CFL.ca Staff
QUEBEC CITY — The Uteck Bowl weekend officially kicked off Friday afternoon in Quebec City when coaches and players from the University of Western Ontario Mustangs and Laval University Rouge et Or took part in the traditional Meet the Teams media conference.
The second-ranked OUA champions (9-1) visit the No. 1 QUFL champions (11-0) Saturday at noon Eastern at PEPS Stadium in the early CIS football national semifinal, live on TSN and Radio-Canada.
In Saturday’s second semifinal at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, the No. 5 University Calgary Dinos (8-2) host the No. 9 Saint Mary’s University Huskies (6-3) in the Mitchell Bowl at 1:30 p.m. MT (3:30 p.m. ET), live coast-to-coast on TSN and live Manitoba-west on Radio-Canada (tape delay Ontario-east).
Western and Laval have only met once in the past in official competition, the Rouge et Or claiming the 2008 Vanier Cup thanks to a 44-21 win in Hamilton. The Quebec champs also won head-to-head pre-season meetings in 2007, 2008 and 2009, all at PEPS Stadium.
“I think the biggest difference with 2008 is we’re more experienced, particularly our running game and our offensive line,” said Western head coach Greg Marshall, who has led the Mustangs to three OUA titles in four years since taking over in 2007 and had guided McMaster to four straight titles from 2000 to 2003.
“Obviously our main challenge on Saturday will be to establish the run. We know how good Laval is against the run. In 2008, they completely shut us down on the ground.”
Western ranked first in the nation in the regular season with 254.2 rushing yards per game, while Laval allowed a CIS-low 45.7 yards per outing on the ground.
“We have so much respect for Western. Year in and year out, they are one of the top programs in the country,” said Laval head coach Glen Constantin, who has led his troops to a CIS-record eight consecutive Bowl appearances since 2003. The two teams that will take the field on Saturday are very different from the ones that met in 2008. They had Michael Faulds at quarterback, we had Benoit Groulx… But our new QB Bruno Prud’homme and theirs, Donnie Marshall, have done a great job this year in their first season as starters.”
Over 10,000 tickets have already been sold for the Uteck Bowl and a sellout crowd of over 16,000 is expected at PEPS Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 13,000.
“It’ll be an advantage playing in front of our fans, no question. It’s always a tough environment for visiting teams,” said Prud’homme, who completed a CIS-best 68.2 per cent of his passes this fall. “We’re confident but we respect Western a lot. They have one of the best defences in Canada, so it’s an exciting challenge.”
While Laval led the nation with only 6.4 points allowed per game in conference play, Western wasn’t far behind, finishing second with an average of 12.0
“We know it’s going to be a loud, hostile environment, and we’re ready for it,” Donnie Marshall said. “We’ve been in some hostile environments this year and are used to it. We’ve been working on how to handle the noise and we’ll be using lots of signals.”
“They have a really good defence, and their run defence is solid. They have a great defensive line, some really fast DBs. We cannot turn the ball over.”
The winners of the Bowl games advance to the Desjardins Vanier Cup, Saturday, November 27 at PEPS Stadium in Quebec City, live on TSN and Radio-Canada at 11:45 a.m. ET.
