Bisons, Rams to host Canada West semi-final games

Dinos, Huskies eyeing upsets

Romer Bautista, Staff

After nine weeks of smash-mouth football, only four teams are left standing in the Canada West conference. The University of Saskatchewan Huskies are in, back to defend the Hardy Cup, as are the University of Manitoba Bisons, who are fresh off of their second consecutive undefeated regular season. Joining them in the post-season are the upstart University of Regina Rams, led by one of the nation’s top quarterbacks, and the University of Calgary Dinos, led by one of the nation’s top head coaches. It’s playoff time, and here is how the Canada West semi-finals shake down.

(1) Manitoba Bisons vs. (4) Calgary Dinos

6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 3, 2007

Canada Inns Stadium, Winnipeg, Man.

Regular season result:

Dinos 28 @ Bisons 35 (9/15/07)

The No.3-ranked Bisons finished the regular season with a perfect 8-0 record, their second flawless record in as many years. However, the Bisons were not nearly as dominating a team as they were a year ago. They’ve shown a penchant for starting games slowly, giving up too many penalties, and have had a difficult time putting their opponents away when they’ve had the chance to do so. But, thanks to being a talented, well-rounded team on both sides of the ball, the Bisons have been able to put up win after win after win.

Look for the Bisons to use their ground attack to control the tempo of the game. The running tandem of Matt Henry and Karim Lowen helped Manitoba to the second-best rushing offence in the conference. Those two will look to run it down the throats of a Dinos team that was second-worst in Canada West against the run.

Defensively, the Bisons are the clearly superior team. The Bisons allowed a conference-low 13.8 points-per-game during the regular season. There is simply no soft spot on this defence.

However, as good as the Bisons have been on defence, they will have their hands full with a Dinos team that is riding an impressive three-game win streak. Head coach Blake Nill has his Calgary team peaking at the right time and is poised to make things as difficult as possible for the Bisons.

Calgary’s game plan will be simple: run the ball, then run the ball again, and then run it some more. The Dinos boast the top two rushers in the conference in Anthony Woodson and Matt Walter. Woodson led the conference with 1,183 rushing yards on the season, while Walter followed with 702 rushing yards. The two also combined for 13 rushing touchdowns on the year.

Slowing down these two juggernauts will be the key to the game for the Bisons, as Calgary’s passing attack shouldn’t pose much of a threat. Calgary was dead-last in passing, while the Bisons were second best against the pass.

Prediction: Bisons 32, Dinos 22

(2) Regina Rams vs. (3) Saskatchewan Huskies

7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 2, 2007

Mosaic Stadium, Regina, Sask.

Regular season results:

Rams 34 @ Huskies 31 (10/27/07)

These two teams should be very familiar with each other after having just played on Oct. 27, in a thrilling back-and-forth game. The Rams were able to pull out the 34-31 victory, which gives them home-field advantage in this semi-final match, but with these two universities being so close in proximity, there is likely to be no home-field advantage whatsoever.

With that out of the equation, the outcome of this game will likely come down to which quarterback has the better evening. The Rams, as usual, will be led to on the field by Teale Orban, who just recently became the all-time Canada West leader in touchdown passes. Orban is having another spectacular season as the pivot for the Rams, averaging 284 passing yards a game, while throwing for 22 touchdowns to just seven interceptions. The Rams like to spread the ball around, but look for Chad Goldie to be Orban’s main target.

His counterpart will be Lawrence Nixon, who has been great since taking over the starting QB role for the Huskies three weeks ago. In his three games as starter, Nixon has passed for 406, 342, and 418 yards, igniting a Huskies offence that was struggling to consistently put up points. One thing Nixon will have to do, however, is limit his mistakes. He tossed four interceptions against the Rams, twice while deep in his own zone.

Defensively, the Huskies look like they have the advantage. Saskatchewan allowed a measly 16.4 points-per-game, and was very tough to pass against, allowing only 155.4 yards-per-game through the air. Regina, on the other hand, were second last against the pass, allowing 258.6 passing yards-per-game.

Another area where the Huskies have the upper hand is in experience. The Huskies have won three consecutive Hardy Cups and four of the last five. The last time Regina won a playoff game was in 2002.

Prediction: Huskies 31, Rams 28