It’s the most exciting time of the year in the CIS: football playoffs are finally upon us. After an eight-week regular season, Canada’s best football-playing students have the chance to battle for the right to hoist the Vanier Cup in Montreal on November 29. In the first year of LWOS coverage for the CIS playoffs, we will take a look at each conference across the country as the post-season is in full swing this weekend. In part 2 of our CIS playoff roundup we’ll predict who will win the conference and play in the Mitchell Cup in Ontario on November 22.
Atlantic University Sport (AUS)
With only four universities playing football out in the Maritimes, their playoffs are nice and simple. The division winner plays the winner of a second versus third place playoff game. This year, Mount Allison finished at 8-0, the only team in the country to go undefeated. After finishing a mediocre 4-4 last season, their record has shocked many as they get ready to host St. Francis Xavier this Saturday at 2 pm. St. FX beat Acadia in a nail-biter AUS semi-final last week, winning 18-17 on a 36-yard field goal by Jeremy Ford with just 7 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
The favourite Mounties will have a challenge on their hands from the X-Men as both teams have similar offences on paper. Mount Allison was the 16th highest scoring team this season while St. Fx was ranked at number 20. Mount Allison is ranked 23rd in passing yards (1539) while St. Fx has passed for the 17th most this year (1949). But the game will be controlled by Mount Allison’s defence, who allowed only 64 points this year, 8.0 against per game. If your team allows about a touchdown every week, chances to win are good. With 14 interceptions this season from the Mounties, SFX’s Tivon Cook – who threw 12 INTs this season – will be the victim of many picks. Mount Allison’s closest wins this season came against St. Fx, beating them 27-25 and 18-10. This should be one great game that can go either way.
Prediction: Mount Allison
Ontario University Athletics (OUA)
The biggest conference in the country with 11 teams, they already started their playoffs last weekend with the first two quarterfinals. The #1 McMaster Marauders and #2 Guelph Gryphons were on a bye week waiting for their semi-final opponents. As they watched from home, the Western Mustangs eliminated the Laurier Golden Hawks in a 25-10 victory, while the Ottawa Gee-Gees – who have as strange of a name as the city’s pro team – surprised the number four Windsor Lancers, 49-26.
This weekend, McMaster will host the euphoric Gee-Gees and the Mustangs will head to Guelph for a match-up against the Gryphons. The top of the conference has been consistent the past few years, with McMaster finishing on top over the Gryphons – who have finished 7-1 the past three seasons after a 2-6 2011 season.
The Guelph-Western game is the toughest to predict in Ontario as the Mustangs finished with one less loss than the Gryphons. Western’s only losses were against teams higher than them in the standings. Western scored 51.9 points per game, compared to 21.8 points allowed per game for Guelph; on the flip side, Western allowed 42.9 against Guelph’s. Western blew out their weaker opponents, with scores of 63-15 and 69-3 against Toronto and Waterloo. Guelph’s scores have been closer with 49-46 and 41-36 wins against McMaster and Laurier, both in the final two games of the season.
Regardless of who takes this one, they should be playing McMaster in the Yates Cup next weekend. Quarterback Marshall Ferguson led the Marauders to a more subdued 36.4 points per game in his senior season, but junior linebacker Nicolas Shortill and his 40 tackles helped limit opponents to only 17 points per game.
Prediction: Western
Stay tuned for our coverage of the playoffs all the way until the Vanier Cup!
Thank you for reading. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
