CIS Football — Top 10

Laval leads final media poll

OTTAWA (CFL.ca wire) -– The reigning Vanier Cup champion Laval Rouge et Or end the CIS football poll season right where they started it, at the top.

The Rouge et Or (8-0), who received 14 of 15 first-place votes in the final national media poll of the campaign, led all 10 rankings in 2007 and have been No. 1 in 29 of the last 30 Top Tens.

The Manitoba Bisons are the only other team to reach the No. 1 spot over the last three seasons, taking over from Laval in the last week of 2006.

The No. 2 Ottawa Gee-Gees (8-0), No. 3 Bisons (8-0), No. 4 Saint Mary’s Huskies (7-1) and No. 5 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (7-1) also stay put in the final rankings.

The Regina Rams (6-2) take over at No. 6 from the Saskatchewan Huskies (5-3) following a head-to-head win that gave them home-field advantage for a rematch in the Canada West semi-final round on Friday. Saskatchewan drops one position to No. 7.

The No. 8 Concordia Stingers (5-3) are up two spots, the Bishop’s Gaiters (5-3) hold on to ninth place, while the Western Ontario Mustangs (5-4) sneak into the Top 10 for the first time since week one following an upset of Queen’s in the OUA quarter-finals.

Seven conference semi-finals are on the CIS football schedule this week, all on Saturday except for the Regina-Saskatchewan showdown.

In Quebec, No. 1 Laval will host the 4-4 Montreal Carabins (12:30 p.m., RDS), who won their final three games to earn the final playoff berth in the QUFL. The Rouge et Or, 8-0 in the conference playoffs over the last four years, are 2-0 lifetime in the post-season against Montreal, winning the 2005 and 2004 conference finals by scores of 19-13 and 30-12, respectively.

Laval took the only head-to-head meeting of the season 26-17 on Oct. 6.

Concordia will host Bishop’s in the other Quebec semi-final. The two teams last met in the playoffs in 1998, the Stingers winning 27-17 in the semi-final round.

Concordia beat Bishop’s 20-18 on Sept. 7.

In the AUFC, the unranked StFX X-Men (3-5) host the 3-5 Acadia Axemen (1 p.m. Atlantic, EastLink), with No. 4 Saint Mary’s awaiting the winners in the conference final. Acadia crushed StFX 69-6 the last time the two rivals faced off in the playoffs, in the 2005 Jewett Trophy final.

StFX took both head-to-head duels this fall, 24-18 on Sept. 15 and 42-20 on Saturday.

In Ontario, No. 2 Ottawa hosts the red-hot Mustangs, who have racked up five straight wins since an 0-4 start, including a 27-19 upset of Queen’s on Saturday in the first round of the playoffs. The Gee-Gees and Mustangs have met only once in the post-season since Ottawa rejoined the OUA in 2001, Western prevailing 18-10 in a 2005 semi-final.

Ottawa defeated Western 35-30 earlier this season, on Sept. 25.

The other OUA semi will see No. 5 Laurier hosting the unranked, 5-4 Guelph Gryphons (1 p.m., The Score), fresh off their first playoff win since 1996, a 25-21 upset of McMaster on Saturday. The Hawks and Gryphons last battled in the post-season two decades ago, Laurier claiming a 31-24 semi-final win in 1988.

Laurier beat Guelph 37-17 on Oct. 6 this year.

In Canada West, No. 3 Manitoba hosts the unranked, 4-4 Calgary Dinos (6 p.m. Central, Shaw TV), who sneaked into the playoffs for the first time since 2004 with three consecutive wins. The Bisons outscored the Dinos 31-10 the last time the two teams met in the post-season, in the opening round in 2001.

Manitoba beat Calgary 35-28 on Sept. 15.

In the only conference semi-final scheduled for Friday night, No. 6 Regina hosts No. 7 Saskatchewan. The provincial rivals have faced off twice in the playoffs since the Rams joined Canada West in 1999, Saskatchewan prevailing 44-28 in the 2002 Hardy Trophy final and Regina winning 58-31 in the semi-final round in 2001.

Regina’s 34-31 win on Saturday was the only meeting between the Saskatchewan foes this season.

CIS FOOTBALL TOP 10

Voting is based on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 point system, with a first-place vote worth 10 points. The CIS Football Top Ten Committee is made up of 15 media members from across Canada. A total of 10 national rankings will be released for the 2007 season, with the final Top 10 being released once all teams have completed the regular season.

Other teams receiving votes: Guelph (12), Calgary (4), Queen’s (2), Montreal (1).

CIS Football — Week 10 Schedule (all times LOCAL to home teams)

Friday, Nov. 2
7 p.m. Canada West semi-final: Saskatchewan at Regina

Saturday, Nov. 3
12:30 p.m. QUFL semi-final: Montreal at No. 1 Laval (RDS)
1 p.m. OUA semi-final: Western at No. 2 Ottawa
1 p.m. OUA semi-final: Guelph at Laurier (The Score)
1 p.m. AUFC semi-final: Acadia at StFX (EastLink)
1 p.m. QUFL semi-final: Bishop’s at Concordia
6 p.m. Canada West semi-final: Calgary at No. 3 Manitoba (Shaw TV)