Football: Top 10, Week 7 results

Your quick recap of the games played by the this week's top 10 teams, who went 9-1 overall (Calgary defeating Saskatchewan for the only top 10 loss).

1. Western (7-0): W 21-9 at Toronto. Kept the Blues scoreless in the second half, and touchdownless in the first one as well. But with a 28.5 point spread that once again enticed five of our six panelists to take the Mustangs to cover, this result is kind of disappointing. Still, on the face of it, they haven't missed a beat with Ben Rossong replacing Donnie Marshall: a slightly higher completion percentage, and a little bit more yards-per-attempt (8.6 vs. 7.9).
   
   Have already clinched the top seed in the OUA playoffs, so as much as next week is a rivalry game (at Queen's), one also wonders how much of an exhibition-game feel it will have from the purple side.
   
   
2. Calgary (6-0): W 20-8 at Saskatchewan. Only eight first downs and not even 150 passing-plus-rushing yards from the Huskies would, you'd think, make this a blowout for Calgary, who came in averaging 43 points per game. But neither team scored an offensive touchdown in this one, as the Dinos kept turning a first down inside the Huskie 30 into a short field goal. Not that it mattered, of course: three of those would have been enough to win this game.
   
   
3. Laval (6-1): W 57-9 vs. Bishop's. I don't have anything insightful to say. I mean, I usually don't, but I don't have anything in particular for this one.
   
   
4. Sherbrooke (6-1): W 31-11 vs. Concordia. Don't look now, but they've given up just three touchdowns and 32 points in their last three games, and those weren't even against McGill! This game featured consecutive safeties in the first quarter, and I'm kind of glad I didn't have to watch that.
   
   
5. Montreal (4-3, I guess?): W 33-18 at McGill. I gave Jared a hard time for not taking "Montreal -17." They only won by 15. This is why you listen to Jared.
   
   
6. McMaster (6-1): W 25-6 at Laurier. Looks like both teams' passing offences were hurt by the weather, but even then, a 44% completion rate for Laurier means it's not surprising that they didn't get in the end zone. Also, who punts into high winds on 3rd and 4 from their opponent's 35? I mean, honestly.
   
   
7. Saskatchewan (3-3): L 20-8 vs Calgary. They probably preferred the bye week. Via Huskie Outsider, coach Brian Towriss's postgame comments:
   
   
   
   
8. Saint Mary's (6-0?): W 37-18 at St. F-X. Outscored the X-Men completely just in the second quarter, and almost in the fourth quarter too. The X-Men did have a 10-0 lead after one, but if I'm counting right, their six first downs in that quarter were five more than they had in any other quarter. Surprised the Huskies didn't have more than 33 minutes of possession here.
   
   
9. UBC (4-2): W 23-16 vs. Regina. It's the first time in the long history of The CIS Blog that the T-Birds made in the playoffs. Four interceptions in the second half go a long way towards outscoring the other team 20-9. In fact, on the ensuing drives, UBC scored 13 points and gave up two — that same 11-point margin.
   
   
10. Ottawa (5-2): W 32-30 vs. Windsor. This wasn't looking good for Ottawa, with an embarrassing fumble leading to the first Windsor score, and a 14-0 Lancer lead after one. However, we don't just play 60 minutes of football (actually, it's only about 11 minutes of action, but you know what I mean) to give The Score some TV content (actually, they showed McMaster-Laurier instead of this, but you know what I mean). The second quarter was 20-3 in favour of Ottawa, with a last-second Windsor field goal both bringing them within three before the half, and foreshadowing the end of the game.
    
    The last-minute Ottawa win was so exciting, the boxscore is shouting the Gee-Gees' names in celebration.