CANADIAN FOOTBALL ROUND-UP

• Good thing that the banged-up Toronto Argonauts have two weeks off before playing again -- their 11-9 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats might have set offensive football back 50 years north of the border.
  
  By this point, the Ticats are so bad it's as if they come from the town of Toothless, Ont., not Hamilton. (As in you're seeing a lot of "toothless Ticats" headlines. I know, it's bad to have to explain your jokes.)
• Early line on next week's big OUA matchup, #6 McMaster at #4 Ottawa: Judging by the holes Ottawa's line opened for tailback Davie Masson (152 yards) against Laurier, the Gee-Gees should be able to move the ball against McMaster's defence. Ottawa, though, has given up 5.3 yards per carry in its two wins, which makes you wonder how well it's going to keep Mac running backs Jordan Kozina and Andre Sadeghian bottled up next week at Frank Clair Stadium.
• Hey, Windsor Lancers, hope you enjoyed your 61-17 win over the University of Toronto Blues, a game in which running back Nick Romain scored on each of his only four carries of the game. It won't continue next week against the resurgent Queen's Golden Gaels. (Romain also scored on both his carries in Windsor's opener against Waterloo, who, it says here, may be ever worse than the U of T.)
• As for the Gaels, they provided the sole blemish so far on the Week 2 picks, apparently responding to a bit of unintended reverse psychology to whip the Guelph Gryphons 31-10. Danny Brannagan and Brad Smith collaborated on four touchdown passes, and "You're With Me, Leather" references were plentiful. Too plentiful.
  
  What helped seal Guelph's fate was two lost fumbles on kick returns and a blocked field goal, thereby swinging the special-teams phase of the game to the Gaels.
• Saskatchewan Huskies tailback Scott Stevens made a liar out of me -- yours truly said he could go over 200 yards against Regina's leaky defence, but he had only 190 in a 38-14 Huskies win.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.