The CIS Blog

Bracketology: Say Elo to Carleton at No. 1 over Calgary? Probably, and for the sake of scheduling, go Dalhousie Tigers

2019-03-03T12:29:00.000-05:00

The case for Calgary centres on an unblemished ramble through an entire conference season; the case for Carleton is almost everything else.

The latter is what matters more, and it might have been the iceberg that yours truly was ignoring during this whole exercise. Historically, overall record does not have the heaviest sway with the Final 8 seeding committee. So, Carleton's good, and thorough, almost-in-doubt-but-never-really-close 20-point win in the Wilson Cup, the Ravens are force-feeding some crow. Whether Carleton really wants to go in as the No. 1 seed — while there is no cause-and-effect, they have done better as a 2 or a 3 — is another story.

It feels like the last two decades of university basketball were summed up in one basket in the fourth quarter. Down 18 in the fourth quarter, Ryerson gets a little careless with the inbound pass. Carleton's Munis Tutu steals and bats the ball back into court to create the extra possession. A ball screen, two dribble drives and a tight block-to-block bounce pass later, Mitch Jackson lays it in.

🏀 #OUA MBKB 🏀

Defence ➡️ offence as the steal from Munis Tutu on the inbound play makes its way around to Mitch Jackson for the finish inside!#WeAreONE | #QuestForTheCup | #WilsonCup 🏆 pic.twitter.com/IQcc8v8QpC
— OUA (@OUAsport) March 3, 2019

The invaluable U Sports Hoops site that Martin Timmerman compiles includes five rankings: the contentious Elo Rating that the university sport's branding office has embraced, Ratings Percentage Index, Simple Ranking System (through games on Feb. 23), Points Per Possession Differential and last week's Top 10 coaches' poll. (There is a longer explanation on the five at the bottom.)

Here is how the 11 teams in tournament consideration — Alberta, Laurier, New Brunswick and Ottawa are listed as candidates for the at-large berth — are rated at this writing.

Elo Rating	PPPDiff	SRS	RPI	Top 10
Carleton	Carleton	Carleton	Calgary	Carleton
Calgary	Ryerson	Ryerson	Carleton	Calgary
Ryerson	Calgary	Calgary	Ryerson	Ryerson
UBC	UBC	UBC	SMU	UBC
SMU	SMU	Alberta*	Alberta*	SMU
Alberta*	Alberta*	Ottawa*	UBC	Alberta*
Dal	Dal	SMU	Dal	Dal
Ottawa*	Ottawa*	Laurier*	Ottawa*	Laurier*
Laurier*	Laurier*	Concordia	Concordia	Ottawa*
Concordia	UNB*	Dal	UNB*	UNB*
UNB*	Concordia	UNB*	Laurier*
*not qualified

The only ranking Calgary tops is the RPI, the system that greater mathematical minds most disdain.

Whether the seeding committee takes each ranking on face value or looks at other factors is up to them. (As an aside, on a societal level, it is appalling how much we increasingly seem to conditioned to take everything at face value, with a case in point being the nothing-burger that is a semantic argument between the prime minister's office and a former attorney general, with smart people siding with the latter because the media tells them that is a way to feel woke.)

For instance, Elo Rating has issues with properly accounting for margin of victory when favourites win, as FiveThirtyEight explained in 2014. In our case, Carleton's 52.1-point gain in Elo points for defeating Ryerson by 20 was much larger than the Rams' minus-25.2 penalty. But Calgary's upgrade and UBC's downgrade, 15.6 points in either direction, was the same after Calgary won by 15 points in the Canada West championship game.

The largest considerations for the seeding committee are probably whether they will want to avoid the possibility of intra-conference semifinals such as Carleton-Ryerson or UBC-Calgary. It has been known to come into play. The promoter might prefer grouping Dalhousie and Saint Mary's for the evening quarterfinals on Friday but it's not up to them.

So here's a bracket that assumes a Saint Mary's win in the AUS championship game.

Carleton (OUA champion). Are they still good? Yes.
Calgary (Canada West champion). There were tweets about David Kapinga being shaken up on Saturday. He still played 37 minutes.
Ryerson (OUA No. 2). The Rams might be having an almost Raptors-esque pattern down the stretch. Two losses in the league, then do what needed to be done to qualify — beat Ottawa, win at Laurier — and then have a troubling outcome.
Saint Mary's (AUS champion). Is there a case for them at No. 3? Only if one makes too much out of Ryerson looking human.
UBC (Canada West No. 2). The first quarterfinal on Friday is at 12 noon Atlantic, or 8 a.m. Pacific, so the T-Birds should not be in that one.
Concordia (RSEQ champion). Thank you, Acadia Rule.

Still wincing from the combined 33.6 per cent effective shooting the Stingers and UQAM combined for in the first half on Saturday. Did they leave a gym door open?
Dalhousie (host). Again, a 7-8 flip with the host and wild card. The Tigers are No. 7 in Canada, and holding off UNB in the AUS semifinal when the Varsity Reds had their season on the line seems impressive.
Alberta (wild card). Top team in four of the nine categories used in the at-large selection, and tied for first in a fifth.

Omen alert: Alberta faced Carleton in the 2008 quarterfinal.

If Dalhousie wins against Saint Mary's, by rule the Tigers must be in the top 6. Those who have been through the corn maze that is this clusterfudge of rules on top of rules probably has, "Results of regional playoffs must be respected" and "a conference champion seeded 6 cannot be flipped to 7th" memorized.

That should create this seeding:

Carleton
Calgary
Ryerson
UBC
Dalhousie (AUS champion)
Concordia
Saint Mary's (AUS rep)
Alberta (wild card)

Noon tipoff for Concordia-Ryerson on Friday. Given the state of Canada's transportation infrastructure and the location of the Halifax airport, take a late flight on Thursday out of Montreal or Toronto. The 6 a.m. flight on Friday is too risky. For disclosure's sake, the five ratings:

Elo Rating. FiveThirtyEight probably has the best explainer on Elo and its strengths and flaws.
Point per possession differential. I used the "most games" option since it seems like a bigger sample than league games only. And bigger is better, correct?
Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). That wonderful ranking system that does not include home and away performance, or margin of victory.
Simple Rating System (SRS). For games through Feb. 23; SRS was developed in-house at Sports-Reference.com and utilizes point differential and strength of schedule. In the women's game, the RSEQ was a strength-of-schedule monster thanks to Laval and everyone basically riding Laval's coattails.
Top 10 ranking. From the last national poll released Feb. 26, which was taken before the conference championship games and AUS Final 6.

Bronze Baby Bracketology, Proved Me Wrong Kids edition: McMaster, Saskatchewan go in as conference champs

2019-03-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

Haley McDonald of Acadia had a conference-record 51 points, and that has some competition for Saturday's most impressive stat.

Someone, somewhere, is none too surprised by how the last 24-ish hours have played out; that is the perk of a perpetually underexposed and underappreciated strata of basketball. Put another way: I want to be wrong about which teams are in which slots; the real goal is just that people understand the regionally and politically compromised process that is nationals seeding. (On a related note, please stop making sense about just seeding everyone 1 through 8 based on quality, or SRS.)

Long story short, there was a weekend of the mild upset in the Maritimes, as McDonald turned it up to 11 — hey, Saturday was the 35th anniversary of the release of This Is Spinal Tap — to advance Acadia to an AUS final against Memorial, which was under .500 during conference play.

GAME RECAP: McDonald breaks AUS record with 51 points as Axewomen edge Panthers to advance to AUS finals🏀🏆
👇👇👇https://t.co/A9IJC0lues pic.twitter.com/3g0dKsRBcM
— AUS_SUA (@AUS_SUA) March 2, 2019

If it seemed odd that Ottawa had ascended to a No. 1 ranking ahead of the Laval team that it lost to twice in the fall, then McMaster has validated that skepticism by winning the Critelli Cup with a 79-75 win against the host Gee-Gees. Taking nothing away from the feat of McDonald and how her teammates facilitated it, the Marauders played a perfect game on Ottawa's floor. Sarah Gates and Hilary Hanaka each hooped at least 20 and were charged with zero turnovers, combined, geek out on that.

🏀 #OUA WBKB 🏀

That championship feeling!#WeAreONE | #QuestForTheCup | #CritelliCup 🏆 pic.twitter.com/INfPFAA7Ie
— OUA (@OUAsport) March 2, 2019

Rather than just do the usual back-of-an-envelope bracketing, I made a chart.

It can never be over-reiterated that every Canadian university hoops cultist owes Martin Timmerman bottomless thanks for U Sports Hoops, which is basketball brain candy. It has made all of information-rich with knowing the true performance of teams. So before taking a half-educated guess on how the Final 8 will be seeded after the Memorial-Acadia championship game, it might be best to show where the qualified teams, AUS finalists and "one short" at-large candidates stack up in the five rankings Timmerman tabulates.

Those are, as you know.

Elo Rating. FiveThirtyEight probably has the best explainer on Elo and its strengths and flaws.
Point per possession differential. I used the "most games" option since it seems like a bigger sample than league games only. And bigger is better, correct?
Ratings Percentage Index (RPI). That ranking system that does not include home and away performance, or margin of victory.
Simple Rating System (SRS). For games through Feb. 23; SRS was developed in-house at Sports-Reference.com and utilizes point differential and strength of schedule.
Top 10 ranking. From the last national poll released Feb. 26, which was taken before the conference championship games and AUS Final 6.

Here is how the teams rank, top to bottom, in each category. At-large candidates have a star (*) beside them.

Elo Rating	PPPDiff	SRS	RPI	Top 10
Laval	Sask.	Laval	Laval	Ottawa
Regina	Laval	Sask.	Sask.	Laval
Sask.	Ottawa	Concordia*	Ottawa	Mac
Mac	Mac	Ottawa	Mac	Sask.
Ottawa	Regina	Mac	Regina	Regina
Calgary*	Calgary*	Calgary*	Concordia*	Lakehead*
Carleton*	Ryerson	Regina	Calgary*	Carleton*
Lakehead*	Lakehead*	Ryerson	Lakehead*	Calgary*
Concordia*	Concordia*	Lakehead*	Ryerson	Ryerson
Lethbridge*	Carleton*	Carleton*	Carleton*	Cape Breton
Ryerson	Acadia	Acadia	Acadia
Acadia	Lethbridge*	Memorial	Lethbridge*
Memorial	Memorial	Lethbridge*	Memorial

One of my "so this is the hill you choose to die on, really, well not really" hobby-horses it would be good for the game if OUA and the RSEQ had inter-conference regular-season games. There is no political will and making that happen.

However, playing Quebec teams is a factor in SRS. Ahead of the auto-berth games and the Critelli Cup, Ottawa had a strength-of-schedule factor of 2.18 while McMaster was minus-0.86. That difference stems somewhat from non-conference scheduling: Ottawa had five games with the RSEQ and McMaster had one (against McGill, on a neutral floor in Toronto).

So one suspects Mac's dramatic win won't budge at least one ranking as much as perhaps it should. However, the tournament is still seeded by humans. Here's that back-of-the-envelope bracket, at long last.

Laval (RSEQ champion). Hard to deny a team that has beaten everyone.
Saskatchewan (Canada West champion). Grade out well across the board in the analytics, have the reputation of showing well at nationals.
McMaster (OUA champion). The Acadia rule is your friend, Marauders.
Ottawa (OUA No. 2). Lose a conference final at home and this happens.
Regina (Canada West No. 2). d
Acadia (AUS champion). They have Haley McDonald, so they beat Memorial. Or not.
Concordia wild card). There is no mortal lock for the wild card. The Calgary Dinos are above the the Stingers in most of the criteria. That is not what matters. First off, parse how the rule is written:
All teams will be considered for the at-large berth and ranked in each category. If any team is the only team to lead two, three or four of these categories following the conclusion of conference playoffs, it will be awarded the at-large berth. If no team leads more categories than all other teams, the berth will be awarded to the tied team who has the highest winning percentage vs. the Top 12 teams in the final RPI.
The four categories, with their leaders:
- Winning percentage in all games: Cape Breton, .828
- RPI for non-conference and league games (not playoffs): UPEI
- Playoff advancement, how many wins away from automatic qualifier: Calgary, Concordia, Carleton, Lakehead, Lethbridge, Memorial
- SRS rating for non-conference and league games (not playoffs): Concordia, 21.72
Ryerson (host). Easily flip to 7 if it's not Concordia in the wild card..

Bronze Baby Bracketology: Carleton-McMaster is the big puzzle piece

2019-02-25T17:09:00.003-05:00

Just as sports reveal character, February sorts out the two types of people who work on a sports desk — the ones who understand the Page Playoff format in curling and the ones who need a refresher comes Scotties and Brier time. There is no literal connection between that and the lead-up to the women's basketball Final 8 — face it Sags, there isn't any connection — but one of the play-in games this week is effectively like a Page Playoff.

Carleton at McMaster, namely, is the most fraught game this week. McMaster is the first-place team in a 1 vs. 2 game with two lives, since Theresa Burns' Marauders grade out highly across the board in the criteria for the at-large berth. For Carleton, which turned over four starters from the 2018 national championship squad and stayed in the rankings, it's like a 3 vs. 4 game — win or go home. If

The projection is the same as last week, with a hunch play on Regina to win on the road in Canada West. The home team has won the Canada West final three years in a row, so a flip is due.

Laval (RSEQ champion). They are human, having lost one game by one point.
Ottawa (OUA champion). It's your moment, you own it, Ottawa.
Regina (Canada West champion).* For blogging purposes, really needed Regina to give guard Faith Reid one more open look during their clincher at Calgary, which she surely would have sank. Reid had nine points, all on triples; one more bucket would have given Regina the neat feat of having a double-digit scorer off the bench in all four of its playoff wins.
Saskatchewan (Canada West No. 2). So home court has been a factor in the last three Cougars-Huskies championship games. One of these times it will not.

This spot is probably the floor for the Huskies. Now if, something happens to Laval or Ottawa, the first team out of the west could vault up to No. 2. Concern about a same-conference matchup would evaporate since the at-large berth would no longer be available to Calgary.
McMaster (OUA No. 2). Pardon the dollar-store psychology, but there always seems to be a phenomena with a first-place team in the first playoff game. It has all the pressure and the expectations. Perhaps that was in play when McMaster did not pull away from Brock until very late in its quarterfinal. Winning is one more point, not 25 more (Carleton's winning margin) or 36 (Ottawa's). But a tight first game does feed into narratives.
UPEI (AUS champion). Two wins away from ending the longest Final 8 drought in the AUS that extends back to 1998. Then again, 1998 was just like yesterday if you believe the people in charge of Ontario's health education curriculum.
Calgary (wild card). The Dinos here presumes that McMaster, Ottawa, Laval and UPEI each wins its way into the dance.
Ryerson (host).*Second verse, same as the first.

* already qualified

Men's Puck Bracketlogy: UNB (probably) still the top seed, Alberta looks to borrow the OUA's copy of The Road Warrior

2019-02-25T13:20:00.002-05:00

The first teams slotted into the OUA / RSEQ seeds are, obvious hacky reference alert, like seat-fillers at the Oscars. No one expects they will be there very long.

Ontario's remake of the Road Warrior (booooooooooooooo), starring Queen's Jared Bethune, Guelph's Scott Simmonds and Western's Luke Peressini, hastened some revising. It is not clear what should be read into the away teams going 11-1 during the second round, beyond the obvious point that the talent gets distributed very fairly across the vast majority of the conference. That makes the league basically like every division of the 1980s NHL that did not feature the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. The regular season doesn't really matter.

The 20-win curse continues in the @OUAsport west division:

Since 2002-03, 17 west division teams have won 20 games in a season. Only three of those 17 went on to win a division title.

The Rams are the sixth straight 20-win team to come away without a division crown. https://t.co/4gmF63ECb3
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) February 25, 2019

At this writing, Alberta and Saskatchewan, shocker, have qualified out of Canada West to join host Lethbridge. New Brunswick and Saint Mary's could qualify within 24 hours, while Ontario has a two-stage process to decide its division champions and the third-place team.

UNB (AUS champion). The schedule has Lethbridge playing its quarterfinal on the Thursday night and common sense would just suggest splitting up the host 'Horns from the team in the same province. So UNB goes here.

The Varsity Reds had 102 shots in their two wins against UPEI, but Panthers goaltender Matt Mancina has been tough.
Alberta (Canada West champion). When they played in Saskatoon on the final weekend before the break, Saskatchewan won the first game and Alberta won the second decisively with a 41-22 edge on the shot counter. With a best-of-3 packed into three days, all those coach words, depth, stamina, are going to be extra-paramount. Also, Alberta goalie Zach Sawchenko was the second-team all-star pick with Saskatchewan's Taran Kozun on the first team, so there's a score to settle.
Carleton (OUA champion). Again with the chalk pick — hey, you don't go into the media to learn from folly.

Carleton has home-ice advantage throughout the rest of the Queen's Cup playoffs. And the Ravens' François Brassard is the most seasoned goaltender still competing, for what that might be worth. In a league where a first-year such as Queen's tendy Justin Fazio is 21 years old, it might not count for much.

One outcome to feel fairly confident about is that the Queen's-Carleton winner, who will host the Queen's Cup, probably wins it too. The East is the deeper side of the league.
Guelph (OUA No. 2). Queen's-Carleton and Western-Guelph are both coin flips. Guelph did have a better goals-against record than Western over the entire run of the regular season, but then again, some guy also thought that would see Brock through.
Saskatchewan (Canada West No. 2). Could hop right up there if they beat Alberta.
Saint Mary's (AUS No. 2). It's not over yet, but they have St. FX down to its last strike.
Queen's (OUA No. 3). So if Queen's should defeat Carleton after defeating Ottawa, does that make them the city champions? The mind reels.
We would like to congratulate @GeeGeesMHKY on a great season. 1st overall in the OUA, #4 in the country all year long. They showed great fight to come back in the series and all game last night, and we’re sure that we will be having another playoff date next season #HorseHockey
— Queen’s Gaels Men’s Hockey (@QueensMHockey) February 25, 2019
Lethbridge (host). They have some down time. Can they do my taxes?

Bracketology: Calgary all but secures No. 1; UBC qualifies, Alberta in line for a wild card

2019-02-24T22:11:00.004-05:00

Now Alberta is cheering for chalk.

Sometimes the big picture that seems so self-evident is too fuzzy and vague to become focal, so the small thinking becomes the big picture. In the long run, where the aim is to have more Canadian university basketball teams become a viable alternative for talents that might otherwise end up at a D-1 low major or some slack D-2 diploma mill, it probably is good that Laurier, with a .760 win percentage in all OUA games, is going to host, Ryerson, which has played .917 ball, in a play-in game this week.

The Rams need someone to take up the cause of them being hosed about as much as Bradley Cooper does. The Laurier Golden Hawks getting a decent crowd out for its first home semifinal game would do more to spread word-of-mouth about the strength of university basketball than it does at Ryerson, where they would be playing in front of the converted. So there is that, if you can ignore the Rams having the better record which also includes beating Laurier by 45 points in November.

First OUA Semifinal home game for M🏀 since 1976? We better make sure the AC is packed Wednesday night Laurier‼️🗣 Visit https://t.co/jhps0emLaW to get your 🎟 now #WeAreHAWKS💜💛 #QuestForTheCup #MakingHistory pic.twitter.com/GOU4xx1Hzs
— Laurier Golden Hawks (@WLUAthletics) February 24, 2019

Don't forget because of the clueless @OUAsport playoff format, Ryerson now has to travel to a gym where they won by 45 points earlier this season. https://t.co/mgUejXD6RA
— Mitch Robson (@_mitchrobson) February 25, 2019

However, that segues into into the contrast between the formats of the country's two largest leagues. Canada West's unbalanced, undivided setup has contributed to the best of all possible outcomes. Calgary is undefeated in the conference and has the best case to be the No. 1 seed in two weeks' time. The series that Alberta and UBC, with the Thunderbirds ultimately prevailing in Game 3 on Sunday night played was competitive and taut and like sealed the emotional and empirical arguments for Canada West getting the wild card, if the form holds this week.

Alberta are ahead of both Laurier and the Brock Badgers in the all-important selection criteria for an at-large berth. So really, no sugarcoating, those OUA semis on Wednesday are surely do-or-done games for the two OUA West schools. It might be a jump to conclusions to call that a creation of the two-division format. It is more likely that the OUA's growing parity has worked against having an obvious third Final 8 team.

There are some changes since that first attempt two weeks ago. Calgary, on paper, deserves the top seed, while Quebec once again seems to be an enigma.

Calgary (Canada West champion). They deserve it. The 2018 Dinos might have well been this decade's 2008 Brock Badgers, who swooped to wins the nationals where vanquishing Carleton in the semis was the realest final. But that does not come into play for seeding.
🦖🏀🗒

Lars Schlueter, everybody.#GoDinos #WinTheWest #ChampSZN

RECAP ⬇ https://t.co/PkMbiZyz9X
— UCalgary Dinos Men's Basketball 🏀 (@DinosMBB) February 23, 2019
Now, where to put Calgary as a Canada West runner-up would be awfully interesting. They can render that moot by smoking UBC.
Carleton (OUA champion). The chance that the Wilson Cup could just be a prologue to a national semifinals showdown is rather anticlimactic. But hey, Carleton and Ryerson are probably incapable of playing a boring game.
Ryerson (OUA assigned). The only basis for projecting Carleton at No. 2 and Ryerson at No. 3 is that the Ravens rarely lose two in a row against anyone. Not sure about what is the more impressive Tanor Ngom stat against Ottawa — that the 7-foot-2 centre got his 22 points on only 10 shots, or that Ottawa had only 25 two-point attempts.

If ELO Rating is, by imperial edict, the indicator, than Ryerson is much closer to the top two than it is to UBC. Now, if UBC upsets Calgary this week in the Canada West final, then the seeding call gets really interesting.
UBC (Canada West assigned). First things first: the Thunderbirds' X factor was shutting down Brody Clarke, who was held to 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting as UBC won 84-78 to nab an auto-berth on Sunday. Some words are being eaten, rest assured, after seeing the Thunderbirds take two on Alberta's floor to punch their ticket.
Saint Mary's (AUS champion). No longer undefeated in the league, but that defeat in a game that didn't affect the standings could have been the scare they needed ... hey, how about UNB's Chris Spurrell with a land-in-the-bench last-second game-winner to get his team the other AUS Final 6 bye?
The Game Winner felt around the @AUS_SUA by Chris Spurrell, securing 2nd place and the Playoff Bye for the Reds next weekend in Halifax at the @ScotiabankCtr pic.twitter.com/lgxyN3dT63
— UNB Reds Basketball (@UNB_Basketball) February 24, 2019
The schedule is set for the 2019 @SubwayAtlantic AUS Men's Basketball Championships🏀🏆

QF#1: @StFXAthletics vs @gocapersgo
QF#2: @MUNathletics vs @DalTigers

SF#1: QF#1 winner vs @SMUHuskies
SF#2: QF#2 winner vs @UNBAthletics

👉Schedule: https://t.co/ZfpURlh8Qr pic.twitter.com/IjVbbPZ70N
— AUS_SUA (@AUS_SUA) February 24, 2019
McGill (RSEQ champion). Someone from Montreal likely hands here. First-place Concordia had home-court advantage wrapped early, so maybe it does not matter that they have lost their most recent outings to semifinal opponent Bishop's (70-68, albeit at Lennoxville), second-place McGill (70-59) and third-place UQAM (81-79). But at the same time, the Stingers have have double-digit conference wins four years in a row and every time it's been McGill that came out of the Q.

Hey, I'm a Minnesota Vikings and a Toronto Raptors fan. I also get sick of people who believe the past dictates the future, always.
Alberta (wild card). The Golden Bears grade out higher than Laurier in four of the five criteria for the at-large berth, which means they should get it.
Dalhousie (host). Wrote this one in with the same pen I use to complete The New York Times Sunday crossword, at least as far as you know.

By the way, about seven years ago Ken Shields told someone that if Phil Scrubb "doesn't play for the national team, there should be an investigation." Today:

An absolute force at both ends of the court, @PhilScrubb23 earns @ToyotaCanada Drive of the Game honours in Canada's 🇨🇦 big win over Venezuela 🇻🇪. #WeAreTeamCanada #FIBAWC #ThisIsMyHouse pic.twitter.com/4lS6esvNbG
— Canada Basketball (@CanBball) February 24, 2019

Women's Puck Bracketology: Canada West has the slipperiest slope

2019-02-18T20:01:00.001-05:00

Well that is nice — New Brunswick won a playoff round in its first season back.

WHKY: @UNBWHockey scores twice in final 1:54 to beat @UPEIPanthers 4-3 and earn berth in Subway @AUS_SUA semi-finals.https://t.co/MZ7omgs7WB #RedsNation #AllReds pic.twitter.com/yXsQJFCS1f
— UNB Reds (@UNBAthletics) February 17, 2019

Whatever fate awaits those Varsity Reds, being this competitive under coach Sarah Hilworth and an obviously rookie-filled roster is national coach-of-the-year material. It likely speaks to more than just a wrong being remedied through the courts, but also to the investment in female hockey across Western Canada, where 13 V-Reds hail from, including AUS save percentage leader Kendra Holland and team scoring leader Tamina Kehler.

The result leaves nationals host UPEI with a 24-day layoff before hosting the March 14-17 tournament.

The need-to-know is that the four conference winners get the top four seeds in order of national ranking. The four assigned berth/host teams are arranged in a way that eliminates the possibility of a same-conference semifinal matchup.

So what chaotic outcome should one root for?

Manitoba and Montréal to win Canada West and the RSEQ, respectively, triggering a great debate over who should be the No. 1 seed, with a commensurate domino effect in the rest of the bracket. Nothing against Alberta, but the No. 1-ranked Pandas rolling through the league playoffs would just make the seeding committee's job easier.

The biggest gap between champion berth and assigned berth is in Canada West, based on the rankings of those Pandas and Bisons.
Any upset that affects the three auto-berths that involve winning two playoff series, which are AUS champion, OUA champion and OUA assigned. The lonely always need a feel-good story from these obscure leagues, so someone better summon a 70-save shutout in a triple-overtime game.
And, obviously, UNB to make it interesting down east.

The all-chalk, at-first-blush, look at nationals seeding is as follows:

Alberta (Canada West champion). The Pandas and Carabins are level on two national titles in this decade, so bragging rights are at stake.
Montréal (RSEQ champion). Being the regular-season champion in a three-deep league has its earned privileges.
St. Thomas (AUS champion). Semifinal opponent depends on the Moncton-Saint Mary's result on Tuesday.
Guelph (OUA champion). Interestingly, Guelph took the L the last time out against both Western and Toronto, potential McCaw Cup final opponents.
Concordia (RSEQ assigned). Has won the two most recent games against McGill, which it faces in the best-of-3 league semifinal this week.
Manitoba (Canada West assigned). It was not long ago yours truly worked in a decent-sized Manitoba town and there was no organized female hockey. Now look!
Western (OUA assigned).Yours truly spends way too much time on a Facebook group called For The Love of Uniforms. So the fact that the women's and men's hockey teams at that school in London do not dress out in head-to-toe purple and white seems like a real sartorial affront. Black hockey helmets and pants are more easily acquired, sure, but it just looks off when the sweaters and gloves don't contain any black.
The schedule is out for the 1st round of women's hockey. The @WesternWHKY team takes on the @WlooWarriors starting Wednesday night at home.#westernu pic.twitter.com/U77kAfeiIp
— Western Mustangs (@WesternMustangs) February 18, 2019
Here is the schedule for the next round of playoffs for men's hockey. This round will see them take on the @BrockBadgers starting Wednesday night.#westernu pic.twitter.com/83zWpdywqv
— Western Mustangs (@WesternMustangs) February 18, 2019
UPEI (host team). So neither the University Cup host, Lethbridge, or Golden Path Trophy host, UPEI, managed to win a playoff game, which means David Branch has more influence over the university game than we ever imagined.

Bronze Baby Bracketology: Laval is a clear No. 1 on the road to Ryerson

2019-02-18T16:12:00.001-05:00

Heather Lindsay left a legacy at Carleton; one, leading the Ravens to the program's first national title and two, speaking truth about the media gatekeepers at that time when a winner is more likely to be really heard, even though we all could learn to listen at all times: "There were years where we would win a game and the whole story would be about the men’s team losing — just stuff like that where it’s just not fair at all." (Ottawa magazine, Sept. 10, 2018.)

No further mansplanation necessary.

For purpose of this exercise, Carleton and Lindsay made this easy; they were the No. 1 seed for the women's basketball Final 8 two seasons in a row. Another bonus for the dim-bulb prognosticator is there was a reasonable equilibrium between all four sport conferences that validated the "top 6" seeding rule.

Lindsay is playing in Germany, but at least the competitive balance is mostly still there. There is schism between Elo and the eye test, a.k.a. the coaches' poll, over whether Canada West or Ontario is the deeper conference. The Atlantic cannot get anywhere in the human poll, but UPEI is getting some love from the computer rankings. So, for the dim-bulm prognosticator, this ought to be fun.

A first crack at seeding the nationals, which as an actual proud Ontarian, take place in the Maple Leaf Gardens building in early March.

Laval (RSEQ champion). They have a nice collection of non-conference wins and their only close games in the RSEQ were the league opener and the first game after the holidays, the rust-off-the-rims contest. Led by Carrie-Ann Auger and Sarah-Jane Marois, Laval is shooting 35.4 per cent from downtown.

The floor for Laval is probably being a wild card, somewhere between the No. 3 and No. 5 seed, if it stumbles in RSEQ final.
Ottawa (OUA champion). The setup practically caters to the Gee-Gees — win two home games to secure a berth, and host the Critelli Cup, likely against McMaster or Carleton. All five Ottawa starters average in double figures and having 6-foot-5 Angela Ribarich under the basket must be a really boost to the help defence.
Regina (Canada West champion). The Cougars of Kyanna Giles have to take Calgary twice at the Jack Simpson Gym, but they already did that in October. Regina, among Canada West's big three, played the most games against non-playoff teams — eight — but Calgary has not had a sterling schedule since the calendar flipped to 2019. So, slightly out on a limb, for grins let's take Regina.
Saskatchewan (Canada West No. 2). At this writing, the Huskies have ostensibly the best route to to a Canada West auto berth. They host a play-in best-of-3 semifinal against Lethbridge, which it defeated by an average of 26.5 points in two early-January games.

A working assumption is that someone under Lisa Thomaidis' command figured out that Saskatchewan could still grade out No. 1 in the RPI even though they were swept by Regina on Feb. 1-2. Without casting aspersions, one could read a little cryptically into a comment from the coach about the losses against Regina that "the timing is good in terms of making sure the motivation is high to get better and really emphasize the point we have some work to still do."
McMaster (OUA No. 2). Most likely scenario for the Marauders is a play-in cross-over semifinal against Carleton on Feb. 27. The Marauders won the regular-season matchup by 14 points. Never count out Carleton.
UPEI (AUS champion). What wins out in the long run at this level — balanced strength or having a scorer? The Atlantic has two players, Cape Breton forward Hannah Brown and Acadia guard Haley McDonald, averaging 20-plus a night, and their teams are a combined 1-5 against the Panthers.

Presumably, having their own 6-foot-1 forward, Carolina Del Santo, gives UPEI a check on Brown against CBU. They must have done a job on McDonald during a two-game sweep last weekend, as she tried 51 shots and 35 of them missed. A Panthers win against lowly St. FX this weekend would lock up the No. 1 seed in the AUS Final 6.

From the well outside looking in, it appears UPEI only goes seven-deep against the upper-crust of AUS. That could come into play in a single-elimination format, or not.
Calgary (wild card). Coming into this week, Calgary's 25-5 pre-playoffs record and eighth-in-the-country RPI noses out Carleton's 25-7 mark with the 12th-highest RPI. Those are the first two criteria for the wild-card berth, not who Internet-shouts the loudest.
Ryerson (host). Slotting the Rams in the No. 8 seed potentially puts two southern Ontario schools in the same session for the quarterfinals.

Men's Puck Bracketology: We are all Pronghorns

2019-02-13T13:17:00.001-05:00

The University Cup is not so much seeded, as it is slotted.

The something-for-everyone regionalism that defines (and confines) Canada comes into play. For review, conference champions are seeded 1-2-3. The Ontario runner-up draws into the No. 4 seed. Five and six fall to finalists from down east and out west. The OUA has a third assigned berth that is part of the deal for taking in three Quebec schools.

So be it. The reality is that the seeding is based more on your conference than how your team actually does that hockey. It might look like this:

AUS1
CW1
OUA1
OUA2
CW2
AUS2
OUA3
Lethbridge (host)

The only limb to go slightly out on is whether the seeding committee would really care about Lethbridge playing the Canada West champion in the quarterfinal. After all, they're not really in the same league with Alberta or Saskatchewan.

Following the chalk, a tentative first stab at the field:

UNB (AUS champion). A plus-91 goal differential. Next year AUS should increase the regular season again, just so the Varsity Reds can go for 100.
Alberta (Canada West champion). The conference has been very top-heavy, with Alberta and Saskatchewan playing their four games before Christmas and then pulverizing everyone else. Alberta gets the benefit of the doubt strictly for the fact it enters the playoffs on a longer win streak.
Ottawa (OUA champion). Again, defer to goal differential; the Gee-Gees were plus-52 playing in the deeper half of their conference.
Brock (OUA No. 2). The Badgers allow one fewer goal per game than Ryerson, which does have home-ice advantage throughout OUA West playoffs.

For those wondering, the No. 4 seed/OUA runner-up is 1-3 at nationals over the last four seasons, with a minus-11 goal differential.
Saskatchewan (Canada West No. 2). The perennial bridesmaid — three consecutive semifinals, but no University Cup yet.
Saint Mary's (AUS No. 2). Upsets happen in AUS, but Saint Mary's is basically lying in wait while St. Francis Xavier and Acadia play a series where players are going to have suppress a lot of emotion.
Carleton (OUA No. 3). Really, it could be any two among Ottawa, Carleton, McGill and Queen's emerging for the OUA Queen's Cup and the third-place play-in game. The season to date points to Ottawa, history points to McGill, hot-hand theories point to Carleton and coaching suggests Queen's could be a tough out.
Lethbridge (host). Looking at a 25-day layoff before the touranment if/after they get swept by Calgary.

The University Cup is March 14-17 at Lethbridge.

Bracketology: How will Carleton avoid a No. 1 seed this time, and what to maybe do about it

2019-02-04T16:31:00.003-05:00

It is quite the conundrum. At this stage of the game, Calgary has completed an undefeated regular season, but as a collective the coaches have been consistently ranking the Dinos lower than the Carleton Ravens and Ryerson Rams.

And history is wink-wink, nudge-nudged us that Carleton might be have gamed the seeding process, holding back a little in the Wilson Cup after an auto-berth is secured, so it can go into the nationals as the No. 2 seed.

Whether that demands a correction is a matter of opinion, but cynically, this is U Sports and it would take a decade to strike a committee to look into the matter, so I am not going to hold my breath. Long before load management entered the basketball lexicon, Carleton had clued into a line of thinking that a 2 seed is better than 1 seed. The latter is given the short straw from a rest-and-recovery standpoint, especially with the reversion to the 3-in-3 Friday/Saturday/Sunday schedule.

There is no hard proof of such, other than a point-form list of the Ravens' seedings across the last 12 years and their results. The Ravens have won the last six times that they have been a 2 or 3 seed, and their three non-championship appearances have all come as the 1 seed.
That might be our best jumping-off point..

2018: 1 seed, bronze medal
2017: 2 seed, champion
2016: 2 seed, champion
2015: 1 seed, champion (but played an early quarterfinal)
2014: 2 seed, champion
2013: 1 seed, champion
2012: 1 seed, champion
2011: 2 seed, champion
2010: 1 seed, semifinalist
2009: 1 seed, champion
2008: 1 seed, semifinalist
2007: 3 seed, champion

The reason for the 12-year sample is that the nationals were Final 10 from 2004 through '06 and that's a variable that is best memory-wiped, never mind included. (As it was, Carleton was the 3 seed as a wild card in 2006 and won.) Now, the result of the non-Carleton 1 seeds since 2007.

2017, Ryerson: silver medal
2016, Ryerson: bronze medal
2014: Ottawa, silver medal
2011: UBC, lost semifinal
2007: Concordia, lost quarterfinal

There is no cause-and-effect, necessarily. But where Carleton coach Dave Smart and longtime assistant Rob Smart are Belichickian in a nice benevolent Canadian way, is that they think of every detail, and then the details of details.

Being in the 1/8/4/5 half of the draw typically means playing later on quarterfinals day, since the organizers will typically put a host school in the evening bloc for an attendance boost. On top of having a shorter turnaround, the 1 seed's potential semifinal opponent is already determined, so that team is getting a valuable viewing for game-planning purposes.

In this specific instance, the Dalhousie Tigers are already locked into playing the 8 p.m. quarterfinal on March 8, and based on their play of late, they will likely be the No. 8 seed too. But the Tigers under Rick Plato are a tough out in a one-and-done setting. In 2017 they took Ryerson to the wire in the semifinal, before losing 59-58. That's another anecdotal argument for not wanting to be the top seed.

Landing in the 2/7/3/6 half means playing early in the quarters, and possibly playing the first game on semifinal Saturday. Carleton (or Ryerson) did not create this structure, and Carleton (or Ryerson) should not apologize for figuring out something that is plausibly deniable.

The easiest fix would involve abolishing seeding and having a soccer-style Cup draw for the quarterfinal matchups. The four sport-conference champions go in Column A with the four auto berth winners, host team and wild card in Column B. Stream the random drawing on the social media platform of the moment. The lone modification would be that the two teams from the host conference cannot play in the quarterfinal. As far as scheduling, the host committee would get the ultimate say on whether to put both local-interest schools in the evening bloc, or split them between daytime and evening.

After the quarters, hold another draw for semifinal matchups. Sometimes the best game in the last four would be one of the semifinals, sure. Nothing guarantees as a good game, and like one of the Los Angeles Rams said on Sunday, "At the end of the day, we're all going to die."

If that seems like a dark segue, well, it is just a way of intimating that there is a goodly chance of OUA West being shut out of nationals, like in 2017. Is that a barbed way of saying neither of the unbeatens to the east

Ryerson (OUA champion). Carleton, presuming it wins out, will already have what it wanted, which is being the highest OUA playoff seed and thus hosting the second team out of the OUA West in a play-in game.
Carleton (OUA finalist). In terms of rooting for chaos, there is a good storyline with with the two semifinalists out of OUA West. Laurier has a one-game lead over Brock with four games left. Brock swept that season series, but likely needs to win out over a remaining slate that includes a trip to play two against Lakehead in Thunder Bay.

Laurier had a one-possession defeat against Carleton and lost by 45 points at home against Ryerson. Naturally, the Golden Hawks are more likely at this point to face Ryerson in the crossover semifinal.

The 2 and 3 seeds are pretty much interchangeable, based on whether the 7 seed is from Ontario or the west.
Calgary (Canada West champion). Going with the chalk, but might we pause and just appreciate how Canada West's holistic unbalanced schedule also creates the avenues for cynicism, chaos and schadenfreude?

To apply a Theo Epstein-ism, "we don't know shit," and the grab-bag schedule of 10 two-game series with an RPI-offs chaser amplifies that. It becomes easy to cast aspersions on an undefeated team, because it's always easier to troll from three provinces away. Not to pick on the Dinos, especially since David Kapinga is one of those only-in-Canada stories you root for, but since the calendar flipped to 2019 they have played only one team that earned a top-8 seeding in the Canada West playoffs. Alberta managed a home split at Saskatchewan and also swept UBC at home.

So, yeah, in a one-game showdown, maybe Alberta can beat Calgary. As the second team out of Canada West, the Dinos would probably land in the 4 vs. 5 quarterfinal.
Saint Mary's (AUS champion). The eastern Huskies play in the 80s and 90s on the regular, yet no one averages 15 points or 30 minutes per game, with Kemar Alleyne topping the stats with 14.3 points and 27.6 minutes. Johneil Johnson is the second-leading scorer and he does not start. That augurs well for having the depth to compete in a three-game tournament.

Saint Mary's could be perfectly cromulent No. 3 seed if things don't work out for Calgary. The Huskies would also be high up in the wild-card queue.
Alberta (Canada West finalist). That 3-1 mark over their Saskatchewan/UBC weekends suggests they're gaining momentum going into the playoffs.
Concordia (RSEQ champion). Someone has to represent Quebec.
Brock (wild card). The real At-Large Apocalypse would involve the committee having to pick between Calgary and Saint Mary's. As it stands, it is likely to boil down again to the third-place teams out of OUA and Canada West again, and there will be apoplexy run amuck, relatively speaking.

Far be it that the national organization could get out in front of the problem by providing an Explainer ahead of time so people are generally aware of who is first in the wild-card queue. It will never stop people from being angry at being left out, but what is the harm in treating people like adults by letting them in on how these decisions that affect them emotionally are made?

Just a thought. In terms of narrative, Laurier is probably the pick.
From Rouen, 🇫🇷 ➡️@LUVoyageurs ⛹️‍♂️, ➡️ @uOttawaGeeGees & now @WLUAthletics. How Head Coach @justintchounou ended up at @Laurier 👀

Un chemin parsemé d’opportunités : le parcours de Justin Serresse de Rouen à Laurier

🔗 EN: https://t.co/EYAQUnyIFk / 🔗 FR: https://t.co/u7INolLQsn pic.twitter.com/uFhREY6Hur
— U SPORTS (@USPORTSca) February 4, 2019

Okay, so about that Brock pick.

Based on the chalk dust, those third-place games could involve Brock and Laurier, and UBC and Saskatchewan. Brock, as noted, has swept Laurier. Saskatchewan split a series on UBC's floor in November. Extrapolating from there, it comes down to Brock or Saskatchewan. It will take a couple weeks to see who best meets the selection criteria for the wild-card berth.
Dalhousie (host). Well, this was an easy one to slot. Dal will be a tough out on March 8.

Anyway, this is mostly drawn from recent history and a knowledge of how the seeding tends to play out. This exercise is truly double-blind since, late reveal, I haven't seen any games. Those of you who are privileged enough to have a work schedule that accommodates seeing games in the wild, please come forward with rational, reasonable explanations of why a frontrunner could get exposed in the playoffs, or if there is a darkhorse who could wrangle an auto berth. It is open season for that.

NOTE TO READERS

Long story short, in the parlance of our time, load management accounts for the lack of posting over the last three months. It probably seems as though I ghosted people after the end of OUA's football regular season, but then again, what was the point in chronicling the predictable exercise that was the Purple-Pony Paramilitary Squad marching to another Yates Cup, and the even more predictable exercise of another Vanier between the evil empires of Canada's Two Solitudes? Bâillement, Bubba.

Where to begin? The best ketchup answer comes down to changing work commitments and living with at least two mood disorders, clinical depression and social anxiety.

On the first count, the timeline of the last 3½ years have been heavy. From mid-2015 to fall 2016 I was in what I called a "self-funderemployment" phase. After a stint with a national website ran its course, fortunately there were enough empathetic people in my corner that I was able to find enough freelance work to pay the rent.

Another lifeline came in the form of an opportunity to move to Toronto and work at an editing job that was enriching, but also met the definition of precarious work. It was very much a living-to-work deal — it happens — and in time, that too ran its course. Ultimately, I landed in another copy-editing job that involved moving to Hamilton. The pay is better and the work is of a nature where one can stay engaged for eight hours per day and clock out without taking it home, A trade-off is that involves working evenings, including the Fridays and Saturdays when the bulk of the OUA schedule occurs.

That brings us to the Black Dog in the room.

Suffice to say, changing cities twice in fewer than two years is not the greatest thing for someone with a mood disorder. Loneliness and isolation are, indeed, privilege problems. But they can contribute to an automatic thought of "no one cares what I think" when it comes to wanting to write. The unrelenting burst water pipe of our digital world also makes it tough to function as a creative.

Points being, the spirit is still there to sell snake oil about university sport. The strength to commit to it is not. Coverage on the regular is best left to the people on the ground. There is still a place to provide a hater's guide to nationals seeding in basketball and hockey over the next month and suggest reforms that we know will damn well never happen.

OUA Football, Week 9: Ottawa, Guelph come through; Queen's and Laurier have a quiet going into the night

2018-10-20T18:01:00.001-04:00

It is not where a team starts, but where it finishes — and this engrossing Guelph-Waterloo rivalry is far from finished.

In a rather kismet outcome for a season that's been a Long Journey To The Muddle, two teams that went to double overtime on the final day of the regular season will reconvene on the same field in seven days time for an Ontario University Athletics quarterfinal. The Gryphons' 47-44 double-overtime decision against the Warriors, combined with events elsewhere. gave them home-field for a quarter-final next week. Waterloo got the help it needed from bye teams Ottawa and Western to be assured of the No. 6 seed, its first playoff berth in 15 seasons and first since a smaller tournament was adopted.

🏈FB: Tavius Robinson strips Tre Ford and Uriel Kalenga recovers the fumble to seal the 47-44 win in double OT as @GryphonFootball clinches a postseason spot in thrilling fashion! pic.twitter.com/FwpCgYGH1a
— Guelph Gryphons (@guelph_gryphons) October 20, 2018

O glorious day, then! McMaster will be at Carleton for the 5 vs. 4 quarterfinal.

PLAYOFF BOUND‼️🏈

Despite a loss at Guelph today, @UWWarriorsFB got the help they needed (🙏 OTT, MAC, WES) & qualify for the post-season for the first time since 2003!

As the 6th seed they travel back to Guelph to face the 3rd seeded @guelph_gryphons ‼️ #goblackgogold pic.twitter.com/cl2gwjjgJY
— UWaterloo Warriors (@WlooWarriors) October 20, 2018

Guelph #3, Carleton #4, McMaster #5
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) October 20, 2018

So @WlooWarriors Football makes the playoffs, and if the @TorontoArgos beat the @MTLAlouettes, it would be a great day of football and the only way it could be greater is if the @Ticats are disqualified from the playoffs somehow.
— 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒚𝒎𝒂𝒏 (@shayman) October 20, 2018

While everyone gloms on to Waterloo's accomplishment the way everyone adopts the baseball team in the LCS with the longest pennant drought — don't knock it, what were you doing 15 years ago? Bet you didn't even have Wi-Fi yet — the events don't get this dramatic without the Gryphons' improved scoring capability. So let's start there.

There was every right to be a skeptic eight weeks ago when Guelph showed symptoms of severe shootingitselfinthefeetitis during a one-point defeat at McMaster. Score-zone problems remained an Achilles heel as it painted itself into a corner at 2-3. However, in a high-leverage situations, albeit against some highly pliable defences, Theo Landers and the offence came through.

The cold and wind that had gripped southern Ontario in the middle of this week, creating optimal football weather. Given the hyper-offence that Waterloo has, that seemed made for Waterloo and Tre Ford to put up some PlayStation numbers. The kicker is that the Warriors did that and Guelph matched. The Gryphons went touchdown-field goal-touchdown-field goal on their final four possessions spanning the end of the fourth quarter and prolongationt.

Also, full marks to Guelph for the gadget play of the season, a tap pass with a reverse handoff that Kian Schaffer-Baker housed for a 53-yard touchdown.

🏈FB: Theo Landers flips it Kade Belyk who flips it back to Kian Schaffer-Baker on the reverse and he runs it all the way to the house, with a little help from his friends! pic.twitter.com/TPIfjNNzwW
— Guelph Gryphons (@guelph_gryphons) October 20, 2018

There is a phenomena with Week 9. The anticipation is the thing; there were 64 different possibilities trotted out by the conference. But order emerges from the chaos. Ottawa was its opportunistic self while Queen's played just well enough to lose. McMaster got what it needed in Windsor. And Western just poured it on at Laurier to put —30— to a Golden Hawks season that began so promisingly.

Guelph 47, Waterloo 44 (OT) — The other bit of symmetry to this involves Gabriel Ferraro. One can only presume some internalization must have happened when the Gryphons kicker had gutting misses during the three games that Guelph lost by a combined six points against McMaster and Ottawa. But he made two pressure kicks on Saturday and the latter gave him a career record.

🏈FB: What a way for Gabe Ferraro to enter the @USPORTSca record books! Ferraro's 42-yd FG not only put the @GryphonFootball ahead in double OT. This was Ferraro's 91st carrer field goal made which ties him for the most regular season field goals made in a career. pic.twitter.com/zmBxMWLoto
— Guelph Gryphons (@guelph_gryphons) October 20, 2018

Speaking of records, Tyler Ternowski, everybody!

FB HIGHLIGHT | @Tyler_Ternowski record breaking TD! 🔥🏈

His 14th TD sets a new @OUAsport record for most TD receptions in a single season! #goblackgogold @UWWarriorsFB pic.twitter.com/mQCmNwM31P
— UWaterloo Warriors (@WlooWarriors) October 20, 2018

The mind also reels upon glancing at Tre Ford's final stats — 10.7 yards per attempt, 350-plus yards per game and a 27-to-2 touchdown/interception ratio, along with being sixth in the conference in rushing — and remembering he's a second-year player. How much of that is him being a singular talent in a scheme that lets him create and how much of that is the field being tilted toward offense is hard to say, but those are some gaudy numbers. The 27 touchdowns is 10 more than anyone else in Ontario. The two picks is tied for the least among the 16 quarterbacks who tried at least 40 passes. And he still has at least two years left at this level, most likely.

No. 5 Ottawa 27 Queen's 22 — Holy microcosm of both teams' season, Batman! Outgained, But Not Outscored could be the credo for these Gee-Gees, who will host a semifinal on Nov. 3. They were held to 259 yards and backup quarterback Alex Lavric came on for Sawyer Buettner late in the third quarter. But between a strip sack that was pounced on in the end zone and two long interception returns from Jamie Harry and Marc-Ellie Jace, Ottawa got 17 points off of turnovers.

🎥: Correction on touchdown. Looks like it was Francis Perron with the recovery for the TD. Take a look! 👀 pic.twitter.com/sYlPCtiqDs
— Gee-Gees Football (@GeeGeesFootball) October 20, 2018

Meantime, late in the second quarter, Queen's got to the Ottawa 30-, 19- and 23-yard line, and netted a whole six points. It seemed like whenever Ottawa needed to, it just big-blitzed with seven or eight defenders, defying Queen's and Nate Hobbs to complete a pass under pressure.

There was a red-zone play in the second quarter where Ottawa sent seven, and Hobbs' trained response was a post-corner deep in the end zone to Matteo Del Brocco, who was doubled by Jace and the Gee-Gees' veteran outfielder, Cody Cranston. If that's the read, then that's the read even if everyone else was single-covered or uncovered, and the Gee-Gees duo did enough to induce an incomplete pass and Queen's took the three-ball.

🏈| Gee-Gee punt is BLOCKED!! Gaels recover and it leads to another Liberatore FG. Queen's trails 14-6 in Q2 #OTTvsQUE pic.twitter.com/dcQ3TtsOWU
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) October 20, 2018

The strip-sack touchdown was set up by Queen's getting backed up by a ball-in-flight holding penalty on a punt return. A similar infraction hurt them in their Oct. 5 loss at McMaster. It was a game effort and Hobbs, second in the conference in yardage, probably rated better, but Queen's just seems to be in a phase where little mistakes mushroom into catastrophe.

No. 1 Western 46, Laurier 13 — Is there a better illustration of Western beasting everyone and Laurier becoming completely ineffectual on defence than Chris Merchant scooping up his own fumble and finding the seam for a 74-yard touchdown? I submit that there is not.

FB: HIGHLIGHT - Chris Merchant runs the ball 74 yards for a TD.
39-13 WES#RunWithUs pic.twitter.com/Z8W9ynQrBM
— Western Mustangs (@WesternMustangs) October 20, 2018

McMaster 17 Windsor 5 — The throwback scoreline fits the narrative with the Marauders, who have waited more than three weeks for the smoke signals to emerge from Gilmour Hall to tell them whether Greg Knox will be allowed to coach again. It seems like bureaucratic absurdity that the ambiguity has stretched out for basically half of the regular season but that's where we are in Canada, as Michael Scott would say.

FB: The defensive game continues as the game remains scoreless at the end of the first half #WSRvsMAC
— Windsor Lancers (@WindsorLancers) October 20, 2018

Football -- The Marauders offence awoke in the second half, en route to a 17-7 win over the Lancers, to book a spot in the @ouasport playoffs. #GoMacGo
— McMaster Athletics (@McMasterSports) October 20, 2018

So, the athletic department at Mac might want to move things along and get @Marauderftbl's coach Greg Knox back on the sidelines with a playoff next Saturday... just sayin'. #JusticeDelayedJusticeDenied
— Jim Mullin (@Jim_Mullin) October 21, 2018

York 31, Toronto 15 — One thing the shamateur sports-industrial complex has that's worth shamelessly ripping off is multi-game rivalry trophies. Take the competition series between Air Force, Army and Navy for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. Since preparing for America's next unwinnable war limits the service-academy teams' ability to recruit national championship-level talent, they do need something else to aspire toward.

To that end, and in the service of irony and owning one's okay-ness, how about some recognition for York? The Lions, led by the Hunchak connection, did sweep the traditional bottom four with Saturday's win tacked on to victories against Waterloo and Windsor.

That takes the tangent over which inhibitor of the sport's growth should have their name disgrace this hypothetical trophy. Nominations should be entered in the comments; don't worry, no one is going to read them.

There is something known as Depressed Gamer Alpha State, where the person losing himself in a football video game challenges himself to average more than one point scored per play run. In the beta phase, York acheived that during the second quarter —28 points in the second quarter in a span of 25 offensive snaps, and each drive as shorter than the last.

One could call that a building block for years to come but our membership in the Lily Guild has lapsed.

On to the playoffs!

OUA Football, Week 8: Waterloo takes inside track on first playoff spot in 15 years, Western (shocker!) clinches first, and four-way and five-way ties are in play? Great, and Carleton clinches

2018-10-12T13:47:00.001-04:00

SUNDAY AFTERNOON TIEBREAKER APOCALYPSE

The OUA playoff seeding gets a lot easier if Ottawa beats Queen's, clinching second place and eliminating the Gaels. Everything else is a bunch of tangled Christmas lights.

And that's what we wanted! vHot take: the scheduling guidelines OUA introduced a few years ago have done a heckuva job, fomenting parity that would make late-career Pete Rozelle blush.

The conference has a Muddled Seven that could potentially end up in tiebreakers involving the five playoff spots after You-Know-Who, and there's even a very faint possibility of a five-way tie. That would be both the tidiest one for determining who is and the messiest one for determining who plays who, so root for that.

Here's the chain of events that would entail, in diminishing order of likelihood:

Carleton is already 5-3
The Waterloo-Guelph victor finishes 5-3, while the loser finishes 4-4
McMaster wins at Windsor
Queen's beats Ottawa at home, leaving the Gee-Gees 5-3.
Laurier upsets Western to finish 5-3, which seems like a faint possibility even though the Mustangs have nothing to play for.

The last bullet point seems kind of unlikely, but you never know. Speaking of not knowing, OUA's tiebreaker criteria, "record in games against common opponents," doesn't offer much. With so many potential deadlocks, it's hard to see there being many common opponents. Everyone had to skip a turn somewhere in an 11-team conference with an eight-game regular season. And "Record in games against each of the other teams in the division, starting at the top of the standing and continuing in descending order," does that mean everyone will be judged on whether they kept Western under the 33-point cap? Probably not, since Guelph did not play Western.

I spent the early part of my Sunday making a spreadsheet with margins of victory and defeat for the Muddled Seven.

I invite the readers to take it from there:

	Carleton	Guelph	Laurier	McMaster	Ottawa	Waterloo	Queen's
	5-3	4-3	4-3	4-3	5-2	4-3	3-4
Carleton	x	x	6	x	11	-3	-3
Guelph	x	x	-3	1	2	??	1
Laurier	-6	3	x	1	-18	2	-26
McMaster	x	-1	-1	x	7	18	-3
Ottawa	-11	-2	18	-7	x	x	??
Queen's	3	-1	26	3	??	x	x
Toronto	12	33	x	33	32	23	33
Waterloo	3	??	-2	-18	x	x	x
Western	-3	x	??	-33	-33	-33	-3
Windsor	18	6	15	??	x	16	x
York	15	15	x	x	26	-2	21

x-non-combatant

??-Week 9 opponent

Oh boy, is this great!

@KrownCoutdownu @Jim_Mullin #OUA #Tiebreaker Jim, consider the following scenario, after regular ends next weekend, potentially 4 teams tied at 4 W 4 L, Waterloo & Q's did not play each other, how does the OUA decide on the final 2 playoff spots? https://t.co/OH2P6tujhO pic.twitter.com/864P0a7Qc1
— Ken Waller (@kenwaller1) October 14, 2018

Without benefit of a crystal ball, it is worth reviewing the schedule byes for all the potential 4-4 teams, with the combined record of their "non-combatant" teams in brackets.

Guelph — Carleton, Western (13-3)
Waterloo — Ottawa, Queen's (8-6)
McMaster — Carleton, York (7-7)
Queen's — Waterloo, Windsor (5-9)
Laurier — York, Toronto (2-12)

The scheduling guidelines are giving us a nice distraction before we remember how this movie ends in November, and refill our soda to wash away the bile. Laurier, Mac and Queen's are purportedly prestige programs and shouldn't be counting on wins against the bottom three to get into the playoffs. I wouldn't advise trying to tell them that in person, though.

Waterloo-Guelph is the game to follow. The Warriors still have at second place if they win, but a loss could end their season. It's a win-and-in for Guelph, but a loss sets off a scramble for the spreadsheet. At least everyone can have their own copy of the spreedsheet, unlike the U.S. Senate with a FBI report.

Also, thank goodness for Adam McGuire.)

OK, I've done some (amateur) scenario-ing for @UWWarriorsFB's playoff chances. Let's start with the easy one: win, and they're in. And, they can still grab the #2 seed and a first-round bye, with a win, plus wins by Mac (over Wsr) and Queen's (over Ottawa)...
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) October 14, 2018

...but don't cheer for Queen's too hard. Should the Warriors lose at Guelph next week, they would need both a Gaels loss to Ottawa, and one of Mac (vs Wsr) or Laurier (at Western) to lose as well.
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) October 14, 2018

So, @WlooWarriors fans, if you're looking for a game to scoreboard-watch next week, I highly recommend Ottawa at Queen's. If the Warriors are trailing at Guelph, ride that garnet and grey pony. If Waterloo is up on the Gryphs, it's Cha Gheill time.
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) October 14, 2018

Oh yes, we kept notes on the game.

SATURDAY

Editor's note: For sake of chronology, Saturday's digest and Friday's are separate, due to OUA having a split schedule with multiple games on each day. Happy weekend after Thanksgiving.

Cheap imitation of John Facenda: On a brisk autumn day where a cruel wind is either friend or foe, depending on the nature of one's team, the spirit of the Warrior kingdom flowed through the gifted passing arm of Tre Ford as surely as God spoke through Tolstoy's pen —

Western Mustangs: Helllllllllo, undefeated No. 1-ranked defending champion who just clinched home-field advantage through to the Mitchell Bowl — with a shutout road victory — within earshot!

Scriptwriter: Well, you see, you're a juggernaut that's on another planet, and really should be playing Laval or Montréal in the regular season. Waterloo controls its destiny with one game left, and is likely headed to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years—

Alex Taylor: But I had 225 yards and averaged 17 a carry today!

Scriptwriter: Yes. And you should be very proud. Now get on the team bus.

Waterloo, if one might get so flowery about it, is the place to go for the person whose mental coordinates make them change the game if they don't like the settings for the current one. The way that Tre Ford and Tyler Ternowski, et al., took over in the second half against McMaster was perfectly characteristic of how the Warriors have tilted the odds during their turnaround.

Over the span of two scoring drives, they converted three sizable third downs that weren't gambles at all. Increasing their edge helped them run off 25 consecutive points over five possessions whilst exposing some gaps in the learning curve of that young McMaster defence, which has given up close to 500 yards two weeks in a row.

FB | What a 4th quarter from @UWWarriorsFB outscoring Mac 22-2 for the big 34-16 victory! #goblackgogold 🏈🖤💛 pic.twitter.com/gUah4dH1h4
— UWaterloo Warriors (@WlooWarriors) October 13, 2018

FINAL: @UWWarriorsFB 34 - @McMasterSports 16. KCU WARRIOR Tyler Ternowski (WTL) 12 REC 154 YDS 2 TD @OUAsport pic.twitter.com/lZGVkKnRTG
— Krown Countdown U (@KrownCountdownU) October 13, 2018

With Waterloo winning in what really should not be viewed as an upset, OUA is set up for a frenetic finale, with four 4-3 teams vying for three playoff berths, while Queen's (3-4) is also a going concern.

Waterloo 34, No. 9 McMaster 16 — The wind helped, but the Waterloo defence, with Tyrese Brissett and Devon Hinsperger each notching 1½ sacks among a total of five on the day, had its best afternoon of the season. They limited McMaster to one touchdown and 346 yards. It averted disaster by holding the Marauders to a field goal after a botched punt led to a turnover on downs at the nine-yard line in the third quarter. Waterloo got the points back immediately with a 13-play drive and took over the game shortly thereafter.

FB Highlight | @RNketiah with his 1st TD of the season extends @UWWarriorsFB lead to 13 following 2 point convert! #MACvsWAT #goblackgogold 🏈🖤💛 pic.twitter.com/ORuw8vftwA
— UWaterloo Warriors (@WlooWarriors) October 13, 2018

FB Highlight | @Tyler_Ternowski brings in his nation leading 12th TD!

Warriors lead 27-14‼️‼️‼️#MACvsWAT #goblackgogold pic.twitter.com/c9v8kgYlwH
— UWaterloo Warriors (@WlooWarriors) October 13, 2018

👀 Now that’s 35 yards of sheer determination from @DionPellerin ... What. A. Run! #MACvsWAT #goblackgogold
@OUAsport @UWWarriorsFB pic.twitter.com/mudeDEvyyv
— UWaterloo Warriors (@WlooWarriors) October 13, 2018

No. 1 Western 33, No. 5 Ottawa 0 — Oh, don't look so shocked. Western is heads, shoulders and sternum above the rest of this conference, and the difference this time around is that separation is balanced between offence and defence. Ottawa's longest gain of the day was 18 yards. Not much more need be said, other than to speculate about how Greg Marshall will handle what is now a nothing game for the Mustangs.

Western has the opportunity to knock Laurier out of the playoffs, and it will have the bye week before its OUA semifinal on Nov. 3. There is a lot of risk management for the team that has first place wrapped up a week in advance, as was the case for McMaster in 2014, Western in 2011 and Queen's in 2008 and '09. Hazarding a guess based on nothing, if he's healthy quarterback Chris Merchant probably plays a half, while Alex Taylor and Cedric Joseph will also have their touches rationed.

There could be a torrent of emotions on Laurier's side of things if the score gets out of hand fast and a realization sinks in that a promising season is going to end earlier than anticipated. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves.

No. 10 Guelph 46, Toronto 8 — The outcome wasn't in doubt for long, as the Gryphons gained 500-some yards, gave up fewer than 300 and had a touchdown in third phase through a punt-return touchdown from Kiondre Smith. Shout-outs to Gryphons special teamers Jared Beeksma and Anthony Hall for opening some lanes for Smith to house that one.

🏈FB: Kiondre Smith electrifies the home crowd as he collects the punt off the bounce and 52 yards later, he's into the end zone for 6! pic.twitter.com/oLZyK36iin
— Guelph Gryphons (@guelph_gryphons) October 13, 2018

Guelph hasn't done anything to lose control of its destiny. I like that.

FRIDAY

Laurier rejoined the living, after borrowing from the Bank of Peak Windsor, the OUA's finest lending institution.

Ontario University Athletics football is at its best when the bottom three, or four, is showing up and representing well. Windsor, buttressed by having the wind in the second quarter, was doing that football and even had a halftime lead against Laurier. Then Windsor did Windsor things and the Golden Hawks quickly assumed a three-score lead en route to a 39-24 victory.

Early in the third quarter, the Lancers defence, thanks to Dan Stirling stripping the ball from Levondre Gordon, had sent the Golden Hawks away empty-handed from a red zone visit for the second time on the day. Then the Lancers immediately had a shotgun snap sail over the head of quarterback Sam Girard, who had to cover the ball for a safety.

Laurier scored on the next possession, and then on the ensuing kickoff ...

You spoke too soon, apparently.
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) October 12, 2018

🏈 - Esson Hamilton recovers a Lancers fumble in the end zone for a TD! 👍🕺 #WeAreHAWKS💜💛 pic.twitter.com/SHQsh3Ka0i
— Laurier Golden Hawks (@WLUAthletics) October 12, 2018

It's not like he was a yard inside the end zone, either. Had to be 17 yards deep. Unbelievable.
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) October 12, 2018

In fairness, that kind of entropy is going from egregious to everyday in a lot of pointy-ball precincts across U Sports, as the football's decline at the high school level begins to catch up to the university level and the put-upon university coaches. That's the macro stuff, best saved for the off-season, or later in the season when there are fewer games to offer a distraction.

In the here and now, Laurier (4-3) has not done enough to put the "y-" for a clinched playoff berth next to its name. Their fate is going to come down to who joins them at 4-4, presuming the chalk holds against the Purple Ponies down in London in the regular-season finale.

Laurier's avian antagonists in the 613 did so. Carleton, 35-20 winners at York, breasted the five-win tape and its seeding will depend on how many teams join them at 5-3. There's a good possibility of a four-way tie for the 3 through 6 seeds, even a five-way split from 2 to 6 if Ottawa loses each of its remaining games.

The Ravens best York 35-20 in their last game of the regular season. Carter led the game with 2 TDS. The Ravens final regular season record now stands at 5-3. #FearTheConspiracy #PlayoffBound 🏈 pic.twitter.com/f0mByxEOn5
— Carleton Ravens Football (@CURavensFB) October 12, 2018

No. 7 Laurier 39, Windsor 24 — The potential for chaos lessened considerably on the final drive of the first half, in all honesty. Windsor took an end-zone shot on first down in the red zone and Daishane Johnson closed for the breakup, then Trevaughn James got a sack that induced a field-goal try. So the Golden Hawks went into the break trailing 19-15 instead of 23-15, and figuring it out became easier.

Laurier's career scoring leader Nathan Mesher is place-kicking after getting hurt at Carleton last week. A hand injury has led to Laurier using rookie Max Sherwood for kickoffs and punts. Sharing that for all you bottom-of-the-roster management enthusiasts. Laurier could have to leave a depth guy off the travel roster to accommodate the extra specialist!

🏈 - @KurleighG becomes the @OUAsport all-time leader in receptions! 🎉 #GOAT🐐 #WeAreHAWKS💜💛 pic.twitter.com/7kIt8ni12v
— Laurier Golden Hawks (@WLUAthletics) October 12, 2018

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈

The OUA's new all-time leader in career receptions is soaring high in purple and gold! Congratulations to @WLUAthletics Kurleigh Gittens Jr. on catch No. 1️⃣9️⃣3️⃣ and the new conference record!

📸 @MPHcentral #WeAreONE | #WeAreHAWKS pic.twitter.com/3ANsOHDakO
— OUA (@OUAsport) October 12, 2018

🏈 - Kevin Wong goes 19 yards for his first career TD for the Hawks! 👏 #WeAreHAWKS💜💛 pic.twitter.com/3fPqP4rEvF
— Laurier Golden Hawks (@WLUAthletics) October 12, 2018

🏈 - @NathanMesher's 42-yard FG gives him 272 career points - a Laurier record! 🐐 #WeAreHAWKS💜💛 pic.twitter.com/iJwbudno4l
— Laurier Golden Hawks (@WLUAthletics) October 12, 2018

Carleton 35, York 20 — Two-touchdown margins in wind-whipped games was the theme for Friday. Writing this blog when work commitments negate live viewing is like being a 1940s baseball announcer re-creating games by reading a ticker tape. What happened?

By the look of it, 50 of the 55 points were scored by the team going with the wind, and Carleton, like it seems to most weeks, lived on the margins. Get outgained by 100-some yards? Well, four of their five sacks came after York and Brett Hunchak had driven to within scoring range, which supports the theory that nothing really matters in Canadian ball until your opponent is inside the 30-yard line. The takedowns, including two from Kene Onyeka, gave Carleton a conference-leading 24.

Further to that margins narrative, kicker Michael Domagala should be on Property Brothers with the way he flipped the field (go ahead, boo that reference). In a season where Guelph, Queen's and Waterloo have all had gutting missed field goals, Domagala has the distinction of having both the longest field goal and longest punt of this season.

The latter came just inside of the 14-minute mark, with Carleton up by three, and it was a 70-yarder that went into touch at the Lions' three-yard line. A two-and-out and a short York punt set up Carleton its second short-field touchdown drive of the afternoon. York never got close than seven over the duration.

The red flag with the Ravens remains, well, penalty flags — 14 accepted for 115 yards on Friday. The rub with that comes back to a more auspicious figure, the totally made-up Disruptions mega-stat that combines sacks, fumble recoveries and interceptions. Carleton has 37, or 4.6 per game, which ranks third in the conference after Ottawa (36, 6.0 per) and Western (32, 5.3).

So Ottawa and Carleton are first and third at The Good Thing, and happen to be 1-2 in penalty yards per game. It is not clear whether there is some cost-of-doing-business correlation there, but if it's a crude calculus of an extra takeaway per game against one extra major foul, most coaches would probably take it. (Western is fifth in penalties.)

York, meantime, drops out of Worst-Case Ontario. The Lions, to channel Nigel Tufnel, just needed more sustain. Warren Craney's charges stayed within two touchdowns of Carleton and Guelph. They were in a one-possession game against Queen's at three-quarters time. And there was that breakthrough in the nation's capital where they led Ottawa for 2½ minutes before Jamie Harry restored the natural order by housing an interception return.

Worst-Case Ontario

It is a just a matter of what slot Carleton will fill in the bracket. The Ravens should not be able to finish any higher than third, since they lost to Ottawa, which already has five wins.

Western (best-case 8-0, worst-case 8-0). Talking point: with an expanded national playoff, Western would have to play it out to work for that No. 1 seed. That is something else to keep in mind.

As it stands, it's hard to imagine Greg Marshall punting one away to Michael Faulds — the master always makes the protege earn it. Western also has a 19-win overall streak extant and it has won 21 regular-season games in a row, dating back to a loss at Carleton in Week 2 of 2016. Those are luxury items and the Yates and Vanier are staples, but it's only a competitor's nature to want to be deprived of those things in a straight-up open competition.
Ottawa (best-case 6-2, worst-case 5-3). At Queen's in Week 9. The math is pretty simple for the Gee-Gees: beat Queen's, which they haven't lost against since 2013, and they host a semifinal on Nov. 3. Please let that be the one that CHCH broadcasts even though London is closer to its Hamilton base.
McMaster (best-case 5-3, worst-case 4-4). That Windsor game isn't looking like such a sure thing after successive shreddings of the secondary. A playoff spot isn't assured
Carleton (5-3). To use a Horsin' Around joke construction, I've heard of bend-don't-break, but this is fairly ridiculous. Carleton kept only one opponent under 20 points, but it's got an inside track on a top-5 finish. And even then, that one under-20 game owed to Waterloo leaving points all over the field.
Guelph (best-case 5-3, worst-case 4-4). If the conditions allow for a scorefest, Waterloo does that a bit better than Waterloo. The Gryphons might rate the edge in the old-school elements of the game, but after seeing how Waterloo controlled the line of scrimmage in the decisive stages at McMaster, that's a bit more open to debate.
Waterloo (best-case 5-3, worst-case 4-4). Is their win against Laurier going to be a hole card in a tiebreaker scenario? Win at Guelph and they won't have to find out.
Laurier (best-case 5-3, worst-case 4-4). At Western next week. There was a gap between the teams when the Golden Hawks pulled the upset in the 2016 Yates, but right now it looks like a chasm.
Queen's (best-case 4-4, worst-case 3-5). Host Ottawa in what might ultimately end up being their de facto playoff game. They could win and still lose the numbers game.

OUA Football, Thanksgiving short week edition: #FreeGK, Justice Allin, Marshall the Merciful & at least Laurier is livin' again

2018-10-05T14:47:00.001-04:00

At least McMaster had Justice on the field on a day when its players protested a perceived injustice off of it.

However the Queen's-McMaster affray that was replete with playoff ramifications played out on Friday — the Marauders won 27-24 after withstanding a late, desperate rally by a Gaels side that seemed to gain maturity over the course of play — the chain overreaction that led to Marauders coach Greg Knox being off the sideline due to being on "administrative leave" is the first point of reference. The ground with Knox being absent is being well-tilled by the much more established media. Whatever actually happened between the Marauders coach and a chain-crew official during the Sept. 22 Laurier-McMaster game was regrettable, but not unforgivable. (Full disclosure on the ambiguity: as a blogger who works at one of the media portals covering the story, there's info I'm not at liberty to put on a blog; it's called the Cut Your Own Grass Policy.) The Knox situation, coming at a time when Mac is in transition after director of athletics Glen Grunwald moved on to head up Canada Basketball recently, escalated into the coach being put on leave before Ontario University Athletics could wrap up an investigation into whether a one-game suspension was warranted.

Is McMaster Marauders' coach Greg Knox suspended? If you were trying to write a story about the most puzzling, confounding handling of a situation in Canadian university sports, you'd have a hard time topping what played out Tuesday, writes Scott Radley. https://t.co/tmKOkq5GBt
— Hamilton Spectator (@TheSpec) October 3, 2018

.⁦@McMasterSports⁩ football players warming up with t-shirts supporting their coach who the school has put on administrative leave. The front says ‘McMaster Football vs. Everybody’ #HamOnt #oua pic.twitter.com/h15XjVqcK1
— Scott Radley (@radleyatthespec) October 5, 2018

It's not even apparent, because university sports, if Knox will helm McMaster (4-2) next week against Waterloo (3-3) in another Major Playoff Implications game.

"I'm not going to comment on that," said Marauders co-offensive coordinator Tom Flaxman, who split Knox's duties with defensive coordinator Scott Brady, "But I can say that as coaches and players that we all support coach Knox and we hope there's a timely resolution."

The only clear takeaway was that what could have caused a downward spiral gave McMaster that extra 2 per cent of resolve to squeak out its third home win by three or fewer points.

"The message we had was just to ignore the media on it, we can't control that so just let this bring us closer together," said the Marauders field-side halfback Noah Hallett, whose two Madden-stick pass breakups in the end zone turned seeming Queen's touchdowns into field goals, representing an eight-point swing in a three-point decision. "It's brought us together, the motto's McMaster vs. everybody.

"Obviously it's a big thing to lose our coach. Knox is a great coach and we wanted to express ourselves on that."

The autumn of close games continued, at least on Friday. McMaster survived by three points against Queen's (3-4). Laurier won by six at Carleton, 37-31, behind frosh QB Connor Carusello, and the Golden Hawks (3-3) are back in the thick of things while the Ravens (4-3) have eaten some reality sandwich.

🏈 - Final: Hawks win! Hawks win! Hawks win! The 💜💛 improve to 3-3 with a 37-31 victory over the Carleton Ravens 😎👏 #WeAreHAWKS #WLUvsCAR pic.twitter.com/3e7YFAnVPH
— Laurier Golden Hawks (@WLUAthletics) October 5, 2018

Giving up 37 to a freshman quarterback (and no kicker) at home is nooooot a good look for Carleton.
Meanwhile, Laurier is right back in it!
— Gord Randall (@GARandall) October 5, 2018

University sports, to use the old saw, is a great game to survive the institutions that offer it. In the wake of that kerfuffle, the short week produced the considered one of those below-the-radar battles that October lends itself to with the in-season incremental improvements began to show up in teams' games — or don't — as playoff positions are firmed up.

Something had to give in a matchup between two mid-level teams that both came in with a glaring deficiency in the passing phase. Up until this week, Queen's couldn't stop the pass and Mac couldn't complete many. Ultimately, Marauders QB Andreas Dueck had the complements around him to win the day, finishing 23-of-30 for 367 yards with one interception.

The biggest one in going forward was the fellow listed as McMaster's fifth running back, Justice Allin, who was making his season debut after having his 2017 campaign scuttled by a torn ACL. Jordan Lyons is the alpha in the rushing phase for McMaster, but the Marauders worked in Allin beautifully as the scatback, decoy, or beta-back, getting defenders out of areas, creating single coverage downfield for receivers as Tommy Nield and Levi Paul. to exploit The boxscore might have shown some modest usage, apart from a 62-yard reception on a swing pass in the first half, but Allin was the X-factor for a Marauders attack that showed some sizzle.

"One thing I want to say about Justice Allin is that in all the time I've been doing this (coaching), I have never seen an athlete take as seriously as he did his rehab," Flaxman said.

"Justice has only had five or six practices but when he's in it changes what we can run," Flaxman added. "We can get more potential for explosive plays. It's a credit to him for making it back. He's going to be a big part of things — he just needs to get some touches. And get some hits."

One doesn't get to grasp the effect of Allin being back from watching the webcast, or checking stats, or watching the tweeted highlights, as much as those resources are appreciated for making the games more accessible. And you sort of miss the influence that Hallett had by denying Queen's two surest-handed receivers, Matteo Del Brocco and Richard Burton, touchdown catches.

"The first one definitely hurt," said Hallett, who needed the trainers' staff after denying Del Brocco in the second quarter. "But I told myself I could play through it."

The hard reality is football games only have one winner, but getting an in-person viewing did show that Queen's, with head coach Pat Sheahan doing something similar to Wally Buono in the CFL by eschewing a headset on the sideline, is trending positively. While Mac has those three narrow wins, Queen's (3-4) has three narrow losses against quality opponents, having also taken Carleton to overtime on the road, while making Western score twice in the fourth quarter last week. With Nate Hobbs buying time throughout the day, Queen's had perhaps its best offensive effort against McMaster in a decade with 482 yards. That normally adds up to more than 24 points, but McMaster seems bound and determined to prove the hypothesis that nothing matters in Canadian football until the offence enters the score zone.

Hallett and his teammates were able to limit the damage.

"We've had a bit of practice with those close games," he said. "Our defence has learned how to tighten up the coverage when we need it."

Three of four OUA games are now in the books, so we can update, pending the Laurier-Carleton outcome in the 1 p.m. contest that is the late game by default.

McMaster 27 Queen's 24 — Probably talked out about this game, so we'll pivot to video:

🏈 - Puskas with his 5th rushing touchdown of the season!

7-1 Gaels#QUEvsMAC pic.twitter.com/1SwK7n3EXX
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) October 5, 2018

Football -- A 41-yard connection between Dueck and Levi Paul set up Adam Preocanin, who makes from 41 to restore Mac's lead at 13-10. #GoMacGo pic.twitter.com/kXinTFb7rd
— McMaster Athletics (@McMasterSports) October 5, 2018

🏈 - This BIG play by Matteo Del Brocco set up a Gaels' FG

Queen's takes the 16-14 lead#QUEvsMAC #GoGaelsGo pic.twitter.com/qDddR439FV
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) October 5, 2018

Football -- A fumble forced by Eryk Bujalski and picked up Nolan Putt gets the offence into the red zone! pic.twitter.com/O9bR6Vtmw4
— McMaster Athletics (@McMasterSports) October 5, 2018

Football -- This 43-yard reception from Nield took the Marauders into the red zone in a hurry, and Jordan Lyons punched it in two plays later! 24-16 Mac! #GoMacGo pic.twitter.com/f7Uu0zi72P
— McMaster Athletics (@McMasterSports) October 5, 2018

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈

We're in store for quite a finish in this one! @queensgaels Rasheed Tucker runs one in, and after the 2-pt conversion, the Tricolour are down just 3️⃣! Tune in to https://t.co/3s9ERGO5IJ to see what the final few minutes have in store!
#WeAreONE | #QUEvsMAC pic.twitter.com/NImMN9vqBw
— OUA (@OUAsport) October 5, 2018

What a nailbiter the @McMasterSports & @queensgaels treated us to in @OUAsport @USPORTSca football action! Great effort by both teams w/ #Mac holding on to win 27-24. Here's our postgame interview with defensive star Nolan Putt. Catch a replay of the game Saturday at noon & 7pm pic.twitter.com/yWamorC3CS
— Cable 14 Hamilton (@cable14) October 5, 2018

No. 8 Laurier 37, No. 9 Carleton 31 — Please don't be That Guy who says Laurier getting a desperately needed season-saving win justifies why they were nationally ranked with a losing record. That is neither here nor there for them. What matters is you can sort of read some of that spirit coming back into their game.

The Golden Hawks, behind Connor Carusello — and I'm going to call him Carson one of these teams; apology in advance — always seemed to have a response. It went way beyond the Esson Hamilton pass-and-run touchdown that put them up for good with 7½ minutes left. Laurer responded with a touchdown drive three times after Ravens touchdowns. The only time they didn't was with an interception, and Will Amoah picked off Carleton's Michael Arruda to get the ball back immediately. Carleton never really kept momentum in a game that had eight lead changes.

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈

With time winding down in the 2nd quarter, @WLUAthletics ends the back-and-forth first half by retaking the lead on this Brentyn Hall touchdown. The purple and gold lead the @CURavens 23-17 at the break.
#WeAreONE | #WLUvsCAR pic.twitter.com/Zjd77QAEBf
— OUA (@OUAsport) October 5, 2018

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈

Nothing like a big play to take back the lead! Connor Carusello connects with Esson Hamilton for the 78-yard major, giving @WLUAthletics the edge once again with just minutes to play against the @CURavens!
#WeAreONE | #WLUvsCAR pic.twitter.com/BVwSBFFnQO
— OUA (@OUAsport) October 5, 2018

Veteran Laurier kicker Nathan Mesher left with an injury. Nick Petermann had to kick the last two converts. He was a two-way player in high school, so apparently his talents have no end.

The other big takeaway is Laurier got the curse off the yellow jerseys, perhaps by combining them with white helmets and white paints. They kind of look like Georgia Tech crossed with Los Angeles Rams throwbacks.

Circling back, Laurier being not only ranked but ranked higher than the Ravens is not as far down the silliness spectrum as one might think. The OUA is such a muddle that I nearly put them on my top 10 ballot as a fifth team out of Ontario, but Occam's Razor as expressed by Herm Edwards won out; you play to win the game, and Laurier had been losing games, by razor-thin margins. So undefeated Saint Mary's got my 10th-place vote on Sunday night.

One of 15 Football Reporters of Canada voters has @LaurierFootball ranked in the top 10, yet the Elo ranking system has Laurier at No. 6 for a combined No. 8 ranking Hate to break it to you @USPORTSca, but a 2-3 team that has lost 3 straight is NOT No. 8 in Canada. https://t.co/onitUw6WOi
— Mark Bryson (@BrysonRecord) October 4, 2018

We try our best over at @KrownCountdownU with the #Power7. pic.twitter.com/X2WiG1PFde
— Jim Mullin (@Jim_Mullin) October 4, 2018

Thursday's action, in a matter of speaking

No. 1 Western 66, Windsor 14 — Hot take: Western coach Greg Marshall thin-sliced this turkey perfectly by pulling Cedric Joseph after he broke the OUA single-game rushing record in the first half with 17 rushes for 355 yards in the first half.

There was no upside to having Joseph go in for another possession or two for a shot at the national mark of 395. Showing mercy was an editorial comment.

It also made a point, if indirectly, that it would have been semi-halfway worthless — you need a record performance to defeat Windsor? — to do this against an outmatched counterpart. By the same token, Joseph broke a conference record set by the matchless Andre Durie, who had 349 in a game for York in 2003. He still gets something, stays fresh for Ottawa next week and no one looks at it as Western pouring it on a against a bottom-three team.

I'm sorry. Cedric Joseph had the third highest single game rushing total EVER, and Western didn't give him a single touch in the second half?! Wow. #funpolice
— Gord Randall (@GARandall) October 5, 2018

He showed superior speed tonight vs. Windsor. The OL got him to the LB level, and then he just outran everyone. Even the DBs who had the angle on him early on end up lunging from behind.
— Ken Kirkwood (@KennethKirkwood) October 5, 2018

Windsor's coaching staff really should wear it for this debacle. The Lancers decided to play a lot of press coverage, leaving them exposed in run support and giving Joseph relatively easy passage to rushing lanes wider than Mile 114 of the Arthur Burkhardt Expressway. It's Western. Put eight defenders in the box and make them beat you with the pass. That way you still lose about 66-14, but temporarily taking them away from their wheelhouse strength is a small victory.

No. 5 Ottawa 53, Toronto 21 — Competitive balance through intervention is the best way to describe the Gee-Gees having 17 accepted penalties for 202 yards. Without that, Ottawa might have really blown out Toronto after knocking Varsity Blues quarterback Connor Ennis out of the game with a late hit on a 41-yard reception, which set up a touchdown that brought Toronto within two scores at 22-14.

To think someone who is halfway to being an idiot savant fretted that this was a trap game for the Gee-Gees, who hit 200 rushing yards and 400 passing, including 258 through Good Kingston Boy Carter Matheson.

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈

After a hard-fought first half, the @uOttawaGeeGees end with a 💥 thanks to this 65-yard bomb from Sawyer Buettner to Carter Matheson (their second connection of the day) to put the visitors up 29-14 over the @Varsity_Blues!
#WeAreONE | #OTTvsTOR pic.twitter.com/KnaKb3Ozrt
— OUA (@OUAsport) October 5, 2018

TOUCHDOWN GEE-GEES!!

James Peter scoops up the fumble and scores!

Ottawa 50 | Toronto 14#GGnation🐎 pic.twitter.com/dLD7AgLEfW
— Gee-Gees Football (@GeeGeesFootball) October 5, 2018

Worst Case Ontario update:

Western (best-case 8-0, worst-case 8-0). If they came out of that Windsor controlled scrimmage with refs and cheerleaders with any significant injuries, the entire coaching staff should have to run the stadium steps 100 times immediately after eating their turkey.

It was a big fireworks display in London in more ways than one.
FB: The players are even sticking around for the fireworks after a 66-14 win.#PurpleReign #RunWithUs pic.twitter.com/jsbfKhxIqq
— Western Mustangs (@WesternMustangs) October 5, 2018
Ottawa (best-case 6-2, worst-case 5-3). Not since 2012, when future Hec Crighton winner Will Finch was a frosh quarterback and Ottawa had the last remnants of the good Denis Piché recruiting classes, have the Gee-Gees hung in with the Mustangs. Have things changed?
McMaster (best-case 6-2, worst-case 4-4). It's not clear how good these Marauders are and is not yet clear who will be their head coach(es) on Oct. 13. What a time to be alive.
Carleton (best-case 5-3, worst-case 4-4). Of course the Ravens and Gryphons, the teams with the most likely "win out" routes to finishing 5-3, have missed each other in the schedule. That will make it complicated to figure out in two weeks' time.

A short week and a young opposing quarterback and Carleton allowed 619 yards. Oy vey.
Guelph (best-case 5-3, worst-case 4-4). In these divided, fragmented times, a university athletic department, public school board and Catholic board found a way to give high school football a bigger platform and perhaps convince classmates and the community to get a little more invested. Well-played, Guelph.
Interesting idea to hype high school football in the Royal City. Think it could work here? https://t.co/klah0TyZZ6
— Mark Bryson (@BrysonRecord) October 4, 2018

Meantime, the bye-weeking Gryphons have the great setup with Toronto and Waterloo at home over the final quarter-leg.
🏈Congrats Job Reinhart on being named the @OUAsport Defensive Player of the Week! #GryphonPride @GryphonFootball ➡️https://t.co/7o3UbDOJWi pic.twitter.com/nEGfgq4J7n
— Guelph Gryphons (@guelph_gryphons) October 1, 2018
Waterloo (best-case 5-3, worst-case 3-5). The version of itself Waterloo presented against Carleton and Laurier is fully capable of winning out against McMaster and Guelph and earning the Warriors' first berth in a six-team playoff. (Eight teams made it in 2003, the last time they got in.)

The version of itself Waterloo presented against Western and York likely topples into Next Year Country again. Either way, with the football Warriors off, it's not too self-indulgent to shout out Waterloo hockey forward Kenny Turner for scoring his first OUA goal in the season opener. Turner was a black ace for most of the last two seasons after coming to UW from Junior A ranks in northwestern Ontario. A lot of striving and sacrifice went into that goal, which broke a 9-0 shutout.
It was a rough season opener for @UWWarriorHockey but a lone bright spot came from 3rd year @kennyturner69 who netted his first career @USPORTSca Goal! Check out his tally on his own rebound! #goblackgogold 🏒 pic.twitter.com/JP3Q0XIrVi
— UWaterloo Warriors (@WlooWarriors) October 4, 2018
Laurier (best-case 4-4, worst-case 4-4). The Golden Hawks will predictably handle Windsor next week and then get rolled real good by Western. Then what happens when they get thrown into the hopper of 4-4 teams?

I thought of putting 5-3 for the best case, on the odd off-chance Western has to sit everyone with so much as a canker sore. But overall Laurier's final record is the one 4-4 mark that I feel most secure about writing in with the same pen I use to do The New York Times crossword in 23 minutes, seriously, really.

(If we've learned nothing else from Donald Trump Jr., you make your humble-brags really specific and totally unrealistic.)
Queen's (best-case 4-4, worst-case 3-5). Flaxman did call Queen's "a great team; eventually they're going to find ways to win games." McMaster's skill-position guys just made a few more plays.

Rookie receiver Richard Burton had a promising afternoon and the lost fumble at Queen's 30-yard line in the third quarter was a killer, as did having two penalties on the punt immediately prior that pinned Queen's on its one-yard line. The turnover was a classic case of where the runner keeps his legs churning and the defenders pry the ball out. Mac only cashed in for a field goal and a 17-16 lead, but a skein of productive Queen's marches was broken up and they didn't regain rhythm until it was almost too late. One really empathizes with Burton.

It might be too late for Queen's to get into the playoffs. Figuring out the tiebreakers is like counting proxies before the big stockholder's meeting and Queen's is lacking tiebreakers with losses to Carleton and Laurier.

If little else, Week 9 against Ottawa is a spoiler situation for Hobbs' final home game. Queen's was in the same situation against Carleton in 2014 when Billy McPhee was the fifth-year quarterback, and they stepped up to wreck someone's season that day.
York (best-case 4-4, worst-case 2-6). It will be a tall order for York to upset Carleton and finish 4-4, but there's a reason to root for that beyond doormat-does-good sentiment. A closing thought:

Toronto (2013) and Waterloo (2017) have cracked .500 in recent years without getting a playoff berth, as only six of the 11 teams make the playoffs — 54.5 per cent, lower than the other three conferences (60 per cent in the Atlantic, 67 in Canada West, 80 in the RSEQ).

It takes so much outlay of athletic budget, plus human capital, to go from doormat to viable, but the entry point is still too restrictive.

Ontario University Athletics was right on one level in 2004 when it eliminated the 1 vs. 8 and 2 vs. 7 quarterfinals. At the same time, if an expanded national playoff is on the way then some incentives need to be created for the characteristically bottom four teams to enjoy some form of post-season play.

But something can be well-designed and still prone to unintended consequences. The system shouldn't just be a fail-safe for the powerhouse that got upset in its own conference. It was nauseating to some degree that happened last season with the Alabama Crimson Tide and the College Football Playoff in the U.S., but in terms of who was fooling who, Nick Saban's evil empire still had a better case than Central Florida.

Likewise, hypothetically, if there had been a six-team playoff in 2016, Western would have got a wild card after an ignominious fourth-quarter collapse in the Yates Cup. That's fine, but there is an opportunity to create something in Canada with avenues for teams from all walks of the football life, and budgeting levels.

That is a message I hope OUA hears, as the country's most diverse football conference. All the other stakeholders' wishes are pretty clear. Quebec likely wants to have two berths, and considering that either Laval or Montréal have played in and/or hosted the last 10 Vanier Cup games, they deserve it. Canada West will probably want two, and AUS will want the guarantee of its champion hosting the Atlantic Bowl every year, as either a quarterfinal or semifinal.

Pinky-swear to bloviate more about this after the turkey coma wears off.

Week 8 slate: Windsor at Laurier (Fri.), Carleton at York (Fri.), Western at Ottawa (Sat.), McMaster at Waterloo (Sat.), Toronto at Guelph (Sat.), bye, Queen's.

OUA Football, Week 6: Ottawa's Panda Game win means playoff picture is starting to come into order

2018-09-30T13:01:00.000-04:00

It is no longer clear who is No. 1 in the country, but there is a lead horse for that second playoff bye after Ottawa and Sawyer Buettner vented an entire undergrad degree's lifesplan of Panda Game anguish.

Why look up the definition of catharsis when you can just embed a worthy-of-Webster's video of Ottawa fans getting to storm the field for the first time since the rivalry game moved to TD Place in 2014?

🐼 #OUA FBALL 🐼

For the 50th time, the #PandaGame is in the 📚.

And this scene says it all.#WeAreONE | #PandaFiveO | #OTTvsCAR pic.twitter.com/VbCyDhbO6J
— OUA (@OUAsport) September 29, 2018

PANDA 50 goes to the @uOttawa @GeeGeesFootball team. Way to go Gee Gees. What an exciting game. What a team. A sea of Garnet (& some Grey) rush onto the field to celebrate a great win for the Gees! GO GEES GO! Woo hoo! 👏🎉🚀 @uOttawaGeeGees 🐎🐎🐎@recteurUOpres Thanks @CHCHTV pic.twitter.com/fwsHWFq2xb
— Lance Curtis (@lbcurtis) September 29, 2018

So many emotions in one photo. What an amazing day. Thank you #GGnation. pic.twitter.com/aJaZKQblup
— Gee-Gees Football (@GeeGeesFootball) September 29, 2018

POST PANDA GAME MOOD 🤩
•
Thank you to friends, family and fans for your support today.
•
Merci à nos partisans pour votre soutien aujourd'hui.
•#GGnation🐎 pic.twitter.com/96tsQoaiN0
— uOttawa Gee-Gees (@uOttawaGeeGees) September 29, 2018

Great game yesterday by both teams!! Proud of @uOttawaGeeGees and the way they took care of business! @jhowell_16 is rocking the 2010 Yates cup jersey, looking like he’s about to rush for 1000 this year! pic.twitter.com/jCW3E0cOpU
— Brendan Gillanders (@Bgillanders25) September 30, 2018

When city rivals play every year, the past is much more prologue and each game is a callback to prior contests. During the four-year losing streak, Ottawa had spans where it went up and down the field but stalled in the red zone. Carleton would be opportunistic and come up with the explosion plays. Instead, Ottawa was a finisher par excellence in the red zone, particularly on stretched-out catches by Kalem Beaver, Dylan St. Pierre and Carter Matheson, while the defence generated a 5-1 edge in turnovers. More on that down below.

The other major moving parts involve the purple teams coming back to the pack, while Waterloo evidently turned back into a pumpkin right in time to end up in a Starbucks latte. Western needed to score on consecutive drives in the fourth quarter to edge Queen's, heretofore the third-most generous — that means ninth-ranked, Bubba — defensive side in the conference, for a 26-23 win. It's a wild coincidence that Western has made two trips to Eastern Ontario and had the same squeaker of a scoreline each time; by the way, they still have to schlep up to Ottawa in two weeks' time. The Mustangs showed some heavy mettle in the fourth quarter, but their voter support in the polls could be (groan) softening.

Based on what I've seen out of the Western Mustangs in Kingston, win or not... they are not the number one team in the country. The second time they've been drawn into the OUA pack. Calgary's d-line depth and young o-line are issues. The best team is in Quebec, once again.
— Jim Mullin (@Jim_Mullin) September 29, 2018

Meantime, Laurier apparently has a volleyball team now, because they give the ball away about every three touches. The Golden Hawks had six interceptions charged to Tristan Arndt as Guelph scored all 17 second-half points in a 27-24 win that the Gryphons were badly overdue to get after losing thrice by a combined four points.

The league is hella unpredictable; with York actually on the fringe of playoff contention after a 34-32 win against Waterloo, exactly half of the games so far (15 of 30) have ave been decided by seven or fewer points. One would have to have a special kind of confidence of a mediocre white man to start projecting final standings, but there is a playoff pecking order. Carleton coach Steve Sumarah said it will take a 5-3 record to get into the playoffs and it appears he might be right.

Time for Worst Case Ontario:

Western (best-case 8-0, worst-case ... 8-0). The road to Quebec City is still going through London, but damn Western (5-0), would a statement road win kill ya? Waterloo doesn't count, not with how the Warriors lost against York on Saturday.

Western might welcome a well-orchestrated loss.
Ottawa (best-case 6-2, worst-case 5-3). So what if Carleton and Ottawa finish second and third? Do they go back to TD Place for a semifinal game that could probably draw 10,000 people on very short notice?

The worst thing would be for a Panda Game win to prove Pyrrhic. The Gee-Gees (4-1) haven't had to travel outside of their city since the opener up at Laurier. Coach Jamie Barresi doubtlessly enjoyed the most emotional and eye-catching win of his six-season Gee-Gees tenure but cautioned about falling into a "stupor" heading into a short week before a roadie to play winless Toronto, who are the best 0-5 team in the country. (For those trolling at home, UBC is the best 1-4 team, especially in the budget:win ratio.)

In terms of motivated opponents, Ottawa has it all. Toronto, which hasn't won a game but has come close in the past two weeks. In Week 8, Western will likely be looking to clinch home field through to the Yates Cup and Mitchell Bowl. Then it's a finale at Queen's, which could be in a win-and-in scenario.
McMaster (best-case 6-2, worst-case 4-4). It's not even too certain that McMaster (3-2, idle this week) will win its final home game, against Queen's on Friday. Their Oct. 13 roadies at Waterloo and even Windsor aren't gimmes, the former since the Warriors can score a lot of points and the latter due to the distance and distractions.

Not beating oneself seems to one of the cardinal virtues this season. McMaster has yet to do that, plus it has Jordan Lyons in the rushing phase.
Carleton (best-case 6-2, worst-case 4-4). There is no anecdotal evidence about how the Ravens will react after losing a Panda Game, which is a feather in their cap. The Ravens (4-2) could win out against Laurier (Oct. 5, home) and York (Oct. 12, away) and have a bye before hosting a quarterfinal. But their pass coverage has been porous for four games in a row.
Guelph (best-case 5-3, worst-case 4-4). As previously noted, Guelph (3-3) has the favourable October schedule of bye-Toronto-Waterloo, and they're only a few blown scoring opportunities from being 6-0. That puts the Gryphons ahead by a nose among the quartet of three-loss teams.
Queen's (best-case 5-3, worst-case 3-5). They were good enough to tease against Western and, although few sports fans ever admit this, sometimes that is really all we want. The Queen's-McMaster game is pretty much a playoff game for at least one of the teams and, no, I'm not just saying that since it's one of the few I can see due to work commitments.

Having the extra week to prepare for Ottawa might help Queen's a little. Not too sure how their blocking group would hold up against a pretty decent Gee-Gees D on Oct. 20.
Waterloo (best-case 5-3, worst-case 3-5). There are a couple of plaintive little hopes that keep one from writing off Waterloo (3-3).

One is that they have their bye week before hosting McMaster in Week 8, in what should be a bitter battle, since Warriors pass game coordinator Jon Behie will be matching wits against the defensive coaches from his alma mater. McMaster hasn't put up points against a credible team on the road, or really even at home. Then Waterloo finishes against Guelph, which it scored 49 points against last season.
Laurier (best-case 4-4, worst-case 3-5). The Golden Hawks have gone from hell on wheels on likely needing help to make the playoffs. The Carleton game next Friday is a must-win and, based on how the Golden Hawks have been shooting themselves in the feet, it is tough to envision a win against Western in Week 9 unless the Mustangs field a totally B team.
First time @WLUAthletics has lost 3 games in a row since 2015 but no one should throw in the towel yet is it a long road ahead yes. But this team you just feel is ready to turn it around. All losses are by a combined 6 points #WeAreHAWKS #HOCO2K18
— Jason (@JHagholm1) September 29, 2018
York (best-case 4-4, worst-case 2-6). The Lions (2-4) are mathematically alive. About a million things would all have to break their way, and Carleton's offensive line might quickly kibosh those faint playoff hopes by opening 400-series highway-wide holes for Nathan Carter in that Oct. 12 Ravens-Lions game. But credit to York and Brett Hunchak for sweetening the plot with a homecoming win against Waterloo on Saturday.

As far as the games on Saturday were concerned:

Ottawa 38, Carleton 27 — Well, the beauty of the Panda Game is that you don't really have to do much analysis, since it's really just a fun time and no one thinks about it too deeply beyond whether the Black team or the Garnet & Grey team won. For one Saturday each year, the city's two university populations create a true, uniquely Canadian, big-small-town event. I used to resent that, for all the booze consumed, there wasn't much spillover into watching the Gee-Gees or Ravens play teams from outside the world's biggest village, but that's the city of Ottawa for you. It's really a bit of a face-dance: play at having a fierce football rivalry, then back to being friends on Monday.

Anyway, a lot of the characteristics that make the Gee-Gees program unique came to the fore on Saturday. One, Barresi is a quarterback whisperer, and Buettner was beastly with the five touchdown passes, as Ottawa took home-run shots whenever they presented themselves in the score zone. Then there was the backstory with how Kalem Beaver and Carter Matheson, who caught two touchdowns apiece, were relatively late converts to football who didn't even play until well into their high school years, since they were busy being athletes, not one-sport automatons. They found a niche and uOttawa coached 'em up.

🎥 Sawyer to Kalem again - second TD reception of the game for Beaver, 3 TDs for Buettner. #GGnation #PandaGame pic.twitter.com/efkyotn0Gx
— Gee-Gees Football (@GeeGeesFootball) September 29, 2018

🐼 #OUA FBALL 🐼

Not a bad #PandaGame debut for Sawyer Buettner, as he connects with Carter Matheson for touchdown number ✋ in the game! #WeAreONE | #PandaFiveO | #OTTvsCAR pic.twitter.com/s1jlhrcrQh
— OUA (@OUAsport) September 29, 2018

The way Ottawa finished drives also erases the memory of that 2014 game when a skein of red-zone stalls left the door open for Carleton to win on Nate Behar's Hail Mary catch on the final play.

This time, the Gee-Gees led by as much as 24 points. The huge scoreline swings came mainly via a Jamie Harry end-zone interception in the third quarter, along with takeaways that set up Buettner inside Carleton's 20-yard line.

The smokes-and-mirrors narrative with Carleton probably got a boost. The Ravens offence and Michael Arruda had 475 yards. The easy way out is to point to the four interceptions and the penalties, several of which came in the return phase.

Even that 475 figure looks like empty calories. Take out the trick-play touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. After trading touchdowns in the second quarter for a 14-14 tie, Carleton went interception-punt-punt-interception-punt-punt on the rest of its possessions through the end of the third.

That's bad. The margin was only really close since the Ravens ran some bubble screens and draws to Nathan Carter against loose coverage, hoping Ottawa's tackling completely fell apart. (Ron Howard voice: it didn't.)

Western 26, Queen's 23 — One refrain on loop is that Western didn't get much off of Queen's except for having superior athletes. At no point did it cross my mind this could be close, given that the Mustangs had won the last six matchups by an average of 25.7 points. Lo and behold, the Mustangs found themselves down 11 points with nine minutes left. But they cranked up the interior pass rush to take away Nate Hobbs' time and space in the pocket, while Chris Merchant and the offence clicked with consecutive seven-play touchdown drives, the peak of which was a 49-yard pass-and-run to Malik Besseghieur that was, in MMA terms, a major body blow.

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈

They're the reigning champs for a reason. Playing from behind, the @WesternMustangs are able to stay calm and take the 26-23 lead late against the @queensgaels with just minutes remaining!
#WeAreONE | #WESvsQUE pic.twitter.com/0tpkMj9Yvl
— OUA (@OUAsport) September 29, 2018

Western should pay a price in the polls for this, since two "playing down" wins are not an anomaly. That's neither here nor there for Queen's, which might have had its best defensive day of the season with the secondary of Nolan Bedard, Ejaz Causer, Blake Cory, Zackary Kealey and Oliver MacKenzie limiting Western to one touchdown for 3½ quarters; they just only had so many stops in them, apparently.

Queen's hasn't been able to touch Western in a few years, so this was a moral victory on some level. Younger readers, assuming there are any — look, there's videos embedded! — might not be aware that the Gaels used to handle the Mustangs on the regular, going 11-4 from 2000 through '12. Suffice to say, the 'Stangs have kicked it up a notch.

Deep-down, I do wonder if they were trying to get someone on Freezing Cold Takes. Thanks?

On @TheCISBlog: "Broken Play, Part 1: The 800-Pound, 600-Yards-Per-Game Purple Elephant That Is The Western Mustangs"
#OUA #usports https://t.co/gtazmDkakJ
— Neate Sager #SKOL (@n8sager) September 28, 2018

Guelph 27, Laurier 24 — The commonalities between the pick-six touchdowns from Dokun Aketepe and Job Reinhart was pressure, and some serendipitous ricochets right into the hands of both defenders. Reinhart was in the Laurier backfield after a well-timed A-gap blitz when edge rusher Tavius Robinson batted a Tristan Arndt pass, which Reinhart returned 72 yards. On the Aketepe play, Guelph brought seven and it looked as though Laurier had the right pattern and read, with three receivers on shallow crosses, but a harried throw went off of Kurleigh Gittens Jr. and right to Aketepe, going 69 yards the other way.

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈

Talk about making an early statement on D! The @guelph_gryphons open the scoring against @WLUAthletics with a 72-yard pick-6 from Job Reinhart!#WeAreONE | #GUEvsWLU pic.twitter.com/YRry6pVHw8
— OUA (@OUAsport) September 29, 2018

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈

After their second pick-6 of the day, the @guelph_gryphons are down just six, 24-18, against @WLUAthletics with the 4th quarter now underway!#WeAreONE | #GUEvsWLU pic.twitter.com/MxWKe2tTBZ
— OUA (@OUAsport) September 29, 2018

It might be tempting to put some that down to the Bounces, but not after the way that three opponents in a row have limited Laurier. The Gryphons gang took down six interceptions and didn't allow a completion longer than 20 yards. McMaster allowed nothing longer than 25. Throw in a solid second half from the Waterloo defence, and the Golden Hawks have scored only 14 second-half points in their last three games.

Arndt has got the hook two weeks in a row, and what's really worrying about Laurier is where the interceptions have occurred. I'm not a football coach so I'm a little more blasé about turnovers. Take fumbles; they come from players over-exerting themselves sometimes, and once the ball is scooting around on the carpet, it's 50/50 whether the defence will complete the takeaway or the offence retains it. Interceptions are bad, but there are some that come on deep balls where the defender just makes the play, or the wind affects the direction of the pass. And there's those second-and-a-click prayers that sometimes work as well as a directional punt.

But all of the six interceptions charged to Arndt came on throws within 12 yards of the line of the scrimmage, according to the play-by-play data. So Guelph really had Laurier figured out.

One who's closer to the situation with Laurier would have better licence to look into the quarterback situation with Tristan Arndt and second-year backup Carson Carusello. Coach Michael Faulds made the switch with 6:28 left, on a changeover at Laurier's own 10-yard line, after the sixth interception. The field position isn't relevant since that doesn't play into the decision, but it would contribute to any intimidation factor Carusello might have felt.

If Arndt needs help seeing the game from another perspective and Carusello can be an asset, why not give the backup a designated series in the second or third quarter? Either way, Laurier has a short week to figure it out before it heads up to Carleton.

York 34, Waterloo 32 — Why did the football Gods point to York's side of the field in this offensive slugfest between brave but determined minnow teams with a penchant for throwing deep and game uniforms that can be worn home or away? Because Warren Craney and the York staff called for a two-point convert when already up 14 points in the first half. Because every little bit counts.

MUST SEE VIDEO | @BrettHunchak finds @EKimmerly17 for a successful 2-pt conversion to give the Lions a 23-7 lead over Waterloo! #lionpride pic.twitter.com/BHCBVqO8hf
— York Lions (@yorkulions) September 29, 2018

Ultimately, what one would like to take away is that this illustrated that there isn't any quit in either team. Waterloo scored 24 consecutive points when it would have been very easy to give in to checking out of the game. Hunchak answered the 85-yard drive where Waterloo went ahead for the first time by essaying a nine-play, 89-yard march of his own for a three-point lead.

And then it came down to fate, or foot, as it seems to every week. York's Matt Dean got through to block the kick after Waterloo had a sluggish snapback.

FIELD GOAL BLOCKED! LIONS WIN! #lionpride pic.twitter.com/qAzaTOcFUC
— York Lions (@yorkulions) September 30, 2018

Windsor 26, Toronto 24 — Best. Doughnut. Bowl. Ever. Windsor surmounted a 21-0 deficit across the final 2½ quarters whilst crossing the alumni stripe only once all afternoon, which sounds like a challenge Barney Stinson would have demurred from. Clark Green had a day going 6-of-6 on field goals, including two go-ahead boots from 40-plus.

FOOTBALL - Green sets record as Lancers come from behind to defeat Blues on Alumni Weekend https://t.co/spnuWN8P3n
— Windsor Lancers (@WindsorLancers) September 29, 2018

People were pumped up after today’s win vs Varsity Blues.@UWLancerFB wins 26-24. 5th yr kicker Clark Green has career day hitting 6 FG’s including GW with 26.2 left from 45 yards out. @WindsorLancers @UWindsor #localsports #yqg #yqgsports #letsgo @OUAsport @USPORTSca @KWalls15 pic.twitter.com/Jasl9SYa6H
— Powerplay Sports Video (@powerplayvideo) September 29, 2018

Another tip of the cap is due to Lancers defensive end Adam Slikboer, who made back-to-back plays to end the Toronto possession right before Windsor drove for its only touchdown to get within two points. They needed to score a TD since otherwise, Green would have had to go 8-for-8 on field goals to win the game.

Broken Play, Part 1: The 800-Pound, 600-Yards-Per-Game Purple Elephant That Is The Western Mustangs

2018-09-28T10:55:00.000-04:00

The hate flows through you as you relive Laurier's rally in the 2016 Yates Cup. (CHCH)

"Broken Play" will be an infrequent, irregular, hopefully not incoherent series of posts laying out the case for a reboot to the league and national playoff structures of university football. Today, part 1 looks at the Western Mustangs' dominance within Ontario University Athletics, at least before Halloween.
Western isn't just controlling the line of scrimmage, it obliterates it — and we have the receipts.

First and foremost, the glass-half-full take with the current pecking order of OUA is that the league is in a good position for such time when the national brand for university sports, self-proclaimed, institutes an expanded Vanier Cup championship with wild cards and an extra tier or two of playoffs. The latter could happen in 2020, '21, or whenever Toronto actually begins building a new subway line; that Uteck Bowl beatdown last November certainly seems like a tipping point.

The Mustangs are head and shoulders above everyone else, but there are a number of teams with potential to be a credible second team out of Ontario, and maybe even a third. It could be Laurier. It could be McMaster. Carleton and Ottawa each seem to be on the upswing and tradition never graduates at Queen's.

That's the good news. The bad news is that, yes, there is a competitive imbalance in the conference.
Western doesn't appear to be challenged. You probably knew that already since the Mustangs, since the kickoff to the 2015 season, are 31-3 in reg-season and playoffs in Ontario.

In the service of getting our daily requirement of haterade, let's relive those losses.

2016 Yates Cup: Laurier wins 43-40 after a 24-point rally in the final 11 minutes. What were the odds the Golden Hawks would convert four third downs, with 8.25 average yards to go, in the late stages of a road game?
2016, Week 2: Carleton hangs on for 38-31 home win. The Mustangs actually came all the way back from being down 24-0 to lead by seven in the fourth quarter. But Carleton fifth-year senior quarterback Jesse Mills essayed consecutive touchdown drives to retake the lead, With Stevenson Bone in at quarterback since Chris Merchant wasn't fully integrated into his new offense, Western went on a 15-play drive in the final three minutes, but was halted three yards short of the tying touchdown when Cedric Joseph was stopped on an inside-zone run on third-and-6 with 39 seconds left. If a Merchant with a full grasp of the offence had been available, Western probably isn't running the ball up the gut on third-and-6.

(They would have run a toss sweep, duh.)
2015 Yates Cup: Guelph won 23-17 after running the Mustangs out of rocks. Western needed to go 80 yards in the final 89 seconds to score a converted touchdown and win, but it could only navigate 70 before Nick Parisotto and the Gryphons defence latched the door.

So three losses in 3½ seasons, and one involved a collapse / comeback for the ages and two involved the narrowest of escapes by opposing defences that were as bendy as a Republican senator's ethics, but ultimately didn't break. One can hear the status quo knee-jerking: see, anything can happen ... on any given day. That argument is also brought forth after the bloodlettings such as the 2017 Uteck Bowl, or during the regular season, when scores such as 67-7, 74-3 and 76-3 pop up as they have the last two weeks. For those wincing at home, or at the office, those scorelines were from Western-Waterloo in what was nominally a first-place matchup, Montréal against Concordia — it was 3-3 after the first quarter! — and Western-York.

Point being, cherry-picking scores doesn't move the ball down the field in any direction.

The best way to ask the question is to go to the stats, and this is where I know my limit; I got into sportswriting before it required a math degree. Large sets of datas are elusive to me as clever metaphors and similes. But I can look at one table of sports stats and do the Captain Copy-and-Paste into another spreadsheets.

Point differential is one thing in football, especially in playoff-seeding tiebreakers at the end of the regular season. But yardage differential could be even more illustrate. The OUA's statistical archive dates to the 2010 season. So, including this half-over regular season, here are the top 20 teams in yardage diffential (regular season only):

Team	Season	OYards/G	DYards/G	Differential	Record	Playoffs
Western	2015	729.5	382.6	346.9	8-0	Yates finalist
Western	2017	608.5	288	320.5	8-0	Vanier champion
Western	2014	650.3	361.9	288.4	6-2	Yates semifinalist
Western	2018	548	274.5	273.5	4-0	In progress
Western	2013	647.8	387.6	260.1	8-0	Yates champion
McMaster	2012	582.5	340.3	242.3	8-0	Vanier finalist
Western	2016	569.4	376.8	192.6	7-1	Yates finalist
Western	2012	535.1	347.9	187.3	5-3	Yates semifinalist
Carleton	2016	524.4	342.8	181.6	6-2	Yates semifinalist
McMaster	2011	530.5	357.9	172.6	7-1	Vanier champion
Western	2010	464.5	295.8	168.8	7-1	Yates champion
Ottawa	2010	543.1	376.4	166.8	7-1	Yates finalist
Laurier	2016	500.6	341.3	159.4	7-1	Yates champion
McMaster	2015	499.1	345.5	153.6	6-2	Yates semifinalist
McMaster	2014	482.3	333.5	148.8	7-1	Vanier finalist
McMaster	2010	488.8	345.4	143.4	6-2	Yates semifinalist
Guelph	2015	490.8	368.4	132.4	7-1	Yates champion
Windsor	2014	491.1	361.3	129.9	5-3	Yates semifinalist
Ottawa	2013	561.3	438	123.3	5-3	Yates quarterfinalist
Western	2011	510.4	391.6	118.8	7-1	Yates finalist

So Western claims seven of the top eight spots on the list, with only Peak Kyle Quinlan McMaster and Carleton from the season when its first recruiting class were all fourth-years getting into the top 11. There are several strands once can pull out of this hay pile, but the big one is that the top half of the chart runneth over with Western teams. The only one not in the top 11 is the 2011 iteration, which only ended up going 7-1 and hosting the Yates Cup game, which it lost to McMaster and Quinlan.

The other takeaway is that no other side from 2017 graced the list and it's unlikely another 2018 squad will as well. (Waterloo and Tre Ford are putting up 500 yards a game, but they're also giving up about 500, too.) That speaks well for the internal competition once you take Western out of the equation. But there is no second place, really, until wild cards for the Vanier Cup championship come into being.

Everyone can draw their own conclusion, but hopefully this buttresses the case for the OUA embracing meaningful non-conference play. The league isn't a challenge for Western most weeks. The traditional model is certainly past peak and offering something new might help stimulate interest. It's not hard to put the conference in a context where mainstream sports are constantly reformatting in an effort to draw eyeballs; there are certainly pertinent examples from golf and motorsports about getting away from the tried-and-true and repackaging.

Perception is reality, and the impression of being a one-team league is a drawback to selling casual fans OUA needs to root locally on Saturday afternoons.

In future posts, the focus will be on how to sell a more collective approach to university football, as well as a somewhat radical realignment idea for OUA and RSEQ.

OUA Football, Week 5: Western Beats Waterloo By 60 points, While Queen's Should Try Playing A Full 60 Minutes

2018-09-23T02:43:00.001-04:00

The low-hanging fruit is just there, those juicy pregame quotes from the Hopeful Waterloo Warriors — "it's Yates Cup or bust" ... "I think the only way they win is if we beat ourselves" ... — which were drawing fruit flies by the first-quarter media timeout.

That was just youth and inexperience passing through the empty-handed (on this day) vessels of Tyler Ternowski and Tre Ford. The 67-7 win that Western rolled up against the Waterloo Warriors on Saturday simply conveys the black-and-gold Bertoia brigade still has plenty of the latter. We knew going into this Fine Football Saturday that Western was going to beat Waterloo handily, so it should be set aside. Or not. Have at it.

Earlier this week, the quarterback for @UWWarriorsFB said his side was better that @WesternMustangs. After the first quarter today, his Warriors trail the Mustangs 31-7. Proving that not everyone is Joe Namath. Or should try to be. #oua
— Scott Radley (@radleyatthespec) September 22, 2018

🏈 #OUA Weekend Scoreboard 🏈

A pair of top-10 seeds fall in one-point games. See how the rest of the scoreboard played out ⬇️ in another 😲 week on the gridiron!

📸 @MPHcentral #WeAreONE | #QuestForTheCup pic.twitter.com/pHX88zTphx
— OUA (@OUAsport) September 22, 2018

Only those slavish to Media Both-Siding — and look where that has taken the political zeitgeist lately — would have set the scene any differently. Western, as the season develops, is rolling by like an army of steamrollers and the entire Ontario University Athletics season, please prove me wrong, is a perfunctory exercise before they go trophy hunting in November. It would be nice if legacy media could break away from the tired-and-trite storytelling models and convey things more honestly. The Local Athlete Hopes To Win Game story form needed to go 10 years ago yesterday. Increasing understanding of the subject can do wonders for its following. Instead, what was technically a first-place showdown ends up as a 60-point blowout and knees start jerking about lack of competitive balance. They should, by all means, but not just because of that.

That is a thing when Western is involved, but as far as the Others go, this week built on the theme that theme of Ontario being the Coin Flippin'-est Conference going. Minutes apart, Queen's and McMaster — remember those guys? They won national championships just within the last decade? No?! — both got Reprieve By Opposing Kicker. McMaster mildly upset No. 5-ranked Laurier 21-20 at home, while Queen's won 33-32 at No. 10-ranked Guelph, both after experienced kickers, Laurier's Nathan Mesher and Guelph's Gabriel Ferraro, missed potential game-winning field-goal attempts in the final minute. As luck and convenient jumping-off points would have it, that sort of symmetry — wins over ranked teams, each of whom missed a potential game-winning field goal and also took the three-pointer on their penultimate drive instead of trying the more all-or-nothing third-down gamble — conveniently ties into a larger narrative.

🏈Gaels spoil No.10 Gryphons Homecoming with 33-32 victory #LeadTheWay #QUEvsGUE https://t.co/8SZeakuNHg pic.twitter.com/cObU0057gZ
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) September 22, 2018

🏈| It was close but the Gaels hang on for the ‘W’ #QUEvsGUE pic.twitter.com/Uo9PHiB4KF
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) September 22, 2018

Football -- Mitch Garland's pick six gave @Marauderftbl the lead, and the Marauders defended behind it, beating the Laurier Golden Hawks 21-20 Saturday.https://t.co/cnFWvsPT0f
— McMaster Athletics (@McMasterSports) September 22, 2018

Here is the post game wrap up from today's 21-20 W by @McMasterSports @Marauderftbl over @WLUAthletics by @BubbaCHCH @kmsquazz and I.https://t.co/kHkKMufzij
— Steve Clark (@SteveClarkMedia) September 22, 2018

While Western is the elephant in the room, the other subtext is the respective regression by McMaster and Queen's, which tinged the reaction to their narrow wins. Let's put a pin in McMaster and talk about Queen's

In Queen's case, the away win that might put them into the playoffs feels Pyrrhic, since blowing all but the last of what was a 26-point lead with 16½ minutes left — holy channeling the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51 — is not that extraordinary with the Gaels of recent vintage.

I own the Queen's pyjamas, but there was a familiar dread with every tap of the F5 key. Check in at work to the pleasant surprise that Queen's was up 33-7 against Guelph. OK, now it's 33-14. Man, didn't it get to 33-21 awful fast? Better be ready to see 33-28, and sure enough ...

Without being in position to point fingers, Queen's has been the shakiest closer this side of Gil Gunderson s in recent season. The bullet points are not pretty:

Week 2, 2017: 14-13 loss at Ottawa, which took its only lead of the game when Jackson Bennett scored on a 99-yard kickoff return touchdown in the final two minutes.
Week 1, 2017: 22-17 loss to Carleton, after having a five-point lead and the ball with 2:44 left in the game.
Week 9, 2016: 42-41 overtime loss to Ottawa after having a 13-point lead with 4:08 left in the quarter.
Week 8, 2015: 33-32 win at York where the largest Queen's lead was 10 points, but to paraphrase Sam Ecklund in American Vandal: "Dude, it's York."
Week 2, 2014: 37-30 loss to Ottawa, which scored on its last three drives of the game. From the point that Queen's took a 14-point lead with 10 minutes left, Ottawa's Derek Wendel was 6-for-6 for 79 yards on second downs, plus two rushes for 28.
OUA semifinal, 2012: 42-39 loss to Guelph, which scored 22 points in the final 10 minutes to force overtime.
Week 7, 2012: 33-28 loss at Guelph, after being ahead 28-3 in the second quarter.

Some of that can be put down to the never-over nature of Canadian football that we know and love. All of the above is facts minus context; it's hard to say how coaching contributed to those late collapses or struggles to take control late. There is probably even a counter-argument that maybe great coaching created that cushion until attrition and athleticism ultimately decided who won the day, as it always does in the end.

Either way, Queen's under longtime head coach Pat Sheahan certainly has a fourth-quarter problem, but those are only symptoms. Admitting there is a problem is always the first step.

The ponderous palaver from the week:

Three wins in a row where Western (4-0) has scored at least 40 points and kept the opposition in single digits. Hard pass.
Carleton (4-1) and Ottawa (3-1) have respectively won in four and three in a row on the bounce heading into the Panda Game, where goodness knows the Gee-Gees haven't got a bounce lately. The winner will have the inside track on finishing 6-2.
Buh-bye to a bye for Laurier (3-2) after having it in 2016 and '17. The Golden Hawks have lost two in a row since breaking out the yellow jerseys last week. Does Michael Faulds have some sort of ceremonial burning like Coach Taylor in Season 4 of Friday Night Lights? The Golden Hawks still have Western on the schedule, so best-case Ontario, they finish 5-3.
Also holding a realistic shot at 6-2: McMaster and Waterloo.
Seven games, almost a quarter of the docket, have been decided by three points or fewer.
The universe is a sadist. Windsor is idle on the same weekend that the nearby Detroit Lions are probably going to get beat by the Patriots

Let's get to the games.

McMaster 21, No. 5 Laurier 20 — It was Mouchoir Day at McMaster, with Laurier getting 15 penalties for 190 yards while the Marauders had 13 for 163. None was more hurtful than an after-yards-made holding penalty in the second-last minute that affected Laurier's ability to give Mesher, whose killer miss was from 43 yards, a better look at a game-winning cook.

The flags probably cancel out each other; where Laurier might have really got its own way is revealed by how the play-by-play data show that reigning OUA MVP Kurleigh Gittens Jr. did not have a target in the fourth quarter, when his lone two touches were punt returns. That is a credit to the retooling McMaster defence and the denizens of the back eight such as Eric Blake, but unless Gittens was injured there is not much excuse for not finding a way to get the ball to make-you-miss target. McMaster also got to Laurier QB Tristan Arndt for a sack and he was out of the game for the first eight minutes of the final quarter, during which time inexperienced understudy Connor Carusello ended up playing 500-Up with one receiver and about three Mac deep backs, with Nolan Putt making the by-default second-biggest interception of the afternoon. That was why Laurier found itself down five late in the ballgame.

Football -- WATCH: Nolan Putt brings possession right back to the Marauders as he picks off Arendt deep in Mac territory. pic.twitter.com/BWgMrnCEXF
— McMaster Athletics (@McMasterSports) September 22, 2018

Queen's 33, Guelph 32 — The comme ci comme ça with the Gaels is that splitting back-to-back road games against credible teams was their mostly likely scenario. Their road to the playoffs does not mandate beating both Guelph and Carleton (42-39 overtime loss last week), and they'll be at .500 after the likely Western walloping at Richardson next weekend.

But damn, that late third/fourth-quarter meltdown overshadows everything good that they did across the first 43-some minutes, when it was shaping up as he Gaels' best performance on the road since a 2013 win up at Ottawa. The macro is wondering how they could so easily take their Uggs off of Guelph's thorax. The same Guelph team that's been kept under 20 points twice already this season took only 83 seconds — with a Queen's pass interference penalty on second down — for the 33-14 touchdown. Queen's had zero first downs on its next three possessions, and the drive for the 33-21 touchdown took a whole 94 seconds. The Gaels bent as far as humanly possible before Ferraro had his seventh miss of the season, from 32 yards, in the final 20 seconds.

Guelph, with Theo Landers behind centre, had yet to have its quarterback pass for 200 yards or multiple touchdowns in a game. Landers wound up 26-of-35 for 318 yards and three scores, plus seven rushes for 85 and another score in a commendable performance.

The Gaels go into their Western game eighth in yards-per-rush on offence and ninth in total defence. That seems rather inauspicious.

🏈| Puskus TOUCHDOWN 7-0 Gaels!

Big props to the OLINE for the push 😁#QUEvsGUE pic.twitter.com/fUR83zGnEk
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) September 22, 2018

🏈| Hobbs ➡️ Del Brocco TOUCHDOWN!! 14-0 lead for the Gaels over the No.10 Gryphons#QUEvsGUE pic.twitter.com/TgHFLKTgIg
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) September 22, 2018

🏈| Amankwaah with the Interception!#QUEvsGUE pic.twitter.com/1spqilWQd5
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) September 22, 2018

On the Guelph side of things, it's encouraging that the Gryphons were productive in the passing phase. How they stick with it after losing thrice by a combined five points is the question going forward. The other noodle-scratcher is whether anyone on the sideline, least of all interim head caoch Todd Galloway, had the conversion chart. They kicked converts after every touchdown during the rally. Some math skills might have led to the Gryphons cutting the score to 33-22, then 33-30 ...

Picking up a deuce was probably doable with the way Landers can work the RPO (run-pass option), and it might have led to Ferraro getting to tie the game with 1:55 left, when his 29-yard boot drew the Gryphons to within two points. Instead a kicker who's having a tough month had the all-or-nothing attempt in the final seconds and we know how that worked out.

The final four weeks for Guelph are, starting next week, at Laurier, bye, then Toronto and Waterloo at home. I think we'll call that Oct. 20 Waterloo-Guelph game the ELO Bowl.

No. 1 Western 67, Waterloo 7 — Submitted for your approval.

Western faced the No. 2-ranked offence on Saturday and held Ford, et al., to seven points, 13 first downs and 279 yards. The Mustangs won by 60 points.

Western has also faced the No. 2 defence, McMaster on Sept. 8, and put up 44 points, 32 first downs and 523 yards. The Mustangs won by only 38 points.

OK, more statistical porn: Chris Merchant had more touchdown passes (6) than incompletions (4) on Saturday. And the Mustangs face a ninth-ranked Queen's defence next week.

At least Waterloo gets some style points for both the route-running and the catch Ternowski made for the Warriors' only scoring.

An amazing look at the adjustment by @Tyler_Ternowski as the 🏈 floats through the air. His 9th TD of the season!!! 🔥🖤💛🔥 @OUAsport @USPORTSca @UWWarriorsFB pic.twitter.com/iHR2xavRjQ
— UWaterloo Warriors (@WlooWarriors) September 22, 2018

Ottawa 42, York 16 — The Gee-Gees should, by stealth, sneak on to some of the Top 10 ballots that are compiled by humans. Like a soccer team, my ballot is in a 4-4-2 formation — top four out of Ontario and top four in Canada West, with the Blue Team and the Red Team from La Belle Province. It is not yet clear how good Ottawa is after two close home wins and a blowout against a bottom-feeder, but they're not getting in their own way. Their defence is also disruptive. One way to simplify defensive football is to tally sacks, interceptions and fumble recoveries cumulatively. Ottawa leads the conference with 25 while having played only four games. Two others have cracked the 20 mark after five games, while you-know-who got there after four.

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈@uOttawaGeeGees Jamie Harry snags the interception and the lead away from the @yorkulions with this pick-6 to put his side up 14-10.#WeAreONE | #YRKvsOTT pic.twitter.com/eej8golnf9
— OUA (@OUAsport) September 22, 2018

TOUCHDOWN GEE-GEES!!
Buettner to Dylan St. Pierre for the long TD! Extra point is blocked, but what a way to start the second half!

Gee-Gees 30 | York 16#GGnation🐎@uOttawaGeeGees @OUAsport @USPORTSca @USPORTS_FB pic.twitter.com/DQ2vCSiUTS
— Gee-Gees Football (@GeeGeesFootball) September 22, 2018

📽️: Defensive end or wide receiver?? 🤔

Take a look at Cody Baranyk's PICK 6 (with a little help from Rashad Spooner with the great tip!)#GGnation🐎 @OUAsport pic.twitter.com/hMpbsiSpSi
— Gee-Gees Football (@GeeGeesFootball) September 22, 2018

Ottawa has a good enough defence to contain Carleton. It's not clear what their highest gear is offensively, besides "Kalem Beaver or Bryce Vieira randomly turns into Tecmo Bowl Bo Jackson."

Carleton 38, Toronto 26 — Linebacker Trevor Hoyte had a good month in the fourth quarter: two game-changing sacks sandwiched around an interception. The first sack forced Toronto quarterback Clay Sequeira out of the game, and the interception and second sack (on backup Connor Ennis) created short fields for Carleton, leading to field goals.

A two-touchdown road win against the U of T doesn't do much to disabuse anyone from being skeptical about the true strength of this Carleton team. The points in their favour is that this was totally a trap game for them coming in between Queen's and the Panda Game. Toronto also had a couple of outlier plays — a Nathan Carter lost fumble that gave a U of T a very short field, as well as a 99-yard punt return touchdown by the Varsity Blues' Daniel Diodati in the fourth quarter — that might have made the game artificially closer.

Carleton's actual defence allowed zero points in the second half. If there was trouble with motivation this week, there should not be in front of 20,000-some fans next Saturday.

OUA Football, Week 4: The Good, the Behemoth and the GTA Teams

2018-09-16T01:48:00.002-04:00

We can't blog games like we used, but what we can do is tell long stories that don't go anywhere ... each week, we're keeping a digest on OUA football.

Waterloo should know what its ceiling is, since they haven't come down from it since shortly before 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

Or maybe they have, since they have that Expect To Win, We Deserve This vibe. It would truly be a study in moppishness to try to do justice to the catharsis Waterloo exorcised when it defeated Laurier, 34-32, for its win against their neighbours in 16 seasons — or 5,857 days if you really want to hyperbolize with high numbers. It also would probably be a party foul to wonder how they go from that dizzying high to facing Western next week in what's now a first-place battle. On the first count, Adam McGuire's chronicle of the cross-town rivalry conquest does the job so very well, so just pop open a new tab.

Tre Ford, who's now averaging 12 yards per pass and 9.9 per rush — Kyle Quinlan crossed with Brad Sinopoli numbers from a second-year quarterback — emptied the thesaurus of all its superlatives, and one can only wish that the 88-yard game-winning touchdown pass to Tyler Ternowski would get some love on broadcast television. There's a pretty impressive talent operating Waterloo's offence.

So what now? Western might be a too-much too-soon deal but Waterloo should be favoured in its other three games. A 6-2 finish is in the offing, with a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage against Laurier (2-1), who could really cause some forelock-tugging in the OUA office by winning at Carleton on Thanksgiving weekend to create a three-way tie for second.

But that's getting ahead of ourselves. Waterloo is in the driver's seat for the playoffs and that's a microcosm of how the meaty party of the curve has been a joy to follow. Three of Saturday's five games were one-score affrays, with the Warriors hanging on to outlast Laurier after the late, long go-ahead TD, while Carleton reprised its eerie mastery of double-overtime games against teams from the 613 and Guelph was not just good, but good enough to win at Windsor.

Then there was the bad and the ugly, with the GTA's teams losing 113-6. Maybe Doug Ford can use the notwithstanding clause to reduce the travel roster for all teams visiting York and Toronto the rest of the season from 47 to 25 players.

Waterloo 34, No. 4 Laurier 32 — Let's not overlook the fact Laurier had two weeks to prepare thanks to being on its bye and Waterloo still put up 605 yards. An unsung hero of Waterloo's biggest win until the one that clinches a playoff berth should be Michael Reid, whose sack ended a Laurier drive and forced the punt one play before Ternowski got the DeLorean up to 88.

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈

Oh snap! That. Just Happened! 😲

Tre Ford and Tyler Ternowski hook up for the HUGE play with under 3 minutes to go to give the @WlooWarriors the lead late. Now it's @WLUAthletics turn to see what they can do in response! #WeAreONE | #WATvsWLU pic.twitter.com/k6L3YkxgNb
— OUA (@OUAsport) September 15, 2018

When all it takes is everything you got.
Tre Ford postgame - 558 yards of offense later. #goblackgogold @WlooWarriors @UWWarriorsFB #BattleOfWaterloo pic.twitter.com/kvXuc7cXcC
— Jon Behie (@JonBehie9) September 15, 2018

True story: my parents moved me into the Mac King Village residences on Monday, September 2, 2002. I unpacked a bit, and totally blew off my floormates who were heading to the official frosh week opening ceremonies to head over to University Stadium...
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) September 16, 2018

For so many reasons the #BattleOfWaterloo is special. So proud of @bertwarriorfbal @CoachDA97 @BConway49 and their staff, our @UWWarriorsFB student-athletes and our @uwaterlooalumni whose effort and commitment contributed to today’s success.
— Roly Webster (@rolywebster) September 16, 2018

Post-Game speech from @bertwarriorfbal is an emotional one to say the least. What a win for @UWWarriorsFB #BattleOfWaterloo ✔️#goblackgogld 🖤💛🏈 pic.twitter.com/PXAx88ejzy
— UWaterloo Warriors (@WlooWarriors) September 15, 2018

My Laurier post-mortem comes back to a small irony. Waterloo kept the ball for basically the last 7½ minutes of the third quarter, a 15-play, 92-yard hike in the sweltering heat. Typically, having the ball that long and kicking a field goal from inside the 10 and still being two scores down (29-20) should have been cause for apoplexy among the analytics set. But, with the caveat that correlation does not imply causation, that took a toll. Waterloo scored touchdowns on its next two possessions. It's a small irony that a game with 1,150-some yards of offence, including four bills aerially from both Ford and Laurier's Tristan Arndt, might have been decided by some clock-chewing.

Waterloo took the short field goal after two third-and-sizable conversions. Who moved the sticks on the first one? It must be mentioned that it was Mitch Kernick, who had a gutting drop against Carleton on Sept. 8.

Carleton 42, Queen's 39, overtime — Be it resolved that Ottawa Redblacks super-rookie Lewis Ward is loaned out to all of Carleton's opponents for field goal kicking for the rest of the season. Snark aside, full credit to the Ravens for solid situational football and clearing the way for Nathan Carter to go for 179 rushing/receiving yards ... but what are the odds of winning three-point games two weeks in a row while the opponents' kickers are a combined 1-for-5 on field goals? Well, luck is the residue of design.

Ravens Homecoming play of the game 🙌 goes to #35, Matthieu Pickens. Pickens scored a TD in overtime to give the Ravens their 3rd win in a row. 😤 #FearTheConspiracy pic.twitter.com/Gvz4IePWbU
— Carleton Ravens Football (@CURavensFB) September 15, 2018

Did you ever doubt us?!? 😤

Ravens finish strong in overtime with the Homecoming W! 💪🏼🏈

🐦: 42
👑: 39 pic.twitter.com/pLrLLH76Or
— Carleton Ravens Football (@CURavensFB) September 15, 2018

This week, Queen's set Nick Liberatore up for two game-winning kicks, one from 38 at the end of the fourth quarter and one in the first overtime after the Ravens were blanked on their inning. Neither proved true. Sure enough, Liberatore got a 42-yarder that wasn't for the win, and Carleton needed just two plays to score the winning TD.

Does this mean Carleton is 2012 Guelph, winning week after week when a balance of probabilities says it should break the other way? Make of it what you will. Oddly enough, that 2012 Guelph team had a 42-39 overtime win against Queen's — in the playoffs, no less — that also involved scoring a TD after Queen's kicker made a relatively tough field goal.

In the present, the challenge for Carleton will be that, once it inevitably pulls a Panda Game win out of parts better left unsaid in two weeks' time, it has a short week before a turkey bowl against Laurier.

Queen's (2-2) remains inscrutable.The plus side is that Nate Hobbs, who had to be his own ground game due in part to playing catch-up, tallied 36 points and 433 yards in front of a loud away crowd, the same environment where Western put up lesser numbers three weeks ago. That's something, even if one suspects the 'Stangs were sandbagging a bit just to manufacture a crisis. The Gaels should have the offensive capacity to win at least one of the road games at Guelph and McMaster that are sandwiched around the exercise in self-flagellation that is welcoming Western to Richardson Stadium at the end of this month. But the reality is that a team with a secondary as callow as the Gaels' is about as trusty as a MLB team with a sketchy bullpen in October (calling it now: the Red Sox don't win the World Series).

How they get to 5-3 seems daunting. The Gaels' other home game is against Ottawa on the final weekend. The throw-out-the-record cliché might be expanded upon here — throw out who's coaching, who's quarterbacking, where they're playing, what conference they're in, but Ottawa has often been a stumbling block for the Gaels. The Gee-Gees have won the last four matchups.

Guelph 26, Windsor 20 — Just as Nancy Drew said all you need to solve a mystery is an inquisitive temperament and two friends, all you need to win at Windsor is an imposing senior linebacker and two explosion plays on offence. Luke Korol furnished the former with 14 tackles and two sacks, the second of which ended the final drive of the game after Lancers rookie quarterback Colby Henkel had driven his winless team to midfield. Theo Landers had 55-yard touchdown toss and a 91-yard scamper that set up Guelph's other TD, and that accounted for more than a third of the Gryphons' offensive output.

Guelph hosts Queen's in a potential fifth/sixth-place eliminator game next week. Neither has defeated a playoff team.

Meantime, ain't no bye week party like a Windsor bye week party. Or so it is said.

McMaster 37, Toronto 3 — Time of death for the Marauders' offensive touchdown drought: 168 minutes. It took almost 27 minutes before they got across the alumni stripe, but Andreas Dueck finished with 372 yards and three touchdowns in a confidence-building exercise.

That leaves three teams square at 2-2. McMaster had the one-point win against Guelph, who hosts Queen's next week, who visits McMaster on Oct. 5, a school day game on the Friday of a holiday weekend. You already know this is finishing in a three-way split.

No. 1 Western 76, York 3 — All you need to know — actually you don't need to know this — is that Trey Humes, Cedric Joseph and Alex Taylor each had more than 100 yards in total offence. The same cannot be said of any Lions players. Or of the Lions themselves.

Me and 11 guys in rubber boots could give York a run for their money.
— Morris Dalla Costa (@MorrisDCosta) September 15, 2018

It got out of hand early but @WesternMustangs game has gone Final. 77-3 @westernuFB over York. They are 3-0 now and have won 15 straight dating back to last season. Action & Analysis on @CTVLondon tonight. @CJBK pic.twitter.com/DehPIeoMxa
— BrentLaleCTV (@BrentLaleCTV) September 15, 2018

Bye team: Ottawa.

Week 5 docket, in order of appeal: Western at Waterloo, Queen's at Guelph, Laurier at McMaster, York at Ottawa, Carleton at Toronto (bye team: Windsor).

OUA Week 3: Carleton swoops out of Waterloo with a big win, but Warriors show they're mostly for real

2018-09-08T21:08:00.004-04:00

Carleton attained a desirable outcome and Waterloo was faithful to the process — it just didn't show on the scoreboard.

That might be the best way to unpack the Carleton Ravens wresting a last-seconds win against Waterloo which might be the difference between the Ravens (2-1) hosting a playoff game and being a playoff bubble team. Carleton doesn't evince a lot of flashiness, but this game is about not beating oneself. The Ravens were turnover-free, converted two fumble recoveries into 10 points and cranked up the A/C — quarterback Michael Arruda, feature back Nathan Carter — to consume almost all of the final 2½ minutes before Michael Domagala booted the winning field goal.

🏈: 18-18

⏱: 2:40@CURavens fans: pic.twitter.com/8ETXzODQTy
— Carleton Ravens Football (@CURavensFB) September 8, 2018

‼️ FIELD GOAL ‼️@MichaelDomagala makes a 22-yard field goal to capture the lead with 8 SECONDS LEFT!!!! @CURavens : 21@WlooWarriors : 18 pic.twitter.com/Ulnh1cGQ6P
— Carleton Ravens Football (@CURavensFB) September 8, 2018

The upshot for Waterloo is, true, it could be looking at 2-3 justlikethat with Laurier and Western next up on a three-game gauntlet. But the Warriors are not besotted with issues on both offence and defence, while new mid-table neighbours Guelph and McMaster look like they couldn't put up 30 points running plays against air, or even an AUS team.

Tre Ford has seen a real defence and still has wild rate stats — 11.4 yards per throw, a touchdown every 7.9 attempts and an 80 per cent completion rate, just for you traditionalists. The Warriors played good defence against a big-boy team and could have won had they not left points on the field, most notoriously when normally sure-handed Mitch Kernick dropped a wide-open pass behind coverage in the first half, with a 28-yard single on the ensuing field-goal try completing a six-point swing.

After three weeks, OUA, from top to bottom, is in a 1-1-6-3 alignment. Try to guess who the first '1' is.

The middle of the league is a Coin Flip Sub-Conference, where sooner or later it comes down to fate. Or to be less referential, it comes down to refereeing and the kicker's foot.

Carleton 21 Waterloo 18 — In terms of rooting for story, the hockey score at halftime, 8-3 for the Ravens, created a warm fuzzy feeling. It connoted that we would see what Waterloo was made of after being contained for a half and not getting the Pavlovian response that is a couple touchdowns on the board during the first 30 minutes.

Ultimately, Ford commanded 101- and 85-yard drives in the second half, mostly through Kernick and Gordon Lam, who found slews of space in the coverage. (Tyler Ternowski was limited to 25 yards, so his per-game average has plummeted to 140.7.) Ultimately, the red-zone misfires and two missed field goals from inside of 30 yards — second-year Mike Bushell was placekicking and vet Caleb Girard punted and handled one convert — turned the outcome.

Time will tell if Waterloo is good enough to give itself a margin for error. Once the Purple bruises heal two Saturdays from now they have an at York-McMaster-at Guelph closing leg and they have shown a lot more than all three of those teams.

NEW VIDEO - @UWWarriorsFB and @CURavensFB meet on Saturday afternoon at Warrior Field. Check out the highlights on 519's YouTube channel brought to you by @WRPreds #OUA #LocalSports @WlooWarriors @CURavens @adammcg1983 @OUAsport https://t.co/VeIHRAjwfg
— 519 Sports Online (@519sportsonline) September 8, 2018

Ottawa 12 Guelph 10 — The Gee-Gees' identity shift from airshow to airtight defence was so gradual, I didn't even notice. Eight players got in on the seven sacks on Guelph's Theo Landers.

🎬 Here's a look at that clutch field goal block that sealed the win! pic.twitter.com/Ea7oqarRYd
— Gee-Gees Football (@GeeGeesFootball) September 8, 2018

FINAL: Dawson goes off for 189 total yards (153 rush & 36 receiving), the defence tallies seven sacks, special teams comes up big, and the U SPORTS #9 Gee-Gees defeat #8 Guelph to move to 2-1 on the season! Bye week up next, see you on Sept. 22 for York #GGnation🐴🏈 pic.twitter.com/Dj03MB5WwX
— Gee-Gees Football (@GeeGeesFootball) September 8, 2018

Well, truthfully, Ottawa started marking strides over on the dark side in 2016. One has to remember Ottawa had three coaches in four seasons from 2009 to 2012 (first Denis Piché left, then Jean-Philippe Asselin, then there was The Gary Etcheverry Experience Featuring The Double-Wing). The instability really seemed to show up in the core spots and perhaps the recovery has taken this long.

Ottawa limited Guelph to 269 yards, a third of which came on one bust in coverage that led to Zeph Fraser scoring a touchdown for Guelph.

The Gee-Gees defence also induced a conceded safety early in the fourth quarter to slightly stretch their lead to 12-7. That really shouldn't have been enough of a cushion with 13 minutes left in Canadian football, but they made it so, keeping Guelph from giving Daniel Ferraro any better look at the go-ahead field goal than tries from 52 (wide) and 53 (BLOCKED).

The convenient narrative for Guelph is this is déjà vu all over again. Two seasons back, it also lost a close game at Ottawa. From there, it lost three more to miss the playoffs. That's not to say it will happen again, since all but the Laurier game stack up as winnable.

Queen's 43 Toronto 7 — The contrast in close-game experience between the Blackbirds and the Big Yellow Guys, who meet at Carleton next week, is about as stark as the difference between the most intricate Bach cantanas and the most bombastic Wagnerian excesses — got to use a simile that only the most erudite Queen's folk might understand.

🏈 - Are you serious NATHAN LANGLEY?!

This return has given the Gaels the early 7-0 lead!#TORvsQUE pic.twitter.com/h80bOsZOpK
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) September 8, 2018

Here's @queensgaels Nathan Langley returning a 110 yard kickoff return for a touchdown to start their @ouasport football game with the @varsity_Blues pic.twitter.com/Ub3uXdgYEm
— Ian MacAlpine (@IanMacAlpine) September 8, 2018

Carleton has gone down to the final play twice in three weeks, while going down to Windsor and winning by a three-score margin (38-20) represents a puzzle with a moderate degree-of-difficulty. The closest scoreline in any Queen's game is 21 points and the ya-but that York stayed in contact for three quarters has been overruled.

So the jury remains out on Queen's (2-1), who has no gimmes over the final five games, starting with being away at Carleton and Guelph for the next two. Beating Toronto by 30-some points doesn't prove a lot, and there will be scorn for the fact they used a flea-flicker in a game that needed no such strategem.

🏈 - Here's a MUST-SEE play that set up the Gaels touchdown #GoGaelsGo #TORvsQUE pic.twitter.com/iZou1GxnAR
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) September 8, 2018

Western 44 McMaster 6 — The guy with McMaster on the back of his jersey scored a 55-yard touchdown. The ones with McMaster written elsewhere on their uniforms did not. Oh, don't look so shocked.

FB: Chris Merchant connects with Harry McMaster for a 55-yard touchdown as Western leads @McMasterSports 27-3 with 0:45 left in the first half! #GoStangs
— Western Mustangs (@WesternMustangs) September 8, 2018

Western will face a team on a win streak next week, though. Except it's York. Meantime, McMaster used both Andreas Dueck and Jackson White at quarterback. Pick one and go with it!

Overall a tough, tough day at the office for the McMaster Marauders football team but they were facing Western,the defending Vanier Cup champs in their building after a bye week. It was never going to be easy and better days to come starting next week. Keep the faith
— Steve Clark (@SteveClarkMedia) September 9, 2018

Yep -- and they played the quarterback shuffle again. I think they need to stick with one guy
— Steve Clark (@SteveClarkMedia) September 9, 2018

York 29 Windsor 22 — Excelsior to the Lions for winning this season's Doughnut Bowl. The only quibble is there was no touchdown from the receiving Hunchak to the passing Hunchak. The Philadelphia Eagles have instilled that expectation in everyone.

Where did this get away from Windsor? In a span of three possessions in the second quarter, York allowed two safeties and had a turnover on downs at its 34-yard line after their punter was tackled short of the sticks. Windsor's offence turned that into zero points, with punts sandwiched around York's Desi Dixon stopping Marcus Kentner on third-and-goal from the one.

For those trolling at home, the Lancers (0-3) have lost 22 of 27 games since Austin Kennedy picked up his sheepskin.

Bye team — Laurier (2-0).

Week 4 docket, in order of goodness — Waterloo (2-1) at Laurier (2-0); Queen's (2-1) at Carleton (2-1); Toronto (0-2) at McMaster (1-2); Guelph (1-2) at Windsor (0-3); York (1-2) at Western (2-0).

OUA notes: Laurier's offence needs to play on a national stage

2018-09-03T17:17:00.002-04:00

We can't blog games like we used, but what we can do is tell long stories that don't go anywhere ... each week, we're keeping a digest on OUA football.

Somewhere in the internal between Kurleigh Gittens Jr. laying out for a the-rout-is-on-signalling touchdown and Ente Eguavoen Matrix-ing his way inside the end zone pylon as Laurier began to really pile it on on against Queen's on Sunday, there was a twinge of anxiety.

More sophisticated minds can break down why Laurier, which grilled a 40-burger at Richardson Stadium for the second September in a row, has had such a production line on offence. Those concerns about the experience of Tristan Arndt at quarterback might be validated yet — keep telling yourself, it's early — but they have put on a show. The 44-18 scoreline against Queen's really did not do justice to the trouncing of the Tricolour, as Laurier had 621 yards, with 388 in the passing phase. Queen's is holding a Kids' Day promotion next weekend against Toronto, but it was men-against-boys on the other side of the ball too where Laurier limited the Gaels to 226 yards; 86 of that total came on one touchdown drive and a further significant chunk came on some window-dressing drives in toward the end.

Statement win by @WLUAthletics with a 44-18 win over a good @queensgaels team. Tristan Arndt throws for 313 yards and 3 TD’s. I guess the @USPORTSca top 10 panel wasn’t so crazy for having @LaurierFootball ranked so high after all. #UAgree?
— Donnovan Bennett (@donnovanbennett) September 3, 2018

The qualm is whether it can last. Could Laurier potentially win a scorefest against that other purple team, the Western Mustangs, on their home field? The Golden Hawks were pumped real good by Western in last year's Yates by a score that resembled the blood-pressure reading of an unhealthy person. They were full value for that comeback for the ages in the 2016 Yates (scoring 24 points in the final eight minutes to win 43-40), but the way that Western exacerbated the collapse does make it look like lightning in a bottle.

There are at least two really good OUA teams. Laurier, though, could be faced with problems at each end of the competitive spectrum: how much of a test will they get over the next five games and will they hold up if their game at Western on Oct. 20 ends up being like the movie we've seen before, where the Mustangs dictate terms with their steady chain-moving, will-imposing ways?

The last paragraph probably makes the bias obvious. As a first-gen stat nerd whose geeklove started with baseball, part of a personal infatuation with the sport, starting around 1990 or so, was seeing the fan-dangled offences pile up points and passing yards; those were the days when the run-and-shoot was being unleashed on the NFL and CFL teams' willingness to explore the possibilities presented by unlimited motion and a 65-yards-wide field made 6,000-yard seasons the norm, collectively laying waste to hoary coach-speak about using the run to set up the pass.

(Are you saying offence sells tickets, Captain Obvious?)

It is unfair to say one purple powerhouse's mode of attack offers more for the mind than the other. The lessons one can take from Western come down to how Greg Marshall often seems to be a step ahead with anticipating when he's going to have another big body or fresh legs and hands coached up and ready to contribute. On the field, they're very creative with using eligible receivers at the point of attack. But it is about the rushing phase at Western, just like it was in 1989 or 1979, and it is tough for a born against-the-grainer such as I to go along with that.

At Laurier, it comes off as if coach Michael Faulds, who as a Western quarterback set national season and career records for passing yards within that prescribed framework, has taken some of that and combined it with the field-stretching goals of the modern football scientist. They have had more rush attempts than pass attempts through two weeks against Ottawa and Queen's, both teams in the meaty part of the OUA curve. As OUA.tv's Bill Miklas wondered on Sunday night, what does a defence prepare for against Laurier? Future pro Gittens and Eguavoen are a fine 1-2 punch as the outside receivers, while they have a steady-as-rent rushing phase with Levondre Gordon carrying most of the mail behind a blocking group of centre Myles Methner, guards Drew Mairleitner and J.D. Richardson (the two seniors on the unit) and tackles Bryce Bell and Sukhneet Kahlon, plus Cal Taylor and Mario Villamizar as H-backs.

The crux of this is that with an expanded Vanier Cup championship, be it six teams or eight, this Laurier team would be probably be national in November as either a Yates Cup winner or as the second representative from Ontario alongside you-know-who. However it happens, and we know the stakeholders are working on something for 2020 (if not then, 2021; if not then, 2022), it needs to happen.

That preamble might have just served to set up future posts about the playoff talks. That's a lesson from Faulds, one supposes.

Quick hits on the games. Top-ranked Western is the bye team.

Laurier 44, Queen's 18 (Sun.) — Understating that Queen's young secondary got a wee bit exposed will do, Pig, that'll do.

Impressive Laurier moment. The outcome was still theoretically in doubt at 23-7 in the third quarter when Eguavoen stretched out for a sideline catch on a second-and-15 play. That and a third-and-short conversion set up a Gittens Jr. touchdown. On the next drive, Eguavoen collected his just desserts for reviving a penalty-stalled drive by scoring a touchdown of his own.

Was there malice aforethought to get Eguavoen into the end zone? It probably just happened that way. But good teams keep the skill players slaked.

Laurier has a bye before what we full expect will be a 73-70 game against Waterloo on Sept. 15, followed by away at McMaster, home to Guelph, a short week before a Friday-of-Thanskgiving-weekend game at Carleton and Windsor. With the GTA teams off their schedule, that's a bit of gauntlet, eh?

Ottawa 18, McMaster 11 — Another matchup from The Verve division, as in the teams that seem to be "a million different people from one day to the next." It's good for the big picture that the Gee-Gees and Marauders are each 1-1, with a semi-exciting home win and an away loss, after two weeks.

The Gee-Gees' Bryce Vieira can't change his mold, oh no, and all of that was present on his 61-yard touchdown reception that broke the deadlock. Most running backs don't have the peripheral vision to make a one-handed catch. Then he broke through a couple tackle attempts from a young McMaster defence, and had the vision to turn it into a footrace.

🏈 #OUA FBALL 🏈

From the one-handed grab to the tackle-breaking run, @uOttawaGeeGees Bryce Vieira earned the touchdown on this play to give his squad the late 18-11 lead!#WeAreONE | #MACvsOTT pic.twitter.com/jyVgZWaOQJ
— OUA (@OUAsport) September 2, 2018

Ottawa needed that one be on decent footing in the playoff race. Their itinerary as Guelph-bye-York before the Panda Game. They should be able to come into that healthy; for the last few years it's been a question of whether they can get out of it healthy, emotionally and physically.

The take-home with McMaster is that Andreas Dueck took over for Jackson White at quarterback and looked fairly poised, perhaps in a way not conveyed by the final stat-line on a day when it rained in the nation's capital. (Fun fact: there was rain during Mac's 2014 and '16 visits to Gee-Gees Field, and Ottawa won each of those games, too.) Sometimes when the future arrives, it's not noticed at the time.

Waterloo 41, Toronto 18 — The Tre & Tyler Show will face a legit team when Waterloo (2-0) faces Carleton on Saturday. There is a lot more afoot with the Warriors, though, than, being some world's tallest midget whaling on bottom-feeders. If that was the case, the games would have been close for a while and the Warriors have raced out to huge leads in each game thus far. Tre Ford and Tyler Ternowski, among others, would contribute on almost any team in Ontario.

Ford is averaging 13.5 yards an attempt — some quarterbacks do well to average 13½ a completion, but then again, he's completed nearly every ball — and a touchdown every 5.5 throws. Ternowski has six touchdowns in two games.

The @WlooWarriors offense was excellent again, but my word, did @Jack_Hinsperger ever have a massive night: team-leading 5.5 tackles, 1.5 sacks, *four* tackles for losses for the rookie LB.
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) September 2, 2018

Tre Ford, through two games this season: 10 touchdown passes, 9 incompletions.
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) September 2, 2018

Watch:
1. Ternowski's ankle-breaking move to get the DB to bite outside

2. Ford move his eyes, as to not telegraph the pass

3. The timing - Ford feels pressure coming from the right, delivers strike immediately when TT gets open to the inside, beating the help over the top. https://t.co/cvt8aeuODD
— Adam McGuire (@adammcg1983) September 2, 2018

Get by Carleton, which will certainly have a seafaring defence but might not be able to win a game that goes into the 30s, and Waterloo will be more of a playoff lock. Perhaps this a sentiment best left back in 2017, but the fact Waterloo and playoffs is in the same sentence, legitimately, is a welcome development.

Guelph 33 York 18 — The unofficial award for Most Improved Webcast and In-Game Tweeting (it's given out right after the award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence) goes to the Gryphons webcast. Highlights and everything. Meantime, while one cannot be sure whether Guelph is very good, they were good enough and then some.

🏈FB: Kade Belyk gets open in the slot and makes a nice reception for the 11-yd TD reception! pic.twitter.com/vRmitJKecx
— Guelph Gryphons (@guelph_gryphons) September 3, 2018

🏈FB: Job Reinhart picks off the Brett Hunchak and takes it home for a pick 6 and the first @GryphonFootball defensive score of the season! pic.twitter.com/WR3YLy91zc
— Guelph Gryphons (@guelph_gryphons) September 3, 2018

Also, is there anyone more deserving of giving the coach the Gatorade baptismal than linebacker, number 53, Luke Korol? I think not.

🏈 Congrats to Coach Galloway on his 1st win as a head coach in @USPORTSca #GryphonPride @GryphonFootball @OUAsport pic.twitter.com/ZMmOoxhoAk
— Guelph Gryphons (@guelph_gryphons) September 3, 2018

If Guelph comes through a four-game stretch of at Ottawa, at Windsor, home to Queen's and at Laurier with a 3-3 overall record, it will be in decent playoff position. It has a Thanksgiving week bye before a homestand against Toronto and Waterloo.

Carleton 38 Windsor 20 — what's more Peak Windsor, the colour commentator big-brain interjecting "good pass protection" a second before a pick-six touchdown given up by the Lancers offence, or the play-by-play displaying an incorrect final score hours after the game? You make the call!!

To be fair on the latter count, it's not often a team misses a field goal and then ends up getting a safety on the same play.

"We've got ourselves a 🏒 score" - Windsor broadcast

Safety on missed FG for #Ravens and they get the 🏈 back 👍
3-2 #Lancers lead 1st Q. pic.twitter.com/4wPCm9uDmr
— Carleton Ravens Football (@CURavensFB) September 3, 2018

It happens THAT fast 💥

Hoyte takes home the #pick6 to make it 25-13 2 min into 3rd Q pic.twitter.com/hEOEeqZ5Zw
— Carleton Ravens Football (@CURavensFB) September 3, 2018

Carleton, one of the five 1-1 teams sharing fourth through eighth place, is also a blank slate. They almost beat Western at home, using home-field advantage to the hilt, but they rolled with having long the cross-province trip and put Windsor away with a decisive second half. An 18-point win after a long trip is still credible.

OUA notes: Why Western stays No. 1, despite Carleton scare

2018-08-26T20:00:00.000-04:00

We can't blog games like we used, but what we can do is tell long stories that don't go anywhere ... each week, we're keeping a digest on OUA football.

Western barely got through its first game as the hunted, which might work for Greg Marshall in the long run.

Football players are never more human than they are in a season opener, which seems like the best reason not to get carried away with the defending Vanier Cup chanpion Western Mustangs — all together now: they only lost three starters — squeaking out a 26-23 overtime win at Carleton.

It was not what was expected, given the way Western stormed through the playoffs last season. But now every team is going to treat a Western matchup like it's the Vanier Cup, even Carleton, which already does that with the Panda Game.

The Ravens had the Mustangs down by 17 at halftime, eerily similarly to how Carleton had a 24-point lead against Western in an early-season home game in 2016 before eventually winning 38-31. Western were fine for the next 7¾ games, until the fourth quarter of the Yates Cup. There was a road loss against the Ottawa Gee-Gees back in 2010, too, before another run to the Yates.

That trip up to the nation's capital from west of the Gridlocked Traffic Area that is the Toronto region is tough on anyone, man. McMaster has also lost in its last two visits up to Ottawa, too.

So between the first-game jitters, a false sense of security and the travel factor, Western probably deserves some benefit of the doubt clemency for that close call.

There's also the possibility that Western learned something from the last OUA team, McMaster in 2012, that came into the season as the defending national champion. Under Stefan Ptaszek, McMaster really didn't aim to use up all of its A-material in the first few weeks of the season, so sometimes the scorelines were artificially close.

On top of that, with an Aug. 26 opener far from its home base before a Week 2 bye and a Sept. 8 home opener against McMaster, perhaps this was like an exhibition game in terms of the timeline. Western will have a lot of practice days before it faces a game with officials and scorekeepers and everything again, plus Laurier doesn't come up until the final week.

On to the snark:
Western 26, Carleton 23 (overtime) — It's not often Western gets held to 4.2 yards per tote, as Carleton's athletes limited the purple ponies to 38 for 167. Given the recent history in that matchup, it's not a total surprise. On the other side of the ball, Carleton's Michael Arruda had 166 of his 297 passing yards on three completions. That came from two touchdowns — one on a third-and-1 where presumably the entire Mustangs defence was gulled — a 53-yard Hail Mary in the final seconds of the fourth quarter that set up Mike Domagala's 50-yard field goal with one second left that forced overtime.

.@CURavens kick a 49 yard field goal with 0.2 left in the 4th quarter to tie @WesternMustangs #ottnews pic.twitter.com/2Osz8EQHIn
— Josh Pringle (@PringleJosh) August 26, 2018

McMaster 16, Guelph 15 — Sending Gabriel Ferraro, a good kicker at this level, out for a 56-yard field goal with 30 seconds left makes my brain bleed. The options Guelph interim coach Todd Galloway had on third-and-10 were not great. The Gryphons offence and quarterback Theo Landers had exactly two completions longer than 10 yards on the day; they and were only across midfield thanks to a rush and a roughing-the-passer penalty.

Ferraro's kick fluttered down around the 10-yard line. It was a game effort from the fifth-year senior who hit a 51-yard field goal last season and has traded pressure boots with Ottawa Redblacks rookie sensation Lewis Ward in the past. But there was a slight wind in his face, and he was kicking toward the same posts he had missed twice already. Maybe Guelph should have tried a draw play.

McMaster, whose young defence made a one-point lead stand up over the last nine minutes, got better and steadier as the day went along. Jackson White was off the mark early, then began fitting some second-down throws to Tyson Middlemost into tight windows, found Middlemost on a 56-yard pass-and-run in the third quarter, and dropped in a 36-yard pass to Tommy Nield — after being trusted to throw deep on second-and-2 — on the go-ahead touchdown drive.

It's hard to say how much stock should be put in Mac pulling out a one-point win at home. Guelph seems like an enigma. With mid-30s Celsius humidity it was probably wise to rotate three running backs and Jamal Hooker and Kwame Osei had their moments when they found the holes very quickly behind guards Ben Petrie and Coulter Woodmansey. There just wasn't a lot of sustain, but fair is fair, the passing game is never going to be on all eight cylinders this early in the season.

Queen's 42, York 21 — It was Lions 9, (Golden) Gaels 3 at the three-minute warning in the first half. One could only imagine how 2006 Neate, or 2007 Neate would have reacted to that — probably in a far from heroic fashion.

First game, slow start, yadda-yadda-yadda. Peak Nate Hobbs showed up and Queen's scored 39 points across the next 30½ minutes. But with Pat Sheahan teams, one learns to be patient until they figure it out and start hitting the deep shots. Putting up 40-plus is a fitting way for Sheahan to get his 100th overall coaching win at Queen's, given some of the offences the Big Yellow Guys have run out over the last two decades.

🏈| Gaels take a 10-9 lead after this Del Brocco TD!! #QUEvsYRK pic.twitter.com/OkYTesq7q3
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) August 26, 2018

🏈| Sheahan joins Tindall and Hargreaves in Queen's 100 win club as Gaels open season with 42-21 win at York #QUEvsYRK #LeadTheWay https://t.co/eXJ9qzi3DI pic.twitter.com/abHvQ1SZmM
— Queen's Gaels (@queensgaels) August 26, 2018

Queen's gets a much truer test against Laurier at home on Labour Day.

Laurier 39, Ottawa 21 — Speaking of which, an assured performance from Tristan Arndt as the Golden Hawks took care of business.

🏈 - @tristanarndt15 taking a hit to make the play! Big score gives Laurier a 39-21 lead with under 7 min to play #WeAreHAWKS #OTTvsWLU pic.twitter.com/tZqszz0TMY
— Laurier Golden Hawks (@WLUAthletics) August 26, 2018

Waterloo 53, Windsor 37 — Did the Warriors just become a 2018 version of mid-aughts Windsor, meaning they can be counted on to pile up yards and points against the bottom third of the conference, while the rest of the chips fall where they may? Not really, since that happened last year, but they are at it again. Make all your "could not do that in NCAA 14" jokes about TNT, quarterback Tre Ford wide receiver Tyler Ternowski, had conference record-tying four TD receptions. Regardless of where the Warriors finish or how well they hang in with the unofficial top flight, at least they're giving brain candy to the stat nerds.

FB | FINAL | What an opener for @UWWarriorsFB with a convincing 53-37 win over @WindsorLancers @Tyler_Ternowski with 11 catches, 289 yards and an astounding 4 TD’s!

Tre Ford, 25-for-28, 463 passing yards, 6 passing TD’s, 1 rushing!@kurtis_gray 9.5 tackles!#WSRvsWAT 🖤💛🏈 pic.twitter.com/SDkzJcmRGG
— UWaterloo Warriors (@WlooWarriors) August 27, 2018

NEW VIDEO - @UWWarriorsFB with a great start to the @OUAsport season on Sunday night. Check out the highlights from @WlooWarriors & @WindsorLancers on 519's YouTube brought to you by @depthtraining #OUA #LocalSports @bertwarriorfbal @MichaelPerak27 https://t.co/YrUALBByJp
— 519 Sports Online (@519sportsonline) August 27, 2018

So, go for it, Waterloo ... have a 200-yard receiver next week against Toronto. Maybe even have two, that hasn't been done. A circle should be drawn around their Sept. 8 game against Carleton, who will be trying to avenge a home loss to the Warriors last season.

Men's basketball: OUA East dominated OUA West again

2018-02-24T13:38:00.005-05:00

With all the talk about the OUA East/West Division alignment in basketball, here's a look at how all teams have fared in a few metrics. It's sorted by Rating Percentage Index (RPI) but I've also included Simple Rating System (SRS) and Points Per Possession (PPP). pic.twitter.com/KMRS2lNdY4
— Denis Beausoleil (@DenisBeausoleil) February 23, 2018

#OUA WBKB | It won't be long before the Critelli Cup 🏆 quarterfinals hit the court, but will today's games follow a similar script to Round 1 or will there be some plot twists on the hardwood? Visit https://t.co/dy5BkCU2gT for more! #QuestForTheCup

👉 https://t.co/Y6xeETMutN pic.twitter.com/gg8hq1pa6l
— OUA (@OUAsport) February 24, 2018

#OUA MBKB | Three 100+ point outputs highlighted the first round 🏀 action, but will offense be the name of the game in the Wilson Cup 🏆 quarterfinals? The top teams are set to do battle in the next round of the #QuestForTheCup!

👉 https://t.co/6z9Tau9m36 pic.twitter.com/28pWVQvXjT
— OUA (@OUAsport) February 22, 2018

The #OUA men's basketball playoffs continue today with the Quarterfinals. Here's a look at each of the 4 matchups. pic.twitter.com/IWC7C21Xor
— Denis Beausoleil (@DenisBeausoleil) February 24, 2018

There used to be a political chant, The West Wants In. In OUA basketball, the chant, emanating from somewhere in the vicinity of the Niagara Escarpment, is The West Wants An Easier Road To Nationals. The OUA heard it, which was inevitable, but unfortunately, they chose to apply it.

The men's basketball regular-season standings were revealing enough about how the conference tilts eastward. The East teams have two all-but-assured losses against Carleton and one fewer regular-season game than West teams, who get the free spaces on the bingo card in the form of the Algoma Thunderbirds. Regardless, the East's fourth-placed Laurentian had 16 wins, while the West's second-placed Western had 15.

The above tables that Denis Beausoleil (@DenisBeausoleil) generated make the imbalance, and the injustice that only two teams from a division can reach the league semifinals and get consideration for the Final 8's wild-card berth, all the more glaringly self-evident. The post-season matchups are playing out in a way that would make Gary Bettman proud.

In the quarter-finals on this Saturday, the quantitatively No. 5 team, Laurentian, gets the abandon-all-hope trip to No. 1 Carleton. The No. 6 squad, Western, will host Windsor.

Last week, Queen's, which graded out eighth in Beausoleil's crunching of Simple Ranking System, had to face Ryerson in a prelim. Windsor, who was 10th-best, hosted Waterloo. Incidentally, Waterloo's 13th-best SRS was lower than the 12th-best of Nipissing, which was the first one out of the playoff tree in OUA East.

All of that could have been forecast from the moment last spring when OUA announced it was reverting to a stricter East/West format, resetting the clock to 2013 and '14 when Ryerson was a Top 5 team but had its route to nationals closed by Ottawa and Carleton. It was like a wet blanket and a cinder block to the face, all at once, to see a league that is trending positively in so many ways by university sports standards — national team and G-league opportunities for Carleton and Ryerson; schools actually bidding to host national championships, unlike football — act against its interests.

There are a dozen changes in governance, funding and administration — cough, scholarships — that would go farther toward creating competitive balance in the major university team sports. Those can be saved for another day. The crux of it comes down to equality of opportunity.

With full realization this is a reiteration of playoff format posts past, the ideal way to accommodate the influx of basketball talent available to OUA — overflow of players left over others heed the siren song of America's shamateurism-industrial complex with all its tax-evading excesses — is to have the loosest, independent-of-geography structure possible. Space the floor. There is no way to anticipate which school will decide it's actually worth basketball-ing right, so why put an arbitrary barrier in place? Schools don't control their location.

One can read a little about the values of a sports league by how it decides a champion. It's telling that the NBA, for instance, might go to the ultimate athletic meritocracy of a 1-through-16 format. The NHL prefers having its best teams eliminate each other early in the playoffs, as a concession to the fact it loses viewership to the spring weather during the conference and Stanley Cup finals.

Again, it was disheartening that OUA took a step back after a few years of the progressive, yet flawed, "RPI-offs." The next step should have been going to Simple Ranking System (SRS), which is more meritocratic. It was one reason for this diehard to withdraw a little from this underrated and misunderstood corner of Hoopdom for this season.

Vanier Cup: Western exorcises demons by dominating Laval

2017-11-25T18:39:00.001-05:00

Alex Taylor stretches out for some of his game-high 150 rushing yards. (Charity Matheson, U SPORTS)

Hurt into hunger. When the Western Mustangs contrived to hand over the Yates Cup last season, of course it was a deep cut there is nothing quite so jarring as a season that ends with a shock defeat, the other guys dog-piling on to each other, and a sudden unexpected slew of time to study for Christmas exams.

It was a double whammy for the Quebecers on the Mustangs such as linebackers Jean-Gabriel Poulin and Philippe Dion, since a win would have set up a chance to play against Laval in the national semifinal and verify the wisdom of casting their lot with Western, over in Ontario. They, and all the purple ponies, proved their point over and over on Saturday, dominating Laval in all three phases during a 39-17 win in the Vanier Cup at Tim Hortons Field.

"This all started on November 12, 2016 when we lost to Laurier," said Poulin, who was Western's second-leading tackler with seven stops. "We all looked each other in the eyes and that's when we said, 'never again; never again.' That was our saying all season.

"This means the world to all of us," added Poulin, who's from St-Nicholas, Que. "It's been four years in the making. We put 1,000 hours every year. There's no team in Canada that out-prepares us or out-works us. This means the world to everyone, not just the Quebec guys. We have guys from B.C. down to Quebec on our team who came here wanting to do this. We showed that football is strong all over Canada."

So in one sense the seeds for this triumph were sown 12 months ago. In another, it started once the mighty Mustangs, who are at the summit of Canadian university football for the first time since 1994, started recruiting in La Belle Province.

A full house of fans at #Vanier53 today. 🐎🏈 #purpleandproud #purplereign pic.twitter.com/LarXme4IgI
— Western Alumni (@westernuAlumni) November 25, 2017

This is my favourite photo from @WesternMustangs yesterday. I can't express in 280 characters how much love and respect I have for this man. Best coach I ever played for, even better person. Immeasurable passion for his players. #PurpleReign pic.twitter.com/GVoGdy186C
— Tom McConnell (@TheTMCShow) November 26, 2017

FOOTBALL | Vanier Cup Champions! Mustangs defeat Laval 39-17 to win seventh national title: https://t.co/RXfIBfU6Ct #PurpleReign pic.twitter.com/WJ27ftNWxy
— Western Mustangs (@WesternMustangs) November 26, 2017

Respect. Congratulations to @WesternMustangs head coach Greg Marshall on winning his first Vanier Cup as a head coach! #Vanier53 🏆 pic.twitter.com/nlLbZQmdaU
— U SPORTS (@USPORTSca) November 25, 2017

"Oh my god, this victory means everything," Dion said as the Mustangs accepted congratulations on the field. "From the moment Coach Marcus (Chris Marcus, an assistant coach tasked with recruitng) starting talking to us, coming to Western felt right. We knew that this was a national team that had won and could win. Today we wanted to prove to the rest of the country we're not chokers.

"We wanted something different. And this year it was all about finishing. Every rep, every lift in the weight room, every sprint — finishing."

In front of a crowd of 10,754 — decent attendance but not outstanding — the game was not as close as the 22-point margin indicated. Laval came in 8-1 all-time in Vanier Cups, with the only loss in overtime, but it was never in the game after halftime. The final spread represented the Rouge et Or's worst season-ending loss since the 2001 Atlantic Bowl, when Laval coach Glen Constantin was in his first season at the helm.

Western outgained Laval 578-277 and had zero turnovers. The Rouge et Or's only touchdown in the first 3½ quarters came on a 78-yard drive late in the second quarter that was helped along by two unnecessary roughness penalties on Mustangs pass defenders. The second came in garbage time after Marshall had already received the Gatorade bath, baptized as a Vanier Cup-winning coach after 18 seasons of trying at Western and McMaster.

"I'm going to enjoy this one for a while," Marshall said. "We are not going to start looking at tape, that's for sure.

"You learn lessons either way," Marshall added. "Sometimes you learn more about yourself when you lose. You might learn more, but it's a lot better to win."

The unravelling in that 43-40 loss against Laurier — last mention of it, pinky swear — led to a ministerial shuffle in Marshall-land. The head coach became only the head coach and brought in a Londoner, Steve Snyder by way of St. Francis Xavier, as the offensive coordinator. The end result was that Western was precise and powerful, with any mental fat burned away.

The Western offensive line — centre Mark Wheatley, guards Matt Bettencourt and Grégoire Bouchard (another Quebecer), and tackles Dylan Giffen and David Brown — dictated terms to Laval's force unit all afternoon. The boxscore had Laval's all-Canadian defensive end Mathieu Betts down for 7.5 tackles, but very few came at or behind the line of scrimmage.

"Our offensive line played unbelievable," said Mustangs QB Chris Merchant, who copped MVP honours after finishing 13-of-20 for 276 passing yards and one touchdown, whilst adding 13 rushes for 89 yards and another two scores. "We wanted to contain Betts and we were able to do that. I'm going to take them all to dinner; I don't even care where, I'll let them pick."

Offensively, Merchant, graduating running back Alex Taylor and Cedric Joseph combined for 302 yards. Wide receiver Harry McMaster also torched Laval for five receptions for 115 yards, and slotback Cole Majoros had 92 on just three receptions — two inside the 20 to set up touchdowns, and one that he took all the way to open a 32-10 lead in the third quarter.

On the other side of the ball, the linebacker foursome of defensive player of the game Fraser Sopik (10 tackles, one sack), Dion, Poulin and Russ Jackson Award winner Nick Vanin were seldom out of position.

"I give them a lot of credit," Marshall said. "We made Laval pass a lot more (35 attempts from Hugo Richard) than they wanted to."

In terms of long-range perspective, it has been a while since a Vanier Cup that was played up to be close ended up so one-sided. The shallowness of OUA, where none of Western's competition was near the top of a growth cycle this season, really only served to obscure how strong Western is — once it had erased that creeping self-doubt that had been an Achilles heel in autumns past.

The Mustangs did not have to spring any surprises to beat Laval thorougly.

"I give them a lot of credit," Constantin said. "We thought we had a good read on their schemes and they didn't do anything much differently from what we expected. But what we cannot measure from film is the intensity and physicality. They were a better team today. They have a lot of character."

Scary thought, and more on this in the next post: Western loses little from its nucleus. Leading rusher Taylor and aforementioned all-Canadian left tackle Brown from the offense. The medical school-bound Vanin and safety Jesse McNair are the only sure departures on the D side.

Football: Vanier Cup preview: Western has to win one of these, right, while Laval doesn't know the meaning of No. 2

2017-11-24T17:12:00.001-05:00

Laval QB Hugo Richard.

The greatest concern troll ever invented is projecting a "mental out" on to the teams in a championship showdown.

Deep down, or so the you-totally-are-parodying-Bill-Simmons-here-are-you-not notion holds, one team or athlete is already bargaining internally about being able to settle for second-best. As an over- simplification, it probably is great for resisting paralysis-by-analysis. The Dodgers were going to beat the Cubs in the National League playoffs since the Cubs were satisfied by getting their World Series championship in 2016. The Ottawa Redblacks and Henry Burris were impelled to win the 2016 Grey Cup due to an understanding it was their last chance, while the Calgary Stampeders side they supposedly upset were just obsessed with playing a perfect game.

Western and Laval is another matchup of usual suspects, although it is only the third time they have played in November and only the fourth time coaches Greg Marshall and Glen Constantin have matched brain trusts and behemoths. There is no mental out on either side. Western has not won the Vanier Cup in 23 years, and an entire conference that has spent the last decade increasingly being sluiced through the Mustang machinery is most vituperative on the subject of this drought: Where's the Vanier Cup? When are you going to get the Vanier Cup? Why aren't you getting the Vanier Cup now?" And so on. So, please, da Vanier Cup.

The Rouge et Or, of course, have the first-world problem of having no concept of second place. They have come away empty-handed at only one of these, against McMaster in Vancouver in 2011. That was an alien environment — 5,000 kilometres from home, CFL building, a crowd clearly eager to throw in with the Marauders. Yet it still took double overtime before Mac sealed it.

The best way to tee up any final in university sports, until such time that there's decisive action to take in to help the 99 per cent catch up to the Clobbersauruses (Carleton men's basketball, UNB men's hockey, et al.), is to simply look at what happened when Clobbersaurus has lost. In football, lines win championships and it says here that will probably have the most sway on Saturday. Does the Western offensive line — where all-Canadian tackle David Brown is the only senior alongside Grégoire Bouchard, Dylan Giffen, Matt Bettencourt and Mark Wheatley — handle the Laval force unit, with all-Canadian DI Vincent Desjardins and edge rushers extraordinaire Mathieu Betts and Edward Godin? On the other side of the ball, this iteration of Western is the first to allow 300 yards per game since 2010, when coincidentally they outplayed Laval at Laval in the Uteck Bowl only to get beaten by a nose (13-11 on two late field goals set up by Rouge et Or interceptions).

Other, better sources have the nuts-and-bolts circles-and-X's stuff covered.

If you're looking for something on the @WesternMustangs and Laval for the Vanier Cup, there's information in this. Two meet Saturday. #ldnont #football https://t.co/SekcnW0Q07
— Morris Dalla Costa (@MoDaCoatLFPress) November 24, 2017

Yes Laval has sponsorships but it's tough to teach a bag of money to play any position in football. Credit where credit is due. @WesternMustangs #VanierCup. #football https://t.co/wEYzjVnxOu
— Morris Dalla Costa (@MoDaCoatLFPress) November 24, 2017

New #KCU Episode : Preview of the 53rd #VanierCup between @WesternMustangs & @rougeetor @USPORTSca https://t.co/s0IULZg7sQ
— Krown Countdown U (@KrownCountdownU) November 23, 2017

One. More. Sleep. 👏 #Vanier53
🏈: @rougeetor v. @WesternMustangs
⌚️: 1 PM ET/13h HE
📍: @TimHortonsField
📺: @Sportsnet 360, @Sportsnet 1, @TVASports
💻: Sportsnet Now, TVASports.ca
📻: @AM900CHML pic.twitter.com/KGo2mXVjFh
— U SPORTS (@USPORTSca) November 25, 2017

On this end, it seems more informative and illustrative to look at the template created by Laval's rare season-ending losses

2015 Dunsmore Cup, 18-16 against Montréal — The Carabins won the day by blocking a 19-yard field goal attempt on the last play. To be honest, as a Minnesota Vikings fan, poring over the boxscore is triggering since the game was decided by field goal follies. The reason that Laval was kicking for the win, instead of passing or rushing was that Montréal had two placements from inside of 40 yards go for singles.

So what did Montréal do that Western will have to replicate?

It built a two-touchdown lead halfway through the third quarter, forcing Laval to play catch-up. In
Sean Thomas Erlington and change-up back Gabriel Parent were able to get into the open field, combining for three rushes of at least 35 yards. Two came on consecutive plays; Thomas Erlington scooted for 38 and checked out for a blow, then Parent went to the house on the next play.

The running game is Western lifeblood and it can tag-team with multiple backs.
Les Bleus had three sacks on Laval QB Hugo Richard, but all of them came between the 40s and stopped drives.

Western's defensive line has earned its epaulets, but its 16 sacks in the regular season were eighth of 11 teams in OUA and the fewest among playoff teams.

2014 Dunsmore Cup, 12-9 (OT) against Montréal — As one would anticipate with a field goal battle, there was very little statistical separation; it was pretty much a Quebecois take-off on that 9-6 Alabama-LSU game in 2011.

The Carabins pass defence held after Laval drove to the 16-yard line in the final 90 seconds, forcing the Rouge et Or to take a Boris Bede triple for a 9-9 tie. In the mini-game, Montréal promptly got behind the chains with a holding penalty but a 26-yard completion to Phillip Enchill was enough to set up a field goal. Laval got pushed back by a sack from Byron Archambault — the Carabins' fourth of the day — and a 47-yard attempt for the tie failed.

Those extra 10 yards between the 50s are a killer in Canadian football sometimes; the game had offence, just not points. But Cousineau was interception-free on his way to a 312-yard passing day. The Carabins defence picked Richard once, although it didn't lead to scoring.

The Mustangs' relationship with ball security has been strained by times; they were intercepted once per 24.7 attempts in OUA's regular season, which was ahead of only Toronto. Chris Merchant and backup Kevin John have not been intercepted during the playoffs, though, so huzzah for small samples and recency!

2011 Vanier Cup, 41-38 (OT) against McMaster (B.C. Place, Vancouver) — Pro tip: go out and find a Kyle Quinlan of your own, or failing that, his non-union Mexican equivalent. The Marauders walked it off in the second overtime after skunking Laval with an interception before nestling the ball into range for Tyler Crapigna to slot through the sayonara kick.

How did McMaster pull it off?

They passed, like, really really well. Quinlan was hucking, chucking, for 482 yards. That didn't even include a 101-yard touchdown to wide receiver Michael DiCroce in the third quarter that was negated by a penalty. It didn't count and it did count, since McMaster's confidence was starting to fray.

I'm not big on time-of-possession — it's a by-product stat — but Mac controlled the clock (34 minutes, 22 seconds) and ran 90 plays to Laval's 57.

Very few teams have done that to Laval late in the season. Calgary had 399 passing yards in the 2016 Vanier (and a 553-481 edge in total offence), but a blocked punt and own-zone turnovers turned the tide.
They put Laval in a corner. McMaster led 23-0 at halftime as Quinlan, his blockers and the McMaster offensive coaches played Laval's front seven like advanced beginner band sheet music.

And yet, Laval made a 24-point run, helped by two return touchdowns. The teams traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and again during the first mini-game, before McMaster prevailed.
Pressure from here, there and everywhere. Laval QB Bruno Prud'homme had 35 dropbacks that night and five ended with him being dropped for a loss. The Mac sacks came from five different players, including one from Scott Martin, a rookie defensive back listed at 183 pounds. Two of the sacks came in the red zone and forced Laval to try field goals, cutting 14 potential points down to three.

2009 Mitchell Bowl, 33-30 at Queen's — Gaels defensive coordinator Pat Tracey, as early as 2003, began poring over Laval game video on the premise the road to a national championship would go through the Rouge et Or. The residue of that design was eight sacks on Hec Crighton-winning QB Benoit Groulx, including 3½ by Shomari Williams and a strip-sack deep in the Laval zone in the final seconds.

The key elements:

Pressure, as already noted. The biggest of those eight sacks came with 3:10 left in the third quarter and Queen's up by six. With Williams occupying the left tackle and Laval tailback Sebastien Levesque minding the A-gap, Queen's outside 'backer Chris Smith was left completely unblocked and sacked Groulx.

Laval had a blown read on second and long that left Chris Milo with a 45-yard try on a muddy field. It went wide left, and Queen's cornerback Jimmy Allin returned it 120 yards for a touchdown to complete a 10-point swing.

On Laval's final two plays, Queen's defensive line drew a holding penalty that stanched Laval's momentum. On the next play, Queen's only needed a three-man rush to get to Groulx, with Frank Pankiewicz knocking the ball free for Osie Ukwuoma's win-sealing recovery.
Timely takeaways. The reason Queen's built a 20-point lead came through some special teams resourcefulness. Laval had some trickeration blow up real good after the Allin touchdown. A cross-field lateral to speedster Guillaume Rioux created a slew of space, but Rioux had the ball loose and Queen's Ben D'Andrea forced a fumble. Four plays later, Queen's scored.
Chunk yardage. The Gaels' Danny Brannagan was 17-of-33 for 286 yards with two touchdowns, which represented high-end production for a game on the third Saturday in November in a stadium by a lake. Working behind an offensive line that gave him lots of time, Brannagan was able to take downfield shots, including one to Mark Surya for a touchdown opened a 20-point early fourth-quarter lead that provided jussssst enough cushion.

To sum up, there is no set formula to beat Laval, but a fearsome four-man pass rush and some breaks in the third phase, the kicking/return games, seem to loom large. Offensively, just do what you do, on all eight cylinders.

Laval can be had. Saturday will show whether Western has it in them; we know they would not easily live down a loss.

Football: Saint Mary's-Acadia Loney Bowl will happen, but what about the Uteck Bowl?

2017-11-12T17:21:00.000-05:00

Three days to heal up to play a very physical, much more rested Western Mustangs team reeks of a ritual sacrifice, but that's not for a court to decide.

Justice Deborah Smith has granted an interim injunction to Saint Mary's, which will compel Atlantic University Sport to hold the Loney Bowl between Acadia and SMU by no later than Tuesday. Justice Smith, who took just more than 10 minutes to outline her decision after considering two days of arguments from lawyers for Acadia, SMU and AUS, seemed to centre the decision on whether AUS followed its bylaws. Toward the end of Sunday's proceedings, Smith asked the counsel for AUS if its bylaws contained a provision for creating the executive committee which was responsible for cancelling the game last Thursday (right as Saint Mary's was seeing its first injunction in Ontario Superior Court against U Sports). The response of "it's not anywhere," amounted to a tacit admission that the conference overstepped its bounds.

This will be back in court soon enough, but it the game will be played.

The devil is in the details; but sometimes it's in the practical reality that is outside the purview of the court. The ruling puts the winning team in a scenario of playing twice in five days since the Uteck Bowl against Western is scheduled for Saturday. That's an unfair strain on NFL players, just ask Richard Sherman, never mind student-athletes. The ideal recovery period after a football game is six or seven days. Now it's been pared to three. It is still outside of a 72-hour rule that Football Canada has on the books (i.e., no team can play twice within 72 hours), but it cuts it awfully close.

That's the real scandal. The blame for that falls squarely on AUS and U Sports for the heavy-handed extralegal scramble drill that was conducted last Thursday after Saint Mary's began seeking its injunction in Ontario (read through the Twitter timelines of the on-the-ground reporters quoted below for background).

Law and Order - Student Athletes Unit. So we get a #LoneyBowl but players are going to play Tuesday and then Saturday. Isn't that a player safety issue? https://t.co/FfrPOEyC04
— Donnovan Bennett (@donnovanbennett) November 12, 2017

Any decision on Archelaus Jack never should have been left that late, and those who contend he was ineligible should be the most irate of all, since such an apparent walk-in touchdown turned into slipping, falling and fumbling the ball directly to the other team. It's as if the national body has too many marketing minds and not enough people working on rule enforcement. Or something.

BREAKING: Judge approves #SaintMary's motion to reinstate Huskies. They will play the #Acadia Axemen in the #LoneyBowl
— Natasha Pace (@NatashaPace) November 12, 2017

Judge says the game must be played by Tuesday, Nov. 14 2017 #LoneyBowl
— Natasha Pace (@NatashaPace) November 12, 2017

Loney Bowl game back on #football #LoneyBowl pic.twitter.com/TZ5LdcKgbX
— ColleenJonescbc (@cbccolleenjones) November 12, 2017

Smith said earlier that the details of her decision and how she came to it will be released at a later date.
— Emma Davie (@edaves) November 12, 2017

Smith being firmto Clarke: tell your client to take whatever steps are necessary to make sure there’s a game on Tuesday.
— Emma Davie (@edaves) November 12, 2017

I was speaking w/ Saint Mary's officials earlier who felt confident & said Archelaus Jack would play in #LonelyBowl if granted injunction
— Natasha Pace (@NatashaPace) November 12, 2017

SMU coaches and players comment after scoring a touchdown in court. @signalhfx #smu #aus # Canadianfootball #halifax #novascotia pic.twitter.com/yHJb29GDFZ
— Tunde Balogun (@kingtundes) November 12, 2017

GAME ON: SMU will play at the #loneybowl. Justice Smith Rules In SMU’s favor. Game will be played against Acadia on Tuesday. Shot out to @n_frew6 who broke the story @signalhfx #loneybowl #smu #halifax #novascotia #aus #canadianfootball pic.twitter.com/sJIJfan9ig
— Tunde Balogun (@kingtundes) November 12, 2017

Judge rules that AUS Loney Bowl will go forward https://t.co/KeynAuhTsQ
— Laura Brown (@LauraBrownCTV) November 12, 2017

“AUS respects the court’s decision. However, this is not a final decision. The court has imposed a temporary injunction, suspending the decision to cancel the game," says Phil Currie, executive director of Atlantic University Sport #LoneyBowl
— Natasha Pace (@NatashaPace) November 12, 2017

“AUS believes that it has the authority and made the right decision to cancel the game and that the court will ultimately confirm this,” says Currie #LoneyBowl
— Natasha Pace (@NatashaPace) November 12, 2017

I am in no position to critique Justice Smith's ruling. Saint Mary's motion was to compel AUS to re-schedule the Loney Bowl and, evidently, it had receipts on the status of Jack. Acadia's arguments that it could not possibly be ready to host a "world-class safe event" seemed like weak sauce to me when they were presented early Sunday — a self-fulfilling prophesy passed off as a legal argument. That contention was revealed as hollow after the ruling when the AUS lawyer said, oh, Acadia could host after all.

She was going to rule on SMU’s request to host the game, going to let Acadia lawyer Keith and AUS lawyer Clarke speak to that.
— Emma Davie (@edaves) November 12, 2017

Clarke says right to host this game at Acadia, sees no reason that should be stripped fr them now. No evidence Acadia won’t comply w/ court
— Emma Davie (@edaves) November 12, 2017

Says he’s certain Acadia will want to host game and will do it, when asked by Smith that this decision was based on if Acadia couldn’t host
— Emma Davie (@edaves) November 12, 2017

The crux of this post, though, is to wonder what will happen after the Loney Bowl, presuming it goes ahead on Tuesday as ordered by the court.

The possibility of a catastrophic injury is an ever-present reality in any sport that involves frequent collision or people leaving their feet at high rates of acceleration. The truncated turnaround puts the AUS team in heightened physical danger in the Uteck Bowl — as if it wasn't already up against it facing Western. That is very bad from a liability standpoint, and one wonders if AUS and U Sports are considering their options about the status of the Uteck.

I've been a fan and a huge supporter of Canadian university sports, and Canadian university football, my entire life.

What's gone on in my home province the last few days has been humiliating for the entire product, and for better or worse screams bush league across the board.
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) November 12, 2017

I want to say, I want to think, that those involved in administration with Canadian university sports are better than this. They've proven to us over the past weeks that they simply are not.

It's about the kids. And so many seem to have forgotten that. Shame on so many of them.
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) November 12, 2017

The motion was about a conference championship game, and while AUS deserves a chance to face the rest of the country, in these circumstances is that really going to be as safe as it could be? Likely not, and that aforementioned 72-hour rule provides some legal fallback with liability, but this is a terrible situation.

A compromise might have been to push the Loney to Saturday and forfeit the Uteck Bowl to Western. Does AUS try to save face with such an action? Anything is possible never seemed like less of a throwaway phrase.

The court wasn't asked to consider that eventuality, so it didn't. The urgency of the situation likely proscribed either side pushing for it. Saint Mary's was just trying to get reinstated for the Loney Bowl, while Acadia and AUS argued the ship has sailed, ultimately in vain.

It's an ugly situation, made uglier by the dread that it won't lead to change in the national or regional governing bodies that completely created the crisis.

Football: Conference Championship Saturday thread: Calgary beats UBC on record 59-yard field goal; Laval beats Montréal, and it's That '70s Show For Western

2017-11-11T15:04:00.001-05:00

The Football Underground featuring Niko DiFonte gave us some drama, and it is an enduring shame that it was so hard for most of the country to view live.

Calgary and Laval will meet in November for the sixth time in the last 10 years, but it almost unraveled spectacularly for each juggernaut. The Dinos gave up the lead to Michael O'Connor and UBC with only 16 seconds left on the clock in the Hardy Cup. But they got in range to give DiFonte a shot from 59 yards away and he made it for a 44-43 win, a Hardy Cup for the Dinos, and a Canadian university football record for the longest field goal.

🏈 | DID THAT JUST HAPPEN!!! Niko DiFonte with a 59-yard field goal to win #HardyCup81 for the Dinos! #WeAreAllDinos #GoDinos pic.twitter.com/e48NuoQQJ5
— UCalgary Dinos (@UCDinos) November 11, 2017

Here's your winning score from #HardyCup81, as the @UCDinos earn a thrilling 44-43 win over the @ubctbirds on a 59-yard FG to end the game! pic.twitter.com/YgZqTgBgPb
— Canada West (@CanadaWest) November 11, 2017

Lift that cup, Niko! 🏆 #GoDinos #HardyCup81 pic.twitter.com/vvzKO3qLiB
— UCalgary Dinos (@UCDinos) November 11, 2017

The agony of da-foot: UBC's season ends after 59-yard field goal dashes Hardy Cup hopes https://t.co/IsOtSaoBhR
— Steve Ewen (@SteveEwen) November 12, 2017

It made the Sportscenter Top 10 ... the American one.

How good was Niko DiFonte's 59-yard FG for the @UCDinos to claim #HardyCup81? It was @espn @SportsCenter good. pic.twitter.com/d8PB9Hl3dP
— Canada West (@CanadaWest) November 12, 2017

O'Connor, helped by Ben Cummings doing some crucial scampering in the rushing phase, merely took UBC 92 yards across 12 plays for a go-ahead TD. That should have done it, but Canadian football has no end to unintended consequences; UBC's deep kickoff carried into the end zone for a single, so Calgary got the ball on its 35 with a slew of time to run two plays. Moments later, elation and dejection.

DiFonte erased a mark set by a Saint Mary's player in a week when powers-that-be were trying to erase Saint Mary's current season.

The former mark of 57 yards had belonged to Saint Mary's Jerry Foster since 1986.

The 59-yarder was also a longer field goal in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season.

CANADA COLLEGE FOOTBALL! 🇨🇦

NIKO DIFONTE'S GAME WINNING 59 YARD FIELD GOAL IS EVEN BETTER WITH TITANIC MUSIC!!! THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY DINOS WIN THE 81ST HARDY CUP!!! WHAT A KICK!!! (@UCDinos)

🏈🚢🎶 pic.twitter.com/HUHqjotLpA
— 🏈🚢🎶TITANIC TD🏈🚢🎶 (@TitanicTD) November 12, 2017

Elsewhere:

Laval 25, Montréal 22. The Rouge et Or are heading out west to continue their Vanier conquest; they quelled a Carabins comeback in the final 90 seconds after being up two scores for most of the way. Their defence won the day with five sacks and two big takeaways. Hugo Richard and the offence were balanced (181 rushing, 204 passing) and that provided enough to win.

Western 75, Laurier 32. Now did someone stop Western's Cedric Joseph to stop running before he made the border crossing? His passport is still sitting on the table.

Western is once again prompting observers to ponder whether it is this good or the rest of OUA has just had a massive drop-off, setting a Yates Cup record for most points (75) and total points (107).

Err Acadia might want to let SMU have loney bowl and win just to not see uwo come into their house and smack em. https://t.co/iY2Q2VL1EQ
— Jon (@jonathanwhudson) November 11, 2017

I ball-parked the Laurier-Western line at 21 to 24 points, and suffice to say, even that undersold it. Don't make that face. You knew this could happen. Someone looked up the record for points in a Yates Cup to warn you. That result advances the Mustangs to their first national semifinal in the Maritimes since 1995, although that's the only sure thing about it at this writing.

The Mustangs have scored 66 and 75 points in their playoff games.

And, of course, another title is being decided on the field and in a Halifax courthouse. Saint Mary's gets anoth day in cou

Courtroom burst in laughter after Justice Smith says “it must be an important football game with all these lawyers”. In response to AUS lawyer saying “it’s only a football game we’re not curing disease” @signalhfx #halifax #ns #loneybowl
— Tunde Balogun (@kingtundes) November 11, 2017

Court back in session: SMU, AUS & Acadia Lawyer tell Justice Smith that Tuesday must be “drop dead date” to play game #loneybowl. Players need time to rest to play Ontario champions next week @signalhfx @n_frew6 #halifax #Novascotia #loneybowl
— Tunde Balogun (@kingtundes) November 12, 2017

Phillip Currie of AUS has “no comment” when leaving Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Justice Smith, Punts decision until tomorrow 9AM @signalhfx @n_frew6 #halifax #Novascotia pic.twitter.com/6VKXAFhexs
— Tunde Balogun (@kingtundes) November 12, 2017

Breaking: Justice Smith says “tomorrow night I will like to have decision...I’m really tired. I’ll give yes or no answer tomorrow night” @signalhfx @n_frew6 #halifax #Novascotia #loneybowl
— Tunde Balogun (@kingtundes) November 12, 2017

The courtroom battles continues: Decision will be made on SMU, AUS hearing by Sunday night, says justice Smith https://t.co/smMBU4MA4F
— Tunde Balogun (@kingtundes) November 12, 2017

Notes on all that below.

Quebec — Dunsmore Cup

Laval 25, Montréal 22

Keep calm and get Caron. Lines win championships, and Laval's D had five sacks on Montréal's Sam Caron. Defenders Mathieu Betts and Edward Godin both toppled Caron at the most propitious times, right when the U de M was at the lip of the score zone between the 40 and 30-yard line. That entire unit only allowed a touchdown in the final minute.

The offensive line did its best work after Laval took over with 4:20 left, ahead by eight. It o opened sufficiently big enough holes for Vincent Alarie-Tardif to use up almost three minutes and set up a field goal for an all-important 11-point cushion.

The Carabins offence came back with its first offensive TD against Laval in more than eight quarters and got both the two-point convert and onside kickoff. But the magic wore off before they could find Louis-Philippe Simoneau's field-goal range.

Laval's defence accounted for three first-half points with a strip-sack in the Carabins' zone, while a safety touch resulted from the Carabins compounding a bad-field-position situation with a UR penalty.
No offence, Carabins, but your offence must score too. The Carabins' scoring in the first 58½ minutes came through a scoop-and-score defensive TD from linebacker Brian Harelimana, a single on the ensuing kickoff and two field goals.

The Carabins and Sam Caron finally had a drive before halftime, but it ended with that conservative-coaching contagion, the fewer than 20-yard field goal (a 16-yarder). You don't win friends with salad, or win with short field goals.

Canada West — Hardy Trophy
Calgary 44, UBC 43

Best Hardy since 2016, or ever? The lead changed hands twice in the fourth quarter before changing twice more in the final 16 seconds, and perhaps all that happened was that they ran out of time.

That completes a triptych of outstanding playoff games in the last three seasons between Calgary and UBC, with the Dinos having the two most recent wins (44-43 this time, 46-43 in 2016, after a 34-26 loss in 2015). The close call should be emboldening, since Calgary surely must know it tempted fate by settling for field goals (DiFonte was 6-of-8, and also had two kickoff singles for a 23-point day) when touchdowns would have wiped out UBC.
🏈 #HardyCup81 RECAPS

POSTGAME: Ice in his veins, DiFonte kicks record 59-yard FGhttps://t.co/F9QMddrLge

THAT 4th QTR: Four lead changes set up epic finishhttps://t.co/nL3ZOHo8tB #GoDinos #WeAreAllDinos #CWplayoffs pic.twitter.com/arQIWIBi27
— UCalgary Dinos (@UCDinos) November 12, 2017
Different breed. The main talking point with the Dinos involves the change in offensive opponent. O'Connor and UBC are a passing team. Laval always has a massive front line and Richard has the read-option in his repertoire. It's not a great look on the part of Calgary that UBC had 479 yards despite having the ball for fewer than 23 minutes.
Second crack at Laval. Adam Sinagra no doubt prepared for the 2016 Vanier Cup against Laval like he was the starter, rather than a backup to Jimmy Underdahl, whom he replaced early in the game. It's going to be different now that it is solely his show.

Maybe that transfers into Calgary playing better situational football. That was almost their downfall against UBC. The boxscore tally has Calgary at 591 yards, but a lot of the "settling" came after being stopped on second and short. There will be less allowance for that against Laval.
No shame on UBC's end. The 'Birds lived up to their rep as a late-peaking team. It took a record-long field goal to beat them.

O'Connor still has at least one more season in university football. That's a scary thought.

Ontario — Yates Cup

Western 75, Laurier 32

The field tilted after some hit-me-with-your-best-shot haymakers. The long and short of that is that 10 games in there is still no idea what Western would do against a defence that could limit it to fewer than 200 rushing yards. Joseph had 21 rushes for 259 yards and three touchdowns, and leading rusher Alex Taylor (knee) will get another week to work back to game readiness.

The 59-yard touchdown catch by Harry McMaster in the second quarter came on a read-option where the influence of a fake handoff left the Golden Hawks with a single-high safety and a straightforward read for Chris Merchant. I wanted to see Merchant in situations involving cycling through routes in an obvious passing situation, but that didn't happen too often. The first two instances resulted in a misfired timing route, and a sack.

Once Laurier started to gas, though, that element became more evident. Merchant's best tight-window throw was a touchdown pass to Brett Ellerman that capped a two-minute drill at the end of the fight half.

Western had more passing yardage (205) than rushing (171) during the first half, but a lot of it came on play-action passes. It was a beatdown in all senses of the term.
The horses that run the track after @WesternMustangs score have been unsaddled and appear to be oxygen-starved. Thought they were going to trot a couple of laps, wound up particpating in a long cross-country run.
— Morris Dalla Costa (@MoDaCoatLFPress) November 11, 2017

Laurier role reversal. Michael Knevel returned from a three-week absence to connect on two long touchdowns, but the Golden Hawks' player usage was the story on that side of the ball. Primary back Levondre Gordon was spotted due to a hamstring ailment and slotbacks Kurleigh Gittens Jr. and Carson Ouellette had take handoffs in the backfield. It was a creative stab at a solution, if not a sustainable one.

There really was very little Laurier could do.
The third phase. Western was spurred early by rookie Mike Sananes, whose nearly 150 return yards included a 95-yard kickoff-return TD.

The 'Stangs have some special-teams nits to pick, though. They had two penalties in punt-return situations that extended Laurier drives, and had a wasted timeout before a field goal. Details like that should be tight with a team that had two bye weeks recently, don't you think?

That could actually matter somewhere down the line.

Atlantic

Saint Mary's and AUS went to court over the cancellation of the Loney Bowl. Could they play on Monday if a judge grants SMU's request for an injunction?

If we don't end up getting a Loney Bowl there are a lot adults who failed these young men. And a lot of memories lost. #LoneyBowl
— Tim Micallef (@tim_micallef) November 11, 2017

You are looking live ... at a courtroom ... deciding the outcome of an amateur football game. Look away, kids.
— monty mosher (@justplainmonty) November 11, 2017

SMU lawyer said he’ll stay till midnight. Justice Smith says she is no longer optimistic she will have a decision tonight. May take till tomorrow. @signalhfx @AUS_SUA @n_frew6 #halifax #Novascotia pic.twitter.com/HNiAg8UMnm
— Tunde Balogun (@kingtundes) November 11, 2017

Olympic Champion @donovanbailey visits the @SMUHuskies Football team today. #GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/fCllJf0w9H
— SMU Halifax (@smuhalifax) November 11, 2017

In For A Dozen: AUS cancels Loney Bowl in craven decision, awards Acadia league title, but Saint Mary's takes it to court

2017-11-11T10:00:00.000-05:00

Due to exceptional circumstances, this week we'll publish one-by-one.

Acadia wins Loney Bowl by default; or, drop-kick that last shred of credibility through the goalposts of life. People putting the game last has led to the last game of the season being cancelled, make no mistake.

Atlantic University Sport, in it infinite wisdom, has decided the best remedy for a bad situation is to cancel the Loney Bowl and declare the Acadia Axemen the conference champion. Taken on face, it makes no sense. The only bit of adult perspective one can scrounge is that the regional association made a power play against U Sports, and Saint Mary's, but particularly U Sports for letting this drag out for so long. Drag your feet on an eligibility issue and cast a shadow over our big event? Bring lawyers in? We'll show you, even if it means cutting off our nose to spite our face.
It manages to be bold and craven all at the same time. To a certain way of thinking it seems audacious to shut down a championship game, but on the other hand, it also betrays a deathly fear that a little controversy might actually draw more eyeballs to an athletic contest.

That has prompted Saint Mary's to bring out the hole card it's had up its sleeve the entire time: "SMU signed a binding, written agreement with U SPORTS on Oct. 27, which 'cleared all players to play.' " (Laura Brown, CTV.)
SMU was in a TO courtroom filing an emergency motion today. @CTVAtlantic
— Laura Brown (@LauraBrownCTV) November 9, 2017
SMU Associate VP says the university was in court today, making sure a "binding agreement with U SPORTS" is enforced. @CTVAtlantic pic.twitter.com/HUkGN2p4YG
— Laura Brown (@LauraBrownCTV) November 10, 2017
Margaret Murphy says SMU signed a binding, written agreement with U SPORTS on Oct. 27, which 'cleared all players to play.'
— Laura Brown (@LauraBrownCTV) November 10, 2017
She says they're in front of the Ontario Superior Court, making sure that agreement is enforced.
— Laura Brown (@LauraBrownCTV) November 10, 2017
She said court resumes tomorrow, and they're hopeful for a decision at that time.
— Laura Brown (@LauraBrownCTV) November 10, 2017
So in the meantime, are the Huskies still practicing? Murphy says yes: @CTVAtlantic pic.twitter.com/0xqUrSEh5w
— Laura Brown (@LauraBrownCTV) November 10, 2017
Why take it to court? Murphy says they want assurance. @CTVAtlantic pic.twitter.com/f9m8Sp3oxu
— Laura Brown (@LauraBrownCTV) November 10, 2017

No one wins with this decision by AUS. All four teams are hurt in some way. Fans are also screwed over by this; they just wanted to watch a good football game. Seriously. This should have had a pin stuck in it until the off-season, when it could be fully investigated and then a decision could be made on whether there was professional misconduct.

As unfair it was to Acadia to go all week without certainty of what opponent it was getting on Saturday, the decision essentially says:

a) Saint Mary's is guilty even though there has been no formal ruling that wide receiver Archelaus Jack is ineligible, and Saint Mary's claims it is has a ruling to the contrary (and, again, would not have continued to let Jack play if it didn't think it was OK);
b) St. Francis Xavier is vindicated but gets no reparations, in the form of a berth in the championship game.

I hate to throw around 10-dollar words; right now I'm eschewing it because I cannot pick just one. This is far from over when it never should have been allowed to reach this point.
Roughly 48 hours to kickoff and we still don't know who is playing for the AUS championship. Did they bring back Friday Night Lights and not tell anyone? This seems more like fiction than reality at this point.
— Mike Hogan (@tsnmikehogan) November 9, 2017

Status update on 2017 AUS Loney Bowl football championship game - https://t.co/5iMg0Z7Fwi pic.twitter.com/BkvTLs3FWD
— AUS_SUA (@AUS_SUA) November 9, 2017

Canadian University Sport is flawed and will not grow until the ineptitude at the top is removed. #DrainTheSwamp
— Jordan Henry (@Jor_Henry) November 9, 2017
Given the ruling on not playing the #LoneyBowl, "leadership" proved to be cowardly, placing the game LAST. At this moment I fear promoting the values of CIS Football a waste of time since breaucrats are killing the game thru ineptitude and selfishness.
— Jim Mullin (@Jim_Mullin) November 9, 2017
The AUS had the nerve to say "time does not permit for a fair resolution to be reached prior to the playing of this game." (Emphasis mine.) They used the word "fair" while making a decision that denied two teams, one of whom, St. Francis Xavier, has followed the rules. Please explain how that makes sense.

As for the rule itself ... how is it fair, as Jim Mullin pointed out, that a player drafted after his fourth season can have the benefit of playing CFL preseason games and practising with a team until Aug. 15 and then play his fifth year while according to one bylaws interpretation Jack was expected to lay out for a full year and let his football skills atrophy before playing university ball? Sounds rather classist.
This week's #KCURadio features an in depth discussion on the @SMUHuskies situation with @GARandall. The Canadian Boxscore features @UConnHuskies @BigPlayHm + National Roundtable with @shelbyblackley. @USPORTSca @NCAAFootball 🇨🇦 https://t.co/Tjv59Cgi5T
— Krown Countdown U (@KrownCountdownU) November 9, 2017

Moreover, no matter what, a league that wants to be credible has to play its championship game. Sounds weird, but corporate sponsors are very insistent that when they pay to have their name associated with an event, that the event takes place.
Feared it from the start. No Loney Bowl. The worst outcome. Everybody is a victim. Acadia will have a month off now before facing OUA.
— monty mosher (@justplainmonty) November 9, 2017
Would have voided semifinal and sent X (or Mount A) to Acadia; declaring a champ just doesn't work for anybody; sad end to an AUS season.
— monty mosher (@justplainmonty) November 9, 2017
Sports season should always end between the lines. Bureaucracy cost a lot of people a chance to play for a title. Black eye all around.
— monty mosher (@justplainmonty) November 9, 2017

Meantime, presuming the decision stands, Acadia will end up with three bye weeks before the Uteck Bowl against OUA's champion. And that's the least absurd part of the story.

You can't make this up. This happened on the 20-year anniversary of the Montreal Screwjob. True story.
20 years ago today: The Montreal Screwjob. Wait, it was something else than this, no? pic.twitter.com/XuV4mnY4FH
— Marty (@martinrkipp) November 9, 2017
If there is any good to come out of this? The aptest comparison for this argle-bargle is probably Yellow Sunday in the NHL about 30 years ago. For those among us not old enough to remember, New Jersey Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld confronted referee Don Koharski in the hallway after a Stanley Cup playoff game. The game was on ESPN — yeah, ESPN covered hockey once — and the visuals, along with Schoenfeld shouting, "You fell you fat pig, have another doughnut," was in continuous loop.

The game was on Friday night. The NHL handed down a suspension to Schoenfeld without allowing the Devils to present their side of the story — which seems loosely analogous to barring Saint Mary's from a championship game before their player was even ruled ineligible now that I think of it.

The Devils obtained a court-order injunction against the suspension, so when Schoenfeld appeared to coach, the game officials staged "what amounted to a walkout strike." (Sports Illustrated, May 16, 1988.) But they had to play, and they eventually did, with a crew of amateur officials that included linesmen wearing yellow practice jerseys and borrowed pants, hence the term Yellow Sunday.

In all of this, NHL president John Ziegler was AWOL — the head of the league didn't work weekends, even during conference finals. There might not be a direct line from that saga to the modernization of the NHL that, for good or ill, took place when Gary Bettman was hired as its first commissioner in 1993. It was a moment of clarity that showed the NHL had fallen behind the times with meeting its commitments to its players and to its fans.

It never happened again.

It will happen again in U Sports, probably before the end of the fall season at this rate, because it still depends on self-reporting and whistle-blowing.

With properly funded enforcement that could root out a problem in August or early September, it never gets to this point. The national office owns some of this too for being ill-equipped to address this promptly. And Graham Brown admitted as much on Friday when he said they get "220 questions of eligibility interpretations in a given year." Did anyone ever to think that, instead of hiring another marketing person, maybe they should hire people whose skill-set involves answering those questions? At some point, being swamped with demands isn't sympathetic when you refuse to advocate that you have the proper tools for the job.
CEO says they get 220 questions of eligibility interpretations in any given year. @CTVAtlantic
— Laura Brown (@LauraBrownCTV) November 10, 2017
Where is this season's Grey Cup again? Oh right. The first reaction upon reading CEO Graham Brown's comment "It just makes sense for us right now, from a business standpoint, to try to realign the Vanier Cup back with the Grey Cup and hold both games on the same weekend," was a self-admonishment to not spike the football. Nobody likes an I-told-you-so'er, but the Grey Cup is in Ottawa, and Ottawa interests have kicked the tires on hosting a Vanier Cup, and someone said after the 2016 debacle Ottawa should get the '17 game. It would have worked, kind of/sort of, apart from the whole having to play on Friday night.
How U Sports fumbled the Vanier https://t.co/RRUwmynPm3
— Argos End Zone (@ArgosEndZone) November 6, 2017
Instead, it's cross-the-fingers-time that Western or Laurier wins the Yates Cup and Uteck Bowl, so its alumni and students can fill seats at Tim Hortons Field.

The hard reality is that the Vanier will never be paired with the Grey Cup as long as the pro game and university game are on opposite battle lines in the Canadian Telco Wars. That needs to be resolved before anyone can figure out how to stage the game.

One observation: less is more. In 2012, the last time the Vanier piggybacked on the Grey Cup, both the attendance figure (37,000 at Skydome for Laval and McMaster) and the media audience somewhat smacked of artificial growth. .

U Sports' need for validation and frankly, for funding, is why it wants that crowd of 20,000 to 30,000 at the Vanier Cup. But it's also fighting currents beyond its control; generally, that mass audience is harder and harder to attract for anything that isn't considered big-time entertainment.

Total blue-sky thinking, but would it be feasible to use a university facility within the Grey Cup city when one is available? Bring in temporary stands to create a pop-up PEPS and try to pack in 12,000 people or so on Saturday afternoon.
And the whims whisper, Marshall. Three deep before even talking about anything occurring between the lines seems about typical for sports in 2017.

If the Western Mustangs and Greg Marshall cannot win a national championship after a season where they have an average margin of victory of 37 points and have outgained opponents by a factor of two (and then some), then what has this been all about? Just go get it done already.

The weather forecast for Yates Cup Saturday is "not as cold with sun through high clouds," which doesn't seem like strikingly anti-passing game weather. Western certainly grades out higher than Laurier in being constructed for bad-weather November football, but the Golden Hawks have a fairly decent defence and a puncher's chance if QB Michael Knevel returns after missing three weeks. A field with some snow on it could actually work in the offences' favour, since receivers know their routes and defenders move with them.
Western Mustangs shovel snow and ice off home field for tomorrow's 110th Yates Cup. #oua # yatescup pic.twitter.com/U7tGznMp63
— Mark Lee (@MLeePxP) November 10, 2017
Western Mustangs shovel snow and ice off home field for tomorrow's 110th Yates Cup. #oua # yatescup pic.twitter.com/U7tGznMp63
— Mark Lee (@MLeePxP) November 10, 2017

I would say there's a much greater likelihood of Western winning handily than Laurier pulling an upset. But they said that last year.

Foreshadowing much? At the women's soccer nationals, Western knocked out No. 1 seed Laval on Thursday.
Here’s the story on @WesternMustangs women soccer team upset of No.1 ranked team in Canada. #ldnont https://t.co/Re0HFeec1V
— Morris Dalla Costa (@MoDaCoatLFPress) November 9, 2017
And then there were two other championship games outside Ontario. At least one road team wins every year on the antepenultimate Saturday of the season. UBC has won a Hardy Cup on Calgary's field (in 2015); ditto Montréal at Laval (in 2014).

Calgary has betrayed more signs of regression than Laval has during the past few weeks. Based on that, there's probably more potential for UBC to pull a stunner than Montréal. Prove me wrong!
Andrew Buckley on tomorrow's Hardy Cup final between the Dinos and Thunderbirds:
"I love seeing UBC lose as much as I love seeing U of C win"
— Danny Austin (@DannyAustin_9) November 10, 2017

By the way, a feel-good story that's definitely needed involves retired U of Calgary employee Jack Neumann ponying up to buy football jerseys. One also has to love the insistence that black be minimized in the design: "As long as it was scarlet and gold, that’s the Dinos colours, I didn’t want any black in them or third jerseys. I’m not into that kind of stuff." Can Neumann be in charge of designing Canada's international hockey jerseys, please?
Retired Dinos communications director donates football jerseys in perpetuity @UCDinos https://t.co/uBg5yPcuZK #UCalgary #GoDinos pic.twitter.com/RzYLREpiqk
— U Calgary (@UCalgary) November 8, 2017
Ptaszek back. The rule of thumb is leave for the right opportunity, which Stefan Ptaszek never got with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the CFL's long-running gong show. It bears asking whether the greater good, in the hypothetical, is best served by Ptaszek returning to McMaster. McMaster might not be the world-beater of 2011-12, but it seems ensconced in the upper third of OUA. Ptaszek could have more impact keeping Guelph at the big kids' table or helping someone else be the next Waterloo that achieves respectability.
Edmonton Energy? Edmonton Evergreens? The higher road beckons with the Edmonton CFL team and its dated moniker. Apologists can play the prevent defence of what-abouts, strange this only comes up in the playoffs, there are bigger issues and not all Indigenous people are offended all they wish. Those are just arguments in favour of reinforcing Otherness. To torture the football analogy, though, prevent defences don't work for a reason.
Edmonton mayor urges Eskimos to move quickly on name change https://t.co/nlEVPxvsO2 pic.twitter.com/moIc5Dlfx9
— CBC Edmonton (@CBCEdmonton) November 9, 2017
Calls from Winnipeg for the #Esks to change their name has reignited the debate in #yeg. @AngelaJungCTV asks @doniveson, @EdmontonEsks & @ITK_CanadaInuit for their thoughts tonight on CTV News @ 5 & 6: https://t.co/VMpbWHlN6i #GreyCup #OneEmpire pic.twitter.com/BUpiAXRTFN
— CTV Edmonton (@ctvedmonton) November 9, 2017
And as a case in point about reinforcing Otherness, eeeeeeeeeep:
This is easily the worst (?best?) take on the Eskimos name change. Never change #SportsFacebook pic.twitter.com/q2wr9Aicwc
— Tyler Yaremchuk (@tyleryaremchuk) November 10, 2017

We only get so much energy and, not that anyone asked me, that could be better spent on a name change that, while mostly symbolic, is more in the spirit of inclusion and that whole Diversity Is Strength campaign the CFL launched.
I love the @CFL, I love tradition - but it’s time to change the name “Edmonton Eskimos.” It’s not as heinous as “Washington Redskins”, but it’s on the spectrum. https://t.co/AVrLvoXsec
— Steve Hayman (@shayman) November 10, 2017
I got your low-impact change right here: “Edmonton Eskers”. An Esker is a long ridge of gravel and other sediment, typically having a winding course, deposited by meltwater from a retreating glacier or ice sheet.

(It’s not worse than “redblacks” :-)
— Steve Hayman (@shayman) November 10, 2017
"I call on all media to stop using the term Eskimos in your reporting so as to respect Inuit" https://t.co/6aySx4RyBc
— Aylan Couchie (@AylanX) November 13, 2017

Playing defence against a greater woke-ness is just wasted energy.
'This is why athletes kneel': CFL players and alumni speak out https://t.co/iv9V10jfZb via @macleans
— CFL Headlines (@CFL_Headlines) November 9, 2017
December duel. Under the heading of "yes, please," currently No. 2-ranked Brock and eternally No. 1 Carleton are moving their Dec. 2 matchup to the Meridian Centre in St. Catharines. Who doesn't have a travelling Jones after learning of that matchup?
GAME STORY: @BrockMensBall led by Cassidy Ryan takes down @ryersonrams https://t.co/A4JShVVOuj
— Satbir Singh (@SatbirSingh_) November 9, 2017
Canada’s top two basketball teams to clash at the Meridian Centre https://t.co/ONE68He9iG @OUAsport @USPORTSca @BrockBadgers @CURavens @CUSNetwork
— Brock Badgers (@BrockBadgers) November 9, 2017
Brock showed during its overtime win at Ryerson on Wednesday that it has greater depth than previously, given that they had Cassidy Ryan lead the scoring in the decisive stages after three of the five starters fouled out. The jump-out stat with Ryerson, both Wednesday and in a loss against Western, was some crooked three-point shooting (combined 11-of-53) and free-throw shooting (a dozen clanks in each). Is that where not having Manny Diressa, who didn't play Wednesday, hurts the quality of the looks the Rams get? Yet still, Ryerson nearly beat Brock.
A look at how close @JvMukama and @RyersonRamsMBB was to knocking off @BrockMensBall in regulation last night: pic.twitter.com/IjyrFqypJv
— Jordan Henry (@Jor_Henry) November 10, 2017

Seriously, I'm asking; my straight job doesn't let me get out to as many games as I'd like.

Of course, the team that should be everyone's darling is Lethbridge. How about a steal and a buzzer three from DeJon Burdeaux to finish off Mount Royal on Thursday. By the way, Pronghorns coach Mike Hansen, with 280 characters you could have worked in that Burdeaux took only 12 shots while getting his 28 points.
Burdeaux returns in 4th quarter after hyper-extending his knee and guts out a great performance (28/10/3/2) with a game winner. @UofLPronghorns @cishoops @mattbattochio @windcitysports @GlobalLeth @DWoodardHerald pic.twitter.com/oHk0ZDCxCO
— Mike Hansen (@PronghornHoops) November 10, 2017
Roy Halladay, 1977-2017. Nine is the number of completion and fulfillment. Harry Leroy Halladay, requiescat in pace, embodied those concepts so very thoroughly.

My best stab at an original thought about the deceased Toronto Blue Jays pitcher is that he imparted that baseball in its purest form is in the individual craftsmanship and, for the fan, in learning to identify and appreciate it. What differentiates baseball is it always has some nuance or nook or cranny that will find its way to you and can often be completely ancillary to whether your favourite team has legitimate World Series chances.
Hey #BlueJays fam. Folks will be gathering tomorrow evening at 7pm outside gates 5/6 of the SkyDome as a tribute to Roy Halladay. Please join us. #RIPDoc https://t.co/8GwCR6mSf9
— Jenn Smith (@Baseball_Jenn) November 9, 2017

The Toronto sports fan needed someone to deliver that lesson in the aughts, since let's face it, to be a Blue Jays fan from 1985-93 was to be spoiled rotten. I began cheering for the Jays as soon as I could, but it was not until I was 18 years old that they had a going-nowhere-fast season. In that sense, Halladay perfectly was suited for a fanbase that had to re-learn how to love a game for what it is.

To me at least, the Jays might not have been worth an emotional investment 100 per cent of the time, but you had to be completely engrossed when Roy was pitching. The bond felt real. One Toronto columnist, apparently not realizing why so many people were mourning Halladay's death, wrote, "The sad truth of Halladay’s Jays career, of course, is that not a single one of those starts truly mattered."

False. Every one mattered.
Separating art and artist. It is a terrible time to be an abusive man, unless you're protected by a congressional majority. A reckoning for people who made life miserable for multiple humans, well, who would not get behind that?

It is discomfiting, though, that there is an automatic response that the work of the latest disgraced performer — Louis C.K., whoever — should be erased. That's not a call to binge-watch all of C.K.'s comedy specials. But it's another form of enabling — enabling people to forgive themselves without thinking of why they did not take action against men whom they knew to be treating other people badly.

Fading people from memory can reduce the urgency to learn from it.
Let’s discuss solutions. How can we prevent this? We must look at what happened more deeply and learn. https://t.co/defJkwlfAo
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) November 11, 2017

Getting back to the point, scrubbing entertainers from existence is unhealthy. I've gone along with that, but it was selective and based as much on personal taste as disgust. Woody Allen? We get it, you have neuroses. Kevin Spacey got overexposed in the 1990s and American Beauty was a bad film, a deal-breaker. Jian Ghomeshi was a fine interviewer but always carried on like he had been asked to solve the world's problems. And so on.

That erasure, can removes the possibility of examining why we were taken in, seduced. On Slate, Willa Paskin wrote of C.K.'s HBO comedy series, "the only bad option is not to think about it. The revelations, as damning as they are, don't make the show worthless, though they do make it a very different kind of document."

Why does the abuser get the benefit of the doubt, always, while the willingness to hear from abusers goes up and down?
Lest we forget. Don't read just one article about a Canadian war hero, but do read the piece that Joe O'Connor crafted about Passchendaele veteran Cecil Kinross:
Heroes, the lucky ones, come home, where their life stories — unlike their war story — continue. Kinross took out that German machine gun in a profound act of bravery, but at a profound personal cost. Passchendaele changed him. It made him the hero he was, but less of who he had been, or might have hoped to be. (National Post, Nov. 9)

At the end of the day, that's what's left after all the commemorations, the poppies, the "thanks Grandpa" posts. Sensing that is why I usually chose to be alone in quiet reflection on Nov. 11. That's classic avoidance, no doubt, but it also feels like the message has shifted within my lifetime.

In the '80s, when more Second World War veterans were around to impart the message there was a much strong sense of "never again" when it came to war, an idea that such a conflict must be avoided at all costs. I do not see that as much at a grass-roots level or at a global level anymore, since everyone plays Call of Duty and global capital loves funding a war.
Cecil Kinross VC: The tragic life of a Canadian war hero. https://t.co/0Gj9YVh4ai pic.twitter.com/zzuUYSuj6u
— Joe O'Connor (@oconnorwrites) November 10, 2017
Surely #LestWeForget is meaningless unless we genuinely try to prevent war and conflict, unless we elect leaders who reject violence as a policy, unless we look to a radically different path. #RemembranceDay must be more than mere words.
— Michael Coren (@michaelcoren) November 11, 2017
The final word, the best word, just a tremendous word for 2017. Voilà!
pic.twitter.com/1uIJAPtTiG
— worddiction (@worddiction) November 6, 2017
Apanthropinization.

That takes in everything. Donald Trump sides with Putin over the U.S. intelligence community who risk their lives getting sensitive information, on Veterans Day no less, and some Americans still support him? Let it go. Religiously minded voters in Alabama are insistent on voting for a child-molesting Republican instead of his Democrat opponent who prosecuted people who, wait for it, bombed a church during the Civil Rights era? Que sera, que sera.
Donald Trump's chemistry with the truth pic.twitter.com/VcEoePrT3n
— Curtis Harris (@curtismharris) November 12, 2017