CIS-SIC.ca
Time to go bowling in Canadian university football.
Four teams made it out of their respective conferences. Montreal will play in a bowl game for the first time in school history. Manitoba takes the field in a national semi-final for the first time since 2007, which also happens to be the last time the Bisons won the Vanier Cup. And in the other matchup Mount Allison and McMaster are back in familiar territory.
The Mounties hosted but lost the Uteck Bowl in 2013. Meanwhile the Marauders are among the final four teams left in the CIS for the third time in four years. And the two most recent times McMaster made it to the National Championship game.
Just two teams will punch their ticket to the 50th Vanier Cup in Montreal. Both matchups are very intriguing. To get you set for what you should be keeping a close eye on during the games let’s break them down.
Uteck Bowl
(CWUAA @ RSEQ)
Manitoba Bisons vs. Montreal Carabins
A pair of teams that pulled unlikely upsets meet in the Uteck Bowl. Montreal ended Laval’s CIS record 70-game home win streak with a 12-9 overtime victory to advance and host a national semifinal. While Manitoba forced 10 turnovers to end Calgary’s six-year rein in the Canada West conference.
Points have been hard to come by against the Carabins. Since a season-opening loss to Laval, Montreal has not allowed more than 17 points in a single game.
Linebacker Byron Archambault is the unquestioned leader on defence. The six-foot, 240-pound tackling machine led Montreal with 49.5 takedowns, 14 tackles for loss and nine sacks in the regular season. In the Dunsmore Cup Archambault recorded 8.5 tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, and a pass breakup to help lead his team to victory. Look for another stat-stuffing effort from No. 41 on Saturday.
Up front on ‘D’ 2014 Ticats sixth round pick Mathieu Girard has been nearly un-blockable and caused a lot of problems for opposing offences. Girard, the six-foot-four, 290-pounder, produced one sack and one tackle for loss in Montreal’s first ever Quebec conference championship game win.
Manitoba has to make sure Archambault and Girard are accounted for on each snap to have a chance for play calls to succeed. Although, that’s not to say the Bisons don’t possess playmakers on offence because they certainly do.
Kienan LaFrance and Nic Demski are two main reasons why Manitoba has made it this far. LaFrance ripped off 155 yards rushing in he Hardy Cup to pace the offence. Demski managed just one catch for 23 yards in the CanWest conference final, but he always draws plenty of attention from opposing defensive backfields.
On Saturday in Montreal both Demski and LaFrance need to be at their best or it could be a rough day for Manitoba.
On the other side of the ball, the Bisons’ defence showed they’re an opportunistic bunch, picking off Calgary quarterback Andrew Buckley four times.
It will be much tougher trying to force Montreal pivot Gabriel Cousineau into mistakes. The fourth year passer threw just three interceptions all season and Cousineau is coming off a 300-yard effort against Laval.
The Carabins employ an efficient approach with Cousineau having completed over 71 percent of his passes during the regular season. Montreal’s quarterback has also completed 50 of 71 attempts –without an interception – for a 70 percent completion rate in the playoffs.
Another turnover free performance will go a long way towards the Carabins playing in their home city in the 50th Vanier Cup.
Mitchell Bowl
(AUS @ OUA)
Mount Allison Mounties vs. McMaster Marauders
You won’t find many people around the CIS picking Mount Allison to go into Ron Joyce Stadium and come out with a win against McMaster, but the team probably doesn’t care. Mount Allison is a perfect 9-0, the only undefeated team left in the country. All they’ve done is simply beat every team put in front of them.
The Mounties are rested, coming off a well-timed bye week after winning the Loney Bowl 29-7 back on November 8 – definitely an advantage at this time of year. So energy should not be an issue for the back-to-back AUS champions. There is no excuse for them to come out flat.
Mount Allison boasts a stingy defence, a unit that allowed a CIS-low eight points per game. The Mounties are led by linebacker
Te Nguyen, who had a team-leading 44.5 tackles and eight tackles for loss during the regular season. Jacob LeBlanc – 2014 AUS Outstanding Lineman of the Year – causes headaches up front and is a load to handle at six-foot-three, 310 pounds. However on Saturday the Mounties defence will face their toughest test of the season.
McMaster’s balanced offence will be the best unit Mount Allison has faced to date.
Fifth year quarterback Marshall Ferguson provides plenty of leadership experience for the Marauders. No. 2 for McMaster has an assortment of weapons at his disposal through the air. Ferguson spreads the ball around – Daniel Vandervoort, Daniel Petermann, Max Cameron, and Ben O’Connor all had over 25 catches and 350 yards receiving during the regular season.
Meanwhile Chris Pezzetta and Wayne Moore form a strong two-headed running game. Mount Allison must slow down Pezzetta who’s rushed for more than 140 yards in each of McMaster’s playoff wins.
It’s a similar story for the Mounties on offence. The Marauders defence – with coordinator Greg Knox back in maroon – is better than any defensive group Mount Allison has seen all year.
2014 OUA Defensive Player of the Year, Nick Shorthill – a high end 2015 CFL Draft prospect – is one of the elite linebackers in the entire country. Shorthill is used all over the defence, so identifying where he is and finding a way to get him blocked will be at the top of Mount Allison’s priority list.
Establishing Chris Reid – AUS Rookie of the Year – on the ground early will be important. No. 20 ran for 957 yards in the regular season, second most in the CIS, and he really drives Mount Allison’s offence. If Reid gets going in the run game it could help quarterback Brandon Leyh from seeing too many second and long situations, downs on which Knox likes to use an assortment of pressure looks.
When Leyh drops back to pass, his two main targets have been Josh Blanchard and Rodreke Joseph. CFL scouts are interested to see how Joseph – eligible for the 2015 Canadian Draft – performs against a veteran laden McMaster secondary on Saturday.
Joseph was a difference maker in the Loney Bowl with four catches for 94 yards and two touchdowns. A productive effort, similar to that for Joseph in the Mitchell Bowl, would really boost Mount Allison’s chances of getting back to the Vanier Cup for the first time since 1991.
