St?hane Gaudreau
CIS-SIC.ca Staff
OTTAWA (CIS) – The Laval Rouge et Or top the CIS football national ranking for the second time in as many polls this season following a stellar display in their conference opener, last Saturday.
For the second straight week, the reigning two-time Vanier Cup champions (1-0) received all 30 first-place votes and a perfect 300 points from the Football Reporters of Canada panel.
Rounding out the new Top 10 are the No. 2 Calgary Dinos (1-0 / 269 points / no change), No. 3 Western Mustangs (1-0 / 242 / no change), No. 4 McMaster Marauders (2-0 / 201 / up one), No. 5 Montreal Carabins (0-1 / 163 / down one), No. 6 Saskatchewan Huskies (1-0 / 144 / up four), No. 7 Guelph Gryphons (1-1 / 101 / up one), as well as the No. 8 Ottawa Gee-Gees (2-0 / 68), No. 9 Sherbrooke Vert & Or (1-0 / 61) and No. 10 Mount Allison Mounties (1-0 / 34), all unranked last Tuesday.
The Big Three of Laval, Calgary and Western were all very impressive in their regular season debut.
Behind the strong play of freshman quarterback Hugo Richard, who amassed 371 yards and three touchdowns through the air along with a rushing major, the Rouge et Or dominated archrival Montreal 40-13 in front of a standing room-only crowd of 17,123 at TELUS-UL Stadium, in Quebec City. With the victory, Laval extended its own CIS-record streak for consecutive wins on home turf (66 overall since 2004) and tied a team mark with a 19th straight success overall dating back to 2012, two less than the national standard currently held by McMaster (2011-2012).
Meanwhile, the Dinos crushed provincial rival Alberta 71-3 Friday night in Calgary, while the Mustangs blanked York 61-0 on Saturday in Toronto.
Other results from Top-10 teams this past weekend include No. 4 McMaster 66, Waterloo 0 (at Waterloo); No. 6 Saskatchewan 44, Manitoba 24 (at Saskatchewan); No. 7 Guelph 50, Toronto 18 (at Guelph); No. 8 Ottawa 37, Queen’s 30 (at Queen’s); No. 9 Sherbrooke 43, McGill 21 (at Sherbrooke); No. 10 Mount Allison 20, Acadia 12 (at Mount Allison).
Top-ranked Laval hits the road this week for a Top-10 battle against Sherbrooke, Saturday at 1 p.m., live nationally on Radio-Canada (TV & web). The Rouge et Or have won all 19 head-to-head matchups since the Vert & Or joined the RSEQ conference in 2003.
Another Top-10 duel takes place on Saturday in the nation’s capital, where Guelph visits Ottawa (1 p.m. on OUA.TV).
The other three defending conference champions from a year ago are also in action on Saturday, including No. 2 Calgary at UBC (2 p.m. Pacific on CanadaWest.TV), No. 3 Western at Queen’s (1 p.m. on OUA.TV) and No. 10 Mount Allison at StFX (2 p.m. Atlantic on AUStv.ca).
NOTES: Mount Allison, which last season claimed its first AUS conference title since 1997, had last been ranked nationally back in 1998. That year, the Éric Lapointe-led Mounties opened the campaign at No. 1, were ranked in all 11 polls, and ended up seventh in the final Top 10 of the season (Nov. 16, 1998)… The 50th TELUS Vanier Cup Tour got underway this past weekend in Montreal and Quebec City and makes its next stop this Saturday in Wolfville, N.S., where Acadia is set to host Saint Mary’s (2 p.m. Atlantic on Eastlink TV and AUStv.ca)… For all the information on the 50th TELUS Vanier Cup (including ticket info) visit vaniercup.com.
| Week 2 Rankings | |||||
| Rank | School | Record | FRC Points | 1st Place | Last week |
| 1 | Laval | (1-0) | 300 | 30 | 1 |
| 2 | Calgary | (1-0) | 269 | – | 2 |
| 3 | Western | (1-0) | 242 | – | 3 |
| 4 | McMaster | (2-0) | 201 | – | 5 |
| 5 | Montreal | (0-1) | 163 | – | 4 |
| 6 | Saskatchewan | (1-0) | 144 | – | 10 |
| 7 | Guelph | (1-0) | 101 | – | 8 |
| 8 | Ottawa | (2-0) | 68 | – | NR |
| 9 | Sherbrooke | (1-0) | 61 | – | NR |
| 10 | Mount Allison | (1-0) | 34 | – | NR |
Other teams receiving votes: Regina (25), Manitoba (21), StFX (10), UBC (9), Queen’s (4), Concordia (1).
