CIS Top 10: Montreal upsets Laval, moves to second

CIS-SIC.ca Staff

OTTAWA (CIS) – For the fourth time in program history, the Laval Rouge et Or went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the CIS football weekly poll. But for the first time this season, the reigning two-time Vanier Cup champions were not a unanimous choice for No. 1 in the final top 10 of the campaign.   

After receiving all 30 first-place votes and the maximum 300 points from the Football Reporters of Canada panel for nine straight Tuesdays, the Rouge et Or (7-1) had to settle for 18 first-place nods and 288 points in the last national poll of 2014, with the remaining votes for No. 1 going to their archrivals from the RSEQ conference, the second-seeded Montreal Carabins (7-1), who merited 274 points to reach their best ranking of the fall.

The McMaster Marauders (7-1) are also on the rise this week, moving up one spot to No. 3, while the Calgary Dinos (6-2) drop two positions to No. 4 after spending the entire season in second place. 

The rest of the top 10 remains unchanged with the No. 5 Guelph Gryphons (7-1), No. 6 Mount Allison Mounties (8-0), No. 7 Western Mustangs (6-2 / 1-0 playoffs), No. 8 Saskatchewan Huskies (6-2), No. 9 Sherbrooke Vert & Or (5-3) and No. 10 Ottawa Gee-Gees (5-3 / 1-0) following in order.

It was an eventful last day of the regular season on Saturday in the RSEQ and Canada West.

At Montreal, the Carabins made a statement heading into the playoffs with a 13-9 win over the Rouge et Or, putting an end to Laval’s CIS-record streak of 25 consecutive overall victories. The remarkable sequence had started following another loss on Montreal’s home turf, a 17-12 defeat back on Oct. 9, 2012.

Despite the setback, the Vanier champs hold home-field advantage throughout the Quebec playoffs thanks to their 27-point win (40-13) in the first head-to-head meeting of the campaign between the two teams, on Sept. 6 in Quebec City.

In Saturday’s RSEQ semifinals, Laval hosts Concordia (5-3), while Montreal stays home to take on No. 9 Sherbrooke.

At Winnipeg, Calgary was upset 50-31 by Manitoba (4-4) in a game that meant everything for the Bisons, who were fighting for their playoff lives, while the Dinos had already clinched first place in the Canada West standings.

Manitoba visits Saskatchewan on Friday night in the first CWUAA semifinal, while Calgary entertains Regina (3-5) on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the playoffs got underway in the Maritimes and Ontario this past weekend.

In the lone AUS semifinal, StFX edged Acadia 18-17. The X-Men will now travel to Sackville, N.B., on Saturday to face the only remaining undefeated team in the country, Mount Allison, in the Loney Bowl conference final.

In the OUA quarterfinals, logic was respected in London, where Western downed Laurier 25-10, while in Windsor, Ottawa outscored the higher-seeded Lancers 46-29.

Ottawa visits McMaster and Western travels to Guelph in Saturday’s OUA semis.

A complete TV and webcast schedule is included below.

NOTES: Laval had previously swept the national weekly polls in 2005, 2007 and 2008… Laval and Montreal had previously occupied the top two spots in the CIS rankings on only two occasions, in 2009, when the Carabins were No. 1 and the Rouge et Or No. 2 in the Oct. 6 and Oct. 13 polls… The 50th TELUS Vanier Cup Tour goes back to the University of Montreal campus for the second straight week on Saturday for the Vert & Or vs. Carabins showdown… For all the information on the 50th TELUS Vanier Cup (including ticket info) visit vaniercup.com.

Other teams receiving votes: Manitoba (23) and Concordia (1).