CIS FOOTBALL PICKS, WEEK 6

Here's some Uneducated Guesses on how Week 6 of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport football season might shake out, or more likely, how it won't shake out.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Look for the Manitoba Bisons' penchant for penalties to catch up to them against the No. 2-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies
• Blake Nill to earn his first win for the Calgary Dinos against free-falling Regina
• The Laurier Golden Hawks to pull out a road win over the unbeaten McMaster Marauders

FEATURED GAMES

#7 LAURIER GOLDEN HAWKS (4-1) vs. #3 McMASTER MARAUDERS (5-0)
Saturday, 2 p.m. (The Score; all times Eastern)
Lot of storylines here: Mac coach Stefan Ptaszek, of course, won Vanier Cups as a Golden Hawks player and offensive co-ordinator, but his quarterback, Adam Archibald, is 0-3 as a starter against Laurier. This is the litmus test for the new and improved, supposedly more improved Archibald (14-for-30 with two picks in a 32-point win last week should raise some eyebrows). The Hawks D, with Jesse Alexander and Yannick Carter, is a tight, well-coached group, and Laurier's offence should correct the mistakes (seven turnovers) that plagued them against Waterloo. Don't be surprised if this is decided by a field goal, and if Laurier assures the OUA of not having a team go unbeaten in the regular season for the first time since 2000. The Call: Laurier 27-24.
ACTUAL SCORE: Laurier 31-12

#4 MANITOBA BISONS (4-0) vs. #2 SASKATCHEWAN HUSKIES (5-0)
Saturday, 4:30 p.m. (The Score)
Keep this in mind before pronouncing this one a walkover for the Green Dogs: The Huskies have given up 66- and 42-yard runs in the last two weeks, suggesting some bugs in their run defence, and Manitoba is coming off a bye week. Then again, Saskatchewan probably didn't have to play their starters the whole way last week against Calgary. Give this one to Saskatchewan on home-field advantage, discipline and quarterback experience. Manitoba is averaging 116 penalty yards a game, and there's no way Brian Dobie's crew can get away with that against the U of S in its own backyard. Both teams have first-year starters at QB, but the Huskies' Bret Thompson seems to have settled in better than the Bisons' John Makie, especially after leading three 4th-quarter scoring drives in the Sept. 23 win over UBC. The Call: Saskatchewan 31-16.
ACTUAL SCORE: Manitoba 35-16

ATLANTIC

MOUNT ALLISON MOUNTIES (0-4) vs. ST. FRANCIS XAVIER X-MEN (2-2)
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Probably a tall order for the Mounties to win on the road, although this one varies depends on how well X-Men QB Justin Connors responds after being knocked out of last week's 20-2 loss to Acadia. The Call: St. FX 31-14.
ACTUAL SCORE: Mount A 24-18 (their first conference win since 2001)

SAINT MARY'S (1-3) vs. ACADIA AXEMEN (3-1)
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Very little at stake in this matchup, but the Huskies still have a hope of snatching home field for the AUS semi-final away from St. FX. The Axemen still look sketchy -- they were outgained last week in the cold and wet by St. FX, even though the X-Men played their backup QB most of the game. (UPDATE, Friday 11 a.m.: SMU has suspended starting QB Billy Robinson. Acadia QB Chris Judd is also questionable, the Halifax Herald reports.) The Call: Acadia 23-20.
ACTUAL SCORE: SMU 24-21

CANADA WEST

SIMON FRASER CLAN (0-3-0-1) vs. UBC THUNDERBIRDS (2-2)
Saturday, 5:30 p.m.
Barring some typical Left Coast weather, UBC has an excellent chance of hitting the big 4-0 by halftime again. The Call: UBC 56-21
ACTUAL SCORE: UBC 41-6

CALGARY DINOS (0-4) vs. REGINA RAMS (1-3)
Saturday, 8 p.m.
From afar, Regina has the look of a reeling team after losing to UBC by a Madden score, 60-48, and losing control of their playoff destiny. They can't stop anyone, and Calgary has a big-play QB, Dalin Tollestrup, who's got two things going for him: He's awfully good, and as a rookie straight out of high school, he probably hasn't realized how hard the game is, so he plays football the way most fans play football. Calgary's been in most of their games. This week, they win one. The Call: Calgary 27-25
ACTUAL SCORE: Regina 27-3 (oops!)

ONTARIO

GUELPH GRYPHONS (1-4) vs. WATERLOO WARRIORS (2-3)
Saturday 2 p.m.
Important game with playoff implications, especially for the Queen's Golden Gaels, who had that loss to Waterloo two weeks ago. Guelph had 283 yards passing last week against a good Ottawa defence, and this time the Gryphons should finish some of those drives. The Call: Guelph 31-20
ACTUAL SCORE: Guelph 45-23

#5 OTTAWA GEE-GEES (4-1) vs. QUEEN'S GOLDEN GAELS (2-3)
Saturday 2 p.m.
Talk about timing: with Ottawa set to play Queen's, Ottawa lawyer Don Bayne, the star quarterback on the 1968 Golden Gaels Vanier Cup championship team, was honoured this week by the Ontario Criminal Law Association, the first such accolade for a lawyer from the capital. Now talk about a lack of timing: the current Gaels offence, which has been doing an Arthur Murray routine (one-two, kick... one-two, kick) for the last three weeks. It's a damn shame the Danny Brannagan-led offence can't get it together, since Queen's defence can hang in with almost any OUA team. The Call: Ottawa 27-10
ACTUAL SCORE: Ottawa 34-13 (and my apologies for transposing the Gee-Gees' W-L record. It was a very long week)

WESTERN MUSTANGS (3-2) vs. U OF T VARSITY BLUES (0-5)
Saturday, 2 p.m.
Oh, you mouthy Mustangs: after Western beat Windsor last week, defensive lineman Tom Dolezel told his team's house organ, the London Free Press, that Lancers running back Nick Romain "is a soft runner. Quote, unquote. He's 250 pounds, but he runs like a buck-eighty." This from a guy who plays on a team that's yielded 453 rushing yards in their two losses. As for the game, don't ask. The Call: Western 51-7
ACTUAL SCORE: Western 44-21

YORK LIONS (1-4) vs. WINDSOR LANCERS (3-2)
Saturday, 7 p.m.
How predictable was it that Windsor would come back to earth against the traditional powerhouses. A little dose of a lousy York team will get the Lancers humming again. The Call: Windsor 45-14
ACTUAL SCORE: Windsor 41-28

QUEBEC

SHERBROOKE VERT ET OR (2-2) vs. #8 MONTREAL CARABINS (2-2)
Saturday, 1 p.m.
So what's going to give first -- Montreal's offensive woes or Sherbrooke's struggles against the Carabins and the Laval Rouge et Or? Sorry, Sherbrooke, but QB J.P. Shoiry is still a rookie, and he's going in on the road against a Montreal secondary that made five INTs last week. Carabins receiver Yvés Bériault had 139 yards from scrimmage on just five touches in that game. The Call: Montreal 20-16
ACTUAL SCORE: Montreal 38-13

McGILL REDMEN (1-3) vs. #6 CONCORDIA STINGERS (4-0)
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Concordia might get off to a slow start since the temptation is there to look ahead to Laval next week. The Stingers get another chance to sharpen their running game, which had just 62 yards against Bishop's last weekend. The Call: Concordia 37-14
ACTUAL SCORE: Concordia 41-13

#1 LAVAL ROUGE ET OR (4-0) vs. BISHOP'S GAITERS (1-3)
Saturday, 1 p.m.
Pass... Laval QB Benoit Groulx will be doing plenty. The rebuilding Gaiters have a had a murderous first five weeks. The Call: Laval 39-7
ACTUAL SCORE: Laval won 26-14

Last week: 11-2 (84.6%)
Season: 50-9 (84.7%)
Closest call last week: None, really

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Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

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