CIS playoffs

Great idea CIS!
Way to market your product :roll:

Wow! Shocker! :o

Yes and also spending dollars off the field as well…new academic and training facilitie(s) at UBC…Dave Siddoo et al have stepped up to make UBC an elite program again. Other Unis take note, please…I’m looking at you, McGill and U ofT!

Would love to see it but I don’t think it’s likely…just too many drawbacks leaving the security of a top program for the vagaries of a CFL coaching career. I imagine Marshall’ experience with Hamilton is burned into their brains.

I fully agree. I said it a long time ago, that the Vanier should be linked at the hip with the Grey Cup. The attendance does far better, the coverage is far better and it really helps grow the game.

I also don’t buy the “Well not all CIS schools/markets have stadiums” argument, because every CIS school, except for the AUS conference is within a 5 hour drive to a CFL stadium, and that might be just the thing to get Moncton or Halifax to finally build a stadium.

They played the AUS final at Mount Allison, Where they’ve announced they will be putting A STAND next year,(people actually stand or sit in the grass…) when 20 minutes away is a brand new 50 million dollar stadium that sits empty in Moncton. I understand College Athletics is very much for the students but these schools and the CIS have no common sense when it comes to displaying their product. In Halifax SMU refused to work with the city on a community stadium even if they don’t have the actual physical space to have one of their own on campus. They would rather languish at the bottom of the national standings rather than work/share with the community. Yet these schools keep asking tax payers for handouts…

Two more games on the lineup today guys. I'm hoping they'll be good ones !

Final
Montreal -25
Guelph -10

Halftime
UBC -16
StFX -1

Going to be a heck of a Vanier…only wish it was in Wpg alongside the Grey Cup. UBC is obviously for real by Montreal is crazy good…I’ll be watching!

So can UBC win this, or will Montreal repeat?

Montreal looked VERY good the last two weeks. Plus plahying in Quebec - I assume the crowd will be for them - so I favour them.

Both teams play stifling defence. Both teams have a good offence, so I really don’t know. I think it will be a really close good game and I will pick the underdogs UBC. Montreal won last year, UBC is on a mission !

I’d love to disagree with you but I think you’re probably right. Having said that, UBC dispatched the Bisons two in a row at the end of the season handily and they were 6-2 and they spanked the previously undefeated U of C, so maybe they can keep up with U of M and pull off the upset…Blake Nill has become the “football whisperer”.

U of M's defensive line might be the best I've seen ever in the CIS. I think that will trump everything. If UBC finds a way to deal with it They could get the upset.

Two pretty powerful teams set to do battle, who could ask for more.

:cowboy:

Montreal has to be huge favourites.

  1. Experience--- played in Vanier Cup last year.
  2. Home province advantage.-- UBC will have been on the road for two weeks. They did not fly home from Nova Scotia. None of these lads are used to being on the road that long and it will take its toll of 4 to a room sharing beds, little sleep, strange environment, not enough to do during the day etc. etc. etc. Huge advantage to Montreal.

UBC are good, qb. is amazing for a 19 year old, good recievers , decent rb and good defensive backs but lineman are much smaller than Montreal. Fatigue from road trip and size of lineman of Montreal will wear down the T-birds physically and emotionally. Wish them well but Montreal will win handily. :rockin: :thup: Two ex-CFL coaches opposing each other. Danny M. with Montreal and UBC offensive co-ordinator Steve Buratto (Calgary Stamps and BC Lions).

Either way it marks the end of the Laval dynasty in CIS football, which is a great thing. Took a little while for UofM draft classes to mature but they now get their share of the best amateur prospects in the province and it should continue with their recent successes.

I found your remarks interesting. Do the high school football players from Quebec constitute the players in the draft or, is the junior college guys ?

The bulk comes from CEGEP (Junior college in Quebec) they do get one less year of eligibility and a small percentage come from High Schools in Ontario and Atlantic Canada mostly and a smaller percentage yet come from the US and Europe (mostly walk on types).

Before University of Montreal came to prominence (arrival of Maciocia) Most top recruited prospects opted for Laval. I don’t think that is the case any longer.

Very seldom do players right out of high school compete at CIS level. UBC's quarterback is an exception (actually he is two years removed as he red shirted inthe states last season). In Canada West for years the teams would recruit players from the Junior Football programs after players ran out of eligibility. Hence, Universities were fielding 22 year olds as rookies after they had completed 4-5 years in junior football. CanadaWest university teams that did not do this faltered because a 17 / 18 year old cannot compete against the physical maturity of a 22 year old 9 times out of ten. So don't expect to see kids right out of high school compete in starting positions very often in CIS football particularly CanadaWest and in La Belle Province.
Looking forward to a great Vanier Cup though. Hope UBC can out finesse those big hogs of Montreal on their Offensive and defensive lines with some spectacular wide open offence led by their amazing 19 year old quarterback. :rockin: :thup: :cowboy: