Big Man on Campus

Upset Saturday

And you thought snappy little nicknames were reserved just for the NCAA, where, by the way, six Top 25 teams lost Saturday. Well, two nationally ranked OUA teams were also upended Saturday.

First, in the biggest upset of the day, the unranked Windsor Lancers beat the No. 5 Ottawa Gee-Gees 40-38. It was the Gee-Gees second loss of the season and for Windsor, it was big in so many ways. It moved the Lancers to 3-2 (that's more wins than I thought they'd get all season), put them in the playoff hunt and maybe, just maybe, bought head coach Mike Morencie another season at the helm — although, I doubt it.

Ottawa dodged a scare. After taking a face mask to his left (non-throwing) arm, it was thought Ottawa quarterback Josh Sacobie had a broken bone. X-rays came back negative. He's just 483 passing yards and 11 touchdowns shy of two CIS records.

Jim Parker of the Windsor Star has coverage of the game here. And Darren Desaunlniers of the Ottawa Citizen writes from the Ottawa persepctive here. And here's what the Gee-Gees had to say about Sacobie's not-as-bad-as-they-thought injury.

While Windsor knocked off Ottawa, the No. 4 Queen's Gaels, who at No. 4 were heading in way under rated by the way, knocked off the No. 2 Western Mustangs, 43-16. It was the most anticipated OUA game of the season, nationally televised and the Mustangs absultely laid an egg, turning the ball over 12 times. And Queen's turned every single turnover into points.

Western came into the game undefeated, but many people forget two mistakes by the Gee-Gees during Week 1 led to Western's unblemished record.

And finally, a team exploited Western's loss of running back Randy McAuley. Queen's held the Mustangs to just 71 rushing yards.

All that said, Western defensive back Matt Carapella said it best in an article in the London Free Press.

"Yeah, we got smoked," Carapella repeated. "But this is September and championships aren't won in September. We'll regroup, fix our mistakes and come back firing against Windsor. We'll see these guys again."

The Mustangs are proof of that. After starting 0-4 last season, the Mustangs went 4-4 and then won the Yates Cup.

Still, I've seen Queen's play firsthand — and Western play on television twice — and if I had a vote as to which team has been and still is better it goes to Queen's.

Clint Walper has a piece on the Queen's win in the Whig.

More here from the boys over at Out of Left Field.

And, We're Back

After four days of technical difficulties, 10 days of vacation and week of inter-office wrangling and finagling, the Big Man on Campus is back online. And I'm glad to be here.

So let's just cut right to it and provide you some news, notes and commentary from Guelph's 30-0 win against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday at Alumni Stadium.

First and foremost, if you've bypassed the Guelph Mercury's website, you can find my full story here.

If you've read that and want more, the rest of this post is for you.

First, I have to ask, when - I say again WHEN - is Guelph quarterback Justin Dunk going to learn his lesson? Again, for what seemed like the fifth consecutive week (and remember, they've only played five weeks), Dunk took another emotional, yet utterly unnecessary objectionable conduct penalty. This time, he was flagged for either some sort of temper tantrum thrown or vulgar language used in front of the Toronto bench after gaining some big first-down yardage. Instead, back up 15 yards and right out of field goal range. His knee-jerk reactions have to stop. And, that said, he looked much more patient and relaxed in the pocket Saturday.

To call Saturday's crowd an utter disappointment is an absolute understatement. I think I saw more fans at just one of the District 10 high school football games I covered Thursday. Just when I thought the Guelph fan base was turning the corner and turning football into an event, they turn in a real stinker in the stands. Then again, the team did the same to them a week before, blowing their homecoming game before 7,292 fans. Chalk it up to the fans revenge? I don't know.

On the injury front, fifth-year senior guard Ian Keleher, who has been injured on and off all season, dressed for the game but was in street clothes and icing his left shoulder by half time. Also, fullback Graeme Reed walked off the field without shoulder pads at the end of the game. After three concussions last season, one this season and a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the game against Windsor this year, Reed "tweaked his back" against Toronto.

In the Mercury, I wanted to run a sidebar on the "new" Toronto team - you know that one that has two wins in its last five games as opposed to the one that lost a Canadian record 49 consecutive games. But, I didn't have room. So, that's what the blog is for. Here's what a couple players had to say about the sorta resurgent Blues:

"They looked bigger and stronger. They looked like they knew what they were doing out there. Their players came in here with a bit of swagger out there. They were here to run the show." — Nick Fitzgibbon, Guelph tailback

"Toronto's a competitive football team. They're proven. The most exciting thing is that they have have some playmakers on offence . . . and we did a nice job against them." Kyle Walters, Guelph head coach.

One of those "playmakers" is Mark Stinson, who leads his team in rushing and in receiving. He has 146 yards and three touchdowns on the ground and 256 yards and two touchdowns receiving. Oh, and he punts. Admit it, you have to respect the hell out of those numbers.

From the "Did you know file."
1) Did you know Toronto had more first downs than Guelph? Yup, 22-19.
2) Did you know Guelph were assessed more penalty yards? Yup, Toronto had 11 penalties for 97 yards. Guelph had 11 for 102.
3) Did you know the rushing yardage was almost equal? Yup, Guelph rushed 32 times for 184 yards and Toronto ran 36 times for 172 yards.
4) Did you know Toronto held the advantage in time of possession? Yup, 36:47 to 23:13.

The two big keys in Guelph's win were Dunk's 246 passing yards and Guelph's defence, which registered three sacks, recovered two fumbles and managed a goal line stand.

Oh, and Rob Maver kicked and punted like Rob Maver, averaging 44.63 yards per punt and making all three field goals.

There will be more updates throughout Monday, including the daily "Around the OUA" segment where I'll link you up to news from around the province.

It's about time

Toronto Varsity Blues receiver Drew Meerveld stretches for a few extra yards after being brought down by a Guelph Gryphons defender during football action at Alumni Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Gryphons blanked the Varsity Blues 30-0. (Guelph Mercury/Ryan Pfeiffer)

Eyeing panic button

Is your finger placed squarely on the panic button? Good. That's precisely where it should be if you're a Guelph Gryphons football player, coach, fan or alumnus.

Now go ahead and push it. Firmly.

The Guelph Gryphons -- those defending Yates Cup finalist Guelph Gryphons, remember -- are currently 1-3 and trail, of all teams, the Toronto Varsity Blues in the chase for the sixth and final playoff berth this OUA football season.

Read the rest of Greg's column in today's paper

Homecoming 2008

Gryphs win in Windsor

Tony Saxon
tsaxon@guelphmercury.com

WINDSOR — Daryl Stephenson may have claimed a record, but the Guelph Gryphons got the victory Saturday night in Windsor.
Stephenson became the CIS’s all-time leading rusher but Guelph (1-2) got its first win of the year, a 34-8 decision over Windsor (2-1) in a game played in a driving rain.
Stephenson rushed for 115 yards against the Gryphons, but needed 29 carries to do it. The yardage gives the fifth-year senior 4,740 yards in his career, surpassing the previous record of 4,738 yards held by Dominic Zagari of Manitoba.
“We were of the mindset going in that if he was going to get the record, let him earn it,” Gryphon coach Kyle Walters said.
“Our defence was outstanding. Absolutely outstanding. We made Daryl Stephenson work for every yard.”
Lost in Stephenson’s milestone was the fact he was outperformed on the night by Gryphon running back Nick Fitzgibbon, who ran for 175 yards on 22 carries.
Quarterback Justin Dunk added another 120 yards rushing as the Gryphs had a team total of 374.
“I was excited, because we’ve been preaching all week that we need to be able to establish the run, so it was nice to see us do it,” Walters said.
He said given the heavy rain, which he called “typhoon like” in the second half, nobody was going to be able to pass the ball much.
Dunk completed eight of 15 pass attempts for 123 yards and his backup, Kurtis Dance, completed his only attempt, but it was good for a touchdown.
Windsor’s Sam Malian completed seven of 12 pass attempts for 81 yards and one touchdown.
The lone scoring play of the first quarter was a 15-yard field goal by Gryphon kicker Rob Maver.
Guelph went up 10-0 by halftime when Dunk hit Jedd Gardner with a 29-yard pass.
After Windsor kicker Robert Eeuwes got his team on the board early in the third quarter with a single to make it 14-1, Dunk ran one in from 37 yards to make it 21-1
Another Maver field goal, a 34-yard run by Paul Bartley and a touchdown by Michael Fortino on a nine-yard pass from Dance late in the fourth quarter accounted for the rest of Guelph’s scoring.
Mike Harrington’s 48-yard catch for a touchdown completed Windsor’s scoring.
“Our motto now is ‘this is our first one. Let’s get on a roll and build on this,’ ” Walters said.

Technical Difficulties, My Apologies

We at the Mercury have been locked out of posting to our blogs remotely. Meaning I haven't been able to post anything from home, which is where I do most of my blogging.

Unfortunately, only two computers at work — both those of photographers — have access to our blogging accounts at the moment. Hence the slide show below.

I hope to be back up and blogging by Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning at the latest.

Stick with me, I'm not going anywhere. I hope you don't either.

Greg

Frame By Frame Home Opener

Around the OUA — Thursday

Windsor Lancers freshman quarterback (and can we please start using the freshman, sophomore, junior senior terms in Canada?) Sam Malian will debut at home — against the Toronto Varsity Blues on Saturday.
In a 40-7 win over York, the pivot who had never taken an OUA snap — and there are six others on the Windsor roster in the same boat — threw three touchdown passes and ran for another. But it was York. And, even though they, too, won, this is still the Toronto Varsity Blue (1-49 in their last 50 games). Hey, I'm not going to pass judgment on Malian yet. In fact, I think this schedule is the best thing that could happen to a freshman quarterback.

And it looks like Toronto has Windsor in the cross-hairs in hopes to start a winning streak.

I missed this one Wednesday, but looks like Greg Marshall has assessed his Western Mustangs upset win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees.

This Dude Is Angry

Whoever this guy is, he doesn't like the fact the Queen's Golden Gaels are now known simply as the Queen's Gaels.

"Focus groups' couldn't identify what a Gael was? so what! i bet they also couldn't point out a Gee Gee, a Rouge-et-Or, an Excalibur, a Marauder, or any other Varsity team nicknames, the more confusing, the better if you ask me."

Check out the entire post here.

I kind of agree with the guy. It wasn't really broke at Queen's was it? I mean, really. Is it that big of a deal newspaper guys and gals (read: me) refer to the team as Gaels on second reference? I mean, I write Gryphs and not Gryphons in headlines and stories all the time, but I don't think my readers get all that confused do they?