Western's got a heck of a backfield but I don't think anyone can look at last year's postseason and really have confidence in Donnie Marshall coming in to this year. I think UWO's still the team to beat in the OUA for now, but that's a lot of question marks for a favourite.

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  5. The growth and development of a player is often less than a progression of steady evolution. However, I can't help but expect to see a significantly different and more confident Donnie Marshall on the field this season.

    Personally, I found last year’s criticism of No. 7's play often failed to take into account his relative inexperience; there are only so many first-team practice snaps available and Faulds would have garnered virtually all of them in Donnie's first two years. Despite that dearth of opportunity, Donnie found a way to deal with the interceptions that his inexperience resulted in. The last second drive in the Yates and the almost winning drive in the Uteck showed me that he's emotionally and psychologically mature; putting disappointment in the rear view mirror is critical for QBs and leaders.

    Donnie's arm-strength was proven on many a throw (see the last second long-side toss to Trevail, in the Guelph game) and his speed/open field running indicated that he provides mismatches on the field. Although the leg injury (suffered sometime before the York game, I think) hampered his scrambling ability, the early season examples of his dynamic running ability (see the games against Laurier and Mac) suggest that he's much more than just the coach's son.

    As for competition in camp, Rossong is only going into his second year while the other QB of the future (whose name escapes me right now) was injured in training camp last season. This is Donnie's team, Donnie's time, and Donnie's show. Whatever happens along the way, the Mustang's season is dependent upon the little Marshall. In a watered down OUA QB pool, where only Quinlan is seen as a potential superstar (I'm not ignoring McPhee, but he's only going into his second year), I've got a feeling that Donnie's gonna steal the show.

    Wow, this comment is entirely too long. I'll wrap up my purple posturing by saying how much I look forward to the CIS Blog's coverage this season. You kids make Canadian university sport extremely entertaining.

    Have a great year, folks. I am prepared to be dazzled!

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  6. Well, in the first game UWO clobbered a very very weak Waterloo.
    Yet at QB, Quinlan, Kelly and Colbon all had better numbers than Marshall in this opening week end.

    Don't count Colbon out of the QB race, he had an excellent first game. Passed for 298 yards with a 71.9% completion average, two tds, no intercepts, no sacks. He also ran for 46 yards on seven attempts.

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  7. Colbon looked solid, granted, it was Guelph, but a couple times on the SSN broadcast I had to squint to check if it was No. 13 or No. 12 under centre for Ottawa. He looked pretty poised. Not feeling too good about Queen's chances on Saturday, but they should bounce back and be much better on offence.

    Don't forget that Donnie has intangibles that don't show up on the stat sheet, according to a certain commentator on The Score who maintains mini-Marshall is the fourth-best QB in the country.

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