Friday night saw what could be considered one of the finest football games at any level, period.
The University of McMaster Mauraders won their very first Vanier Cup by defeating the University of Laval Rouge et Or 41-38 in double overtime.
The Mauraders, the Ontario University Athletic Champions, had a 23-0 lead at halftime on Laval, only to see the Rouge et Or storm right back to take a 24-23 lead. After the teams exchanged touchdowns, with McMaster getting a two-point conversion on their major score, the Mauraders had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation, but kicker Tyler Crapigna missed a game winning field goal attempt.
In the extra frame, both teams exchanged touchdowns before the Mauraders got a key interception by Steven Ventresca. The Mauraders then only needed a field goal to win, and this time Crapigna did not miss.
Mauraders quarterback Kyle Quinlan was named Most Valuable Player after throwing 482 yards passing and running for another 106.
This was McMaster’s first Vanier Cup title in franchise history. Laval were the defensing champions and had won six titles since 1999.
This week on the show we recap the weekend that was in the CFL, which included a disappointing West Final loss for the Edmonton Eskimos, and we make some predictions ahead of the Grey Cup next Sunday. Also, we take a look at a massive night for the Edmonton Oilers, the response from around the NHL over the Milan Lucic hit on Ryan Miller, the sale of the Dallas Stars and some big news from the MLB.
In the GABBYs: The Toronto Blue Jays, Mike Krzyzewski, Christine Sinclair, Columbia University, the London Rippers and Victoria Secret. This week’s Punchline is Nashville Predators rookie Craig Smith.
It was a dominating performance Friday night at McMahon Stadium, just not by the University of Calgary Dinos football team.
The Dinos were completely outplayed by the University of Laval Rouge et Or from the second quarter on in a 41-10 loss in the Mitchell Bowl. The game was a rematch of the 2011 Vanier Cup, a game where Laval won 29-2.
Things were supposed to be different for the Dinos this time around. For one, they were going to be at home, in front of their home fans in Calgary. Problem is the cold weather probably kept many fans away, as there were thousands of empty seats.
The Dinos got off to a great start. They were actually leading the Rouge et Or in the first quarter 10-3, highlighted by a Tyler Noble interception for a touchdown.
But after that, it was all Rouge et Or, who scored 38 unanswered points. The Dinos simply did not look like the number two team in the nation, while the Rouge et Or definitely looked like number one.
The Edmonton Eskimos are only one win away from the 99th Grey Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia next weekend.
On Sunday, they will have to find a way to beat the Lions without star running back Jerome Messam. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I find the possibility of the Eskimos’ running game getting going is still there because the Lions’ defensive line and ability to stop the run has sometimes been a weakness, even with Solomon Elimimian and Brent Johnson leading the way.
But the Eskimos will need to find a way themselves to do a better job in stopping quarterback Travis Lulay, the Western Division nominee for the Canadian Football League’s most outstanding player award. In the Lions’ 29-20 win over Edmonton on October 29, Lulay had three touchdown passes for 322 yards.
Mike Krzyzewski has entered the NCAA Basketball record books.
On Tuesday night Duke defeated Michigan State 74-69 at the State Farm Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
With the win, Krzyzewski became the NCAA basketball all-time leader in coaching wins with 903, breaking the record previously set by Bobby Knight.
So, one could argue the news has been much better lately for the all-time winningest basketball coach lately in Krzyzewski than it has lately for the all-time winningest football coach lately in Joe Paterno.
Staying with the Penn State saga, the news continues to get wilder as assistant coach Mike McQueary, the one that saw Jerry Sandusky’s alleged sexual assault of a boy in a locker room shower, is saying he told police and that he tried to stop the attack.
Finally in other NCAA news, keep an eye on Gonzaga freshman Kevin Pangos of Newmarket, Ontario. Pangos tied a Gonzaga record with nine three-pointers in a Bulldogs 89-81 win over Washington State last night.
Ok. I am not an expert in college football. I don’t watch it nearly as much as the CFL and NFL.
But I did see the first half between Oklahoma State and Texas Tech yesterday, and then saw the first half of Stanford and Oregon.
From what I have seen to date, Heisman Trophy candidate Andrew Luck of the University of Stanford might just be a little overrated.
In last night’s 53-30 loss to the University of Oregon Ducks, Luck’s first half throw that was intercepted by Dewitt Stuckey was extremely poor and led directly to a Duck touchdown. It made me understand why Super Bowl winning quarterback Phil Simms showed criticism toward him recently.
On Sunday, the Calgary Stampeders (11-7) will go on the road to take on the Edmonton Eskimos (11-7) in the CFL Western Division Semi-Final.
The Eskimos won the season series 2-1, but the Stampeders won their only matchup at Commonwealth Stadium, 30-20 in Edmonton on September 9.
But this is a much different Stampeders team than what was put on the field by Head Coach and General Manager John Hufnagel two months ago. Since then, Hufnagel has replaced Henry Burris with Drew Tate at the quarterback position and Joffrey Reynolds with Jon Cornish at running back.
Still I cannot ignore the fact that in the Labour Day rematch, Burris passed for 316 yards and Reynolds ran for 80 yards.
But since Tate has taken over the starting role in Calgary, the Stampeders are 3-0.
The big news in Edmonton is the health of running back Jerome Messam, who, according to TSN, is questionable with a lower-body injury that flared up during Monday’s practice. Messam became the first Canadian to rush for 1000 yards since 2000 this season. The game can be seen Sunday on TSN at 2:30pm.
By the way, my gut is telling me the Stamps will win. I feel the veteran leadership, healthier offensive line and playoff experience for the Stampeders is key and will get them through on Sunday.
The University of Calgary Dinos are now only one win away from advancing to the Vanier Cup for the third consecutive season.
On Friday night at McMahon Stadium, the Dinos trounced the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 62-13 in the Hardy Cup. In a New Orleans Saints like offensive performance, Dinos’ quarterback Eric Dzwilewski ran for four touchdowns and threw for another touchdown pass to St. Albert, Alberta’s Chris Dubko.
The Dinos defense also recorded four interceptions. Wyatt Getty and John Kadiebwe had their interception returns for touchdowns.
But the story of the game was the Dinos’ offensive line, who not only allowed Dzwilewski to run for four touchdowns, but running back Steven Lumbala to run for 198 yards as well.
The Dinos now will play the winner of Saturday’s Dunsmore Cup between Laval and Montreal on November 18 at McMahon Stadium. Many will find Montreal’s coach very familiar. He’s former Edmonton Eskimo coach Danny Maciocia.
It will be an historic evening in the college basketball world.
The University of North Carolina Tar Heels will be playing the University of Michigan State Spartans on a boat–more specifically an aircraft carrier that buried Osama Bin Laden at sea.
The game will be played in Coronado, California, just outside of San Diego in front of American President Barack Obama and a capacity crowd of 7,000 fans.
The game is only exhibition, and will not count whatsoever in the standings.
But the uniqueness of this spectacle has the opportunity of being awesome. Thumbs up for the event to be hosted on Veterans’ Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Canada.
The events at Penn State University over the last 24 hours has been bizarre beyond belief. Joe Paterno, the legendary football coach at Penn State University, was fired last night at the age of 84, not for conduct he did do, but for something he didn’t.
By not contacting the proper police authorities on the team’s long-time defensive co-ordinator, Jerry Sandusky, Paterno saw his reign as one of college football’s most iconic figures tarnished.
Sandusky was charged Saturday on 40 counts of molesting children over a period from 1994-2009. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, 20 counts occurred while Sandusky was employed by Penn State.
Sandusky, who worked under Paterno with the Penn State football program, as a defensive coach from 1969-99, was ordered not to bring in any children from his foster program to the football complex after he was allegedly caught subjecting a 10 year-old to a sexual act there in 2002.
My question is why was Sandusky granted an office and access to Penn State’s football facilities as part of his negotiated retirement in 1999 after he had already been investigated by Penn State authorities for sexually abusing a child in 1998? This request is just not very common in sports.
Getting back to the Paterno debate, Paterno apparently told Penn State authorities of the incident that was seen by another assistant coach in 2002. But you can’t fully blame Paterno for not going to a higher authority because Gary Schultz, who was Penn State’s Senior Vice-President for finance and business, was also in charge of the school’s police department.
I’m not sure if Paterno should have been fired. But I fully agree with the recent charges of failure to report suspected abuse by Schultz, Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley and the resignation of Penn State University President Graham Spanier. What do you think?
The University of Calgary Dinos have won their second game at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport National Women’s Field Hockey Championships at Calgary’s Hawkings Field.
Seeded third in the tournament, the Dinos upset the top seed, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 3-0 in a shocker, in very cold weather conditions.
Keara Chicquen of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Kaitlyn Longworth of Calgary and Michelle Roydhouse of Calgary scored for the Dinos, who improved to 2-1, after losing earlier in the day, 4-2 to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. Goaltender Stephanie Petrowitsch got the shutout and was named player of the game.
Nikolai Khabibulin (Dan Nicholas, Wikimedia Commons)
From every angle possible, it is a great time to be an Edmonton Oilers fan. The kids are producing. The veterans are producing. The entire team is buying into Tom Renney’s defensive-minded system and Nikolai Khabibulin has been completely spectacular.
On Saturday night, the Oilers (8-2-2), visit the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena (CBC, 8pm). Edmonton is currently tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for first place in the Western Conference. They have also only given up 18 goals all season long, five fewer than second place Dallas at 23 goals. The recent play of Khabibulin led Brad May of Rogers Sportsnet to say last night that Khabibulin right now “is the best goaltender in the NHL.”
The Coyotes meanwhile are trying to get to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third year in a row. The last two seasons they have lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. So far in 2011-12, they are 6-4-2, and tied with the Nashville Predators, Colorado Avalanche, San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings for fifth place in the Western Conference.
The Coyotes’ top player this season is Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta native Ray Whitney, who leads Phoenix with five goals, seven assists.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame: The Eskimos fall to pieces against the BC Lions; will they be ready for the Stampeders? After the recent deaths of two NHL tough guys, is it time to think about taking fighting out of hockey? Also: Sidney Crosby isn’t ready to go yet, Chris Drury hangs ‘em up and The Hockey News predicts a last place finish for the Oilers (do you agree?).
In the GABBYs: Jim Thome, Dan Uggla, the Texas Rangers, El Clasico, Desmond Bishop and Terrelle Pryor!
One of the most intriguing games in 2011 for Canada’s basketball program will take place on Monday.
Canada has advanced to the Gold medal game of the World Universiade in Shenzhen, China following a convincing 83-68 win over Lithuania on Sunday.
Four Canadians were in double figures today. Tyson Hinz of Ottawa scored 21 points, Boris Bakovic of the University of Calgary and Warren Ward of Brampton, Ontario each scored 16 points and Jahmal Jones of Mississauga, Ontario had ten points.
Michael Lieffers of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan led Canada with eight rebounds, Ward led Canada with five steals and Nathan Yu of Prince George, British Columbia led Canada with two assists.
In the other semi-final, Serbia beat Russia 81-61.
Friday night saw what could be considered one of the finest football games at any level, period.
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