(Previous: Canada West, Ontario.)
Quebec is the new OUA -- 2-3 good programs and a few that give off the ripe aroma of discarded socks in thrown in the corner of some bachelor's depressing apartment. At least that's how it looks if you're typing this late at night in some bachelor's depressing apartment.
Laval and Montréal have built up a good rivalry in the four short years since the latter fielded its first team. Now, Laval played its first games in 1995 (an exhibition schedule) and won the Vanier Cup in '99. Montréal started in 2002... so is 2006 the Year of the Carabins? What the hell, no one's going to remember otherwise, so yes, put yours truly down as backing Les Carabins to win their first conference title. But keep an eye on Concordia.
(Disclaimer: My knowledge of the Q is not is good as the OUA, and I hold no illusions that it is superior. It's just one guy's opinion.)
CONCORDIA STINGERS'05 Record: 6-3, lost semifinal to Montréal
Reason For Being: Hey, Mordecai Richler is technically an alum. What more can you ask?
Opener: Fri., Sept. 8 vs. Sherbrooke
Make or Break: Sept. 16 at Montréal, Oct. 15 at Laval
Outlook: Do you get the feeling these guys would win either the Atlantic or Ontario?
A standout quarterback, Scott Syvret, the country's most reliable kicking game, three returning all-Canadians on D -- linebacker Patrick Donovan and D-backs Sammy Okpro and Moe Sidibe -- and in all, only five starters gone from a solid 2005 team. The schedule is also favourable. The Stingers play the conference's heavyweights only once each (both are on the road, albeit), and the tougher of their Atlantic cross-overs, Saint Mary's, is at home.
Trouble is, Concordia really looks much the same as in '05, and for all their accomplishments last season, having six all-Canadian selections added up to a first-round playoff exit. There's nothing they can do about their situation except work harder. It's just that it's a razor-thin margin of error when you go up against Laval, and to an increasing extent, Montréal.
McGILL REDMEN'05 Record: 1-7
Reason For Being: One of the last vestiges of the old Montreal.
Opener: Sat., Sept. 9 vs. Bishop's
Make or Break: Oct. 14 vs Sherbrooke
Outlook: Manageable schedule, at least.
Not to harp on the hazing scandal that forced McGill to cancel the final two games of its '05 season, but it's a bit Pollyanna to expect the Redmen can make a clean break with the ugly events that marked last season. However, they were handed a pretty soft schedule, so that helps.
If they can sweep the cupcake portion of their schedule -- Mount Allison, St. FX, and Bishop's twice -- they make the playoffs, even if they lose 70-2 against Laval. All it would do, though, is mask that this program is spinning its wheels, at best.
McGill quarterback Matt Connell was a QUFL all-star as a rookie two years ago, so the offence should be decent so long as they develop a reliable offensive line -- which is where McGill invested a lot of its recruiting efforts. Defensively, McGill lost eight starters, but considering how last year went, maybe that's not such a bad thing.
Even with the soft schedule, it's hard to predict much for McGill until the leadership questions that linger after last year's nonsense are resolved. By the way, are you aware McGill is the oldest football program in Canada? They really have been keeping that fact to themselves.
MONTRÉAL CARABINS'05 Record: 7-3, lost final to Laval
Reason For Being: The rest of Canada will soon be hatin' on these guys
Opener: Sun., Sept. 10 at Laval
Make or Break: Both Laval games, including the return date
Outlook: Laval won a Vanier inside of five seasons. This is Year 5 for Montréal . . .
If the Carabins are ever going to knock off Laval, now's the time, since the team is loaded with fifth-year players who took their lumps that long first season of '02. So they're motivated, plus they seem to have their act together, winning games with a thumping ground game and solid defence and special teams.
Offensively, the Carabins pound the ball, with the 300-pound-plus Woodly Jean and Jean-François Morin-Roberge opening holes that are almost wide enough to fit a car through (knowing Montreal drivers, many would try) to clear the way for tailback Joseph Mroue, who topped 1,000 yards on the ground last season. On defence, there is all-star safety Maxime Gagnier, and rush end Martin Gagné, who shared the CIS lead with eight sacks last season.
Part of the reason yours truly is calling this for Montréal comes with weariness at seeing Laval win every year, but this year is a good time. They have a lot of players in their final year, plus some maturing talent.
Montréal is starting to win some, if not the majority of the recruiting tussles -- both Quebec's most sought after quarterback and running back, Marc-Olivier Brouillette and Dominic Chamberland-Pinto, committed to the Carabins, not Laval.
If the Carabins can avoid a playoff game in Laval's stadium, they will win the conference.
SHERBROOKE VERT ET OR'05 Record: 4-5, lost semifinal to Laval
Reason For Being: They have the snazziest helmet decal in all of football.
Opener: Fri., Sept. 8 at Concordia
Make or Break: Sept. 23 at Acadia
Outlook: Killer sked makes another 4-4 finish nearly impossible.
Hey, Sherbrooke, nice job managing four wins in just the program's third season. Here's your reward: you'll play Montréal and Concordia twice, and play Laval and travel to play defending Atlantic champion Acadia. Oh, and head coach Alain Lapointe will likely be playing one of three rookie quarterbacks? Good luck with that. Strength-of-schedule is the main reason why McGill might nip Sherbrooke for the final playoff spot.
By all accounts, the Vert et Or have made progress, but with the schedule in front of them, it's hard to predict anything but a repeat of '05 -- fourth place and a first-round playoff whipping at the hands of a heavyweight. You can count on linebacker Pierre-Luc Labbe, who's been there since the first season when Sherbrooke was getting pumped 94-0 by Laval, to make seemingly half the tackles for his team.
BISHOP'S GAITERS'05 Record: 1-7
Reason For Being: To make you remember why you liked Don Quixote.
Opener: Sat., Sept. 9 at McGill
Make or Break: Sept. 16 at Sherbrooke
Outlook: Who's the A-hole who arranged for them to play Laval, Concordia, Laval again and Montréal in one four-week stretch?
Yours truly has a soft spot for the Gaiters, since they had a good rivalry with Queen's back in the old O-QIFC, their coach, Leroy Blugh, is from Napanee and one of the hottest girls at my high school ended up going there. So you have to hand it to the Gaiters, plugging away despite being a team at an small English-language, mostly liberal arts school smack dab in the middle of Quebec's Eastern Townships. Talk about tilting at windmills.
This is another post entirely, but Bishop's would stand to benefit the most if the CIS created a "superconference" for the top teams in the eastern half of the country -- let them privatize their programs, like Laval -- and put the other teams into two new conferences.
Really, in terms of their student population and setting, Bishop's has a lot in common with the similarly sized Atlantic schools. So why are they playing Montréal and Laval? If this keeps up no one is going to remember that the Gaiters had a superb program from the late '70s through the the early '90s. (Just like the Montreal Expos, the Gaiters were solid pretty much every year but never made it to the game's big stage, so people forgot.)
It's not totally hopeless. At least running back Jamall Lee (732 yards in '05, including a 93-yard run against Laval) should have his moments. Kingston native Tim Cronk, a rookie, may become Lee's backup.
LAVAL ROUGE ET OR'05 Record: 10-1, lost to Saskatchewan in national semifinal
Reason For Being: To remind you God lives in Quebec, and probably wishes you weren't so uptight.
Opener: Sun., Sept. 10 vs. Montréal
Make or Break: Oct. 28 at Montréal
Outlook: It's Laval. They've come to expect the Vanier Cup every year.
Let any talk about who Laval lost off last year's team, because some new guys are invariably ready to step in. They still have two returning all-Canadians on D -- lineman Michaël Jean-Louis and D-back Alexandre Vendette. Some people even though Jean-Louis gave blockers bigger problems than the departed Miguel Robédé, the No. 1 pick in the 2004 CFL college draft who's now playing for Calgary. Anyone who thinks Laval will have a big drop-off on D should be issued a Maranda warning -- as in linebacker Éric Maranda, a contributor to the '03-04 Vanier Cup-winning teams who missed all of last season with an injured abdomen.
Offensively, Laval lost three O-linemen who were all-Canadians during their time in Quebec City. Well that ability and size is replaceable, chemistry may take a little longer, although it's hard to imagine that Laval will really struggle to score points. All quarterback Benoît Groulx did in his first season was complete 68% of his passes, while running back Pierre-Luc Yao averaged close to eight yards per carry.
Good human interest story, by the way -- Laval does have an Anglophone player, kicker Cam Takacs, who is from Brantford, Ontario. His hometown paper should do a story on him.
Predicted order of finish: 6) Bishop's 5) Sherbrooke 4) McGill 3) Concordia 2) Laval 1) Montréal. Conference champion: Montréal (what the hey)
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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