CFL.ca Staff
OTTAWA — A foursome of usual suspects will meet on Saturday in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport football national semifinals.
At PEPS Stadium in Quebec City, the top-ranked and QUFL champion Laval Rouge et Or (11-0) host the No. 2 and OUA champion Western Ontario Mustangs (9-1) in the Uteck Bowl.
Meanwhile at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, the No. 5 and Canada West champion Dinos (8-2) welcome the No. 9 and AUS champion Saint Mary’s Huskies (6-3) in the Mitchell Bowl.
Both duels are set to air countrywide on TSN and Radio-Canada with the Uteck kicking off at 12 p.m. EST and the Mitchell following at 1:30 p.m. MST (3:30 p.m. EST).
The winners advance to the Desjardins Vanier Cup on Saturday, Nov. 27, in Quebec City (11:45 a.m., TSN and Radio-Canada).
Laval, the only remaining undefeated team in the nation, captured a CIS-record eighth straight conference title last Saturday thanks to a hard-fought 22-17 Dunsmore Cup win over Sherbrooke.
Western claimed its third Yates Cup in four years (2010, 2008, 2007) under head coach Greg Marshall and a record 29th OUA championship when Lirim Hajrullahu kicked a 34-yard field goal with 2.1 seconds remaining on the clock to lift the Mustangs to a 26-25 road victory over Ottawa.
Saint Mary’s dominated Acadia 37-8 in the Loney Bowl final for its fourth straight AUS title and its 10th banner in 12 years.
Calgary crushed Alberta 56-3 for its third consecutive Hardy Cup win. It marks the first time the Dinos have won three straight conference titles since a trifecta from 1983 to 1985.
The No. 1 Rouge et Or go into the CIS Final Four with an all-time Bowl record of 5-4. The Mustangs are 12-6, the Huskies 9-12 and the Dinos 6-4.
The Mustangs will have to put an end a pair of impressive Laval sequences on Saturday if they hope to add to their CIS mark with a 13th Vanier Cup appearance two weeks from now. The Rouge et Or are 4-0 at home in CIS semifinals and are currently riding a CIS-record streak of 42 consecutive overall wins in front of their PEPS Stadium fans, dating back to a 14-13 regular-season loss to Montreal on Sept. 19, 2004.
The two storied programs have met only once in the past in official competition, in the 2008 Vanier Cup at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, with Laval prevailing 44-21 to complete the only perfect campaign in team history (12-0). The rivals have also squared off in pre-season action in 2007, 2008 and 2009, with the Rouge et Or winning all three contests in Quebec City.
Saint Mary’s also has to beat the odds on Saturday in order to advance to the Desjardins Vanier Cup.
Since the inception of national semifinals in 1967, Western schools have won 16 of 18 Bowl games played on their own turf, including the last 12. The only visiting teams to prevail out West were McGill and Queen’s, who beat Manitoba in Winnipeg in 1973 (16-0) and 1968 (29-6), respectively.
The Dinos are 2-0 at home in Final Four duels, including a 37-7 win over Ottawa in 1995 and a 56-14 defeat of Carleton in 1985.
Saint Mary’s and Calgary have met four times on the national stage over the years, most recently last season, when head coach Blake Nill and his Dinos travelled to Halifax to beat his former team 38-14 in the Uteck Bowl.
Calgary also prevailed in the 1988 Vanier Cup in Toronto (52-23) and the 1993 Atlantic Bowl in Halifax (37-23), while Saint Mary’s won at home in the 1992 Atlantic Bowl (21-11).
Statistically, Laval outscored its opponents 411 to 58 over nine regular season contests this fall to become the first team since the 2004 Rouge et Or to lead the country in both points scored (45.7 ppg) and allowed (6.4 ppg). The Rouge et Or have now led the nation for fewest points against three years running and five of the past seven seasons.
Western, second only to Laval with 12.0 points allowed per match in conference play, has dominated the ground game on both sides of the ball. The Mustangs racked up a CIS-best 254.2 rushing yards per contest this season, while holding their rivals to an average of 107.3 yards on the ground, tops in the OUA and fourth in the nation.
Saint Mary’s defence ranked third in the country behind Laval and Western allowing an average of 15.5 points per outing. The Huskies led CIS in pass defence with 153.1 yards per game.
Calgary had to rely on its stellar ground game more than ever this fall due to injuries to many key components of its passing attack, including two-time Hec Crighton-winning quarterback Erik Glavic, who was sidelined for half the season. The Dinos were tops in Canada West and second only to Western in CIS with 248.2 rushing yards per contest.
