Bisons prepare for what looms in finals
Only Huskies stand in the way
Romer Bautista, Staff
Photo by Chris Shay ©, www.shayphoto.ca ©
Make no bones about it, the University of Manitoba Bisons football team is not content with just making it to the Vanier Cup.
“We’re going to Toronto to play to win the Vanier Cup. We’re not going to Toronto to participate in the Vanier Cup,” said Bisons head coach Brian Dobie, just one day before he and his team left for Toronto for the national title game.
The Bisons will play the University of Saint Mary’s Huskies on Friday, Nov. 23 in the Rogers Centre in Toronto for the CIS Championship.
Coach Dobie and his staff have been hard at work in getting a game plan prepared for a very dangerous Huskies team. The Huskies, who were the champions of the AUFC, advanced to the Vanier Cup by dominating the Université Laval Rouge-et-Or during the Uteck Bowl, in what many are considering an upset. The Rouge-et-Or, all year, have been the No.1-ranked team in the nation.
Dobie, however, does not see it that way at all.
“What I see on film is an outstanding Saint Mary’s team that knocked off No.1 Laval. And they didn’t just beat them, they beat them 24-2. That’s a tremendous accomplishment,” Dobie said.
“It is the two best teams in the nation playing, unquestionably, the two best teams in the nation playing for the Vanier Cup. And that’s exactly how it should be.”
Preparing for a strong Huskies squad is made even tougher when considering the Bisons will have a short week to prepare. The Bisons are accustomed to playing Saturday games, as they have throughout the year. With the Vanier Cup scheduled for Friday evening, the Bisons lose a valuable day of preparations.
One player on the Huskies that the Bisons will be keying in on will be quarterback Erik Glavic, the AUFC’s nominee for the Hec Creighton award, which is given to the nation’s top player.
Coach Dobie fully expects Glavic to play in Friday’s game, even though he left theUteck bowl in the second half with an injury to his left knee.
In Glavic, the Huskies possess a tall, athletic signal caller that doesn’t flail in the face of adversity. The Huskies offence centers around Glavic’s ability to scramble out of trouble, and make plays where there doesn’t seem to be one made. In the AUFC final, the Loney Bowl, Glavic had 159 rushing yards in comparison to just 152 yards through the air.
“I recruited [Glavic] a few years ago,” said Dobie. “I think Erik is an outstanding quarterback, but I think we have outstanding quarterbacks as well. I do expect him to play. He’s an athlete. He’s a tough kid. He’s a winner. Yah, we’re preparing to face him.”
“We know they have a great quarterback that’s up for the Hec Creighton. We know they have a few good receivers. They’re just a big physical football team,” said Bisons defensive back Mike Howard, who will have a role in making sure that Glavic and the passing game don’t get going in Toronto.
“We’re ready. We’re confident. We know that Saint Mary’s is a great football team, and it’s going to be a tough battle,” Howard said.
One thing that Howard hopes his team does is come out during the start of the game with more fire. The Bisons have been slow out of the gate a number of times this season, and although it hasn’t hurt them yet, Howard knows that getting off to a good start will go a long way in getting the outcome that they want.
The last time the Bisons played in the Vanier Cup was in 2001.
To get to the Vanier last time around, the Bisons had to beat the University of Calgary Dinos, the University of Regina Rams, and a Greg Marshall-coached OUA team. The Vanier Cup was also played in Toronto, inside the Rogers Centre (then known as the SkyDome). And their opponent for that game was none other than the Saint Mary’s Huskies.
The Bisons lost that game 42-16.
“It’s eerie. It’s unbelievable. But I’ll say this about life, and one of the given’s in life is nothing remains the same. Life continually changes,” Dobie said.
“Our intention is to change the one final outcome of that parallel on Friday night at [Rogers Centre], and we’re going out there to do that.”
