It's conference championship Saturday in Canadian university football tomorrow, and the diehards at cisfootball.org have chipped in to tee up each of the four games. Presenting: the Loney Bowl, the Atlantic University Sport football final, featuring the Saint Mary's Huskies (4-4) at the Acadia Axemen (6-3), live at 12 p.m. ET, Eastlink.
Board regular Mattrak took the time to contibute to this article.
When Saint Mary's has the ball:
Mattrak: "On the Acadia defence, MLB Steve Farao is their heart and soul. On top of being everywhere on the field, he makes a lot of special teams plays.
"Farao and his pals on D will be up against a two-quarterback team in veteran Billy Robinson Jr. and rookie Eric Glavic. RB Jacques Lumbala is big, has moves and can pound people. SMU has, again, a big O-line. SMU coach Steve Sumurah will not hesitate to switch QBs often, if they feel it will give them an advantage. They also have a balanced attack and will have to keep the Acadia D guessing if they want to be successful."
What are the different looks Glavic and Robinson give?
Mattrak: "Robinson is more of a pocket passer. He has got big game experience and has got fire, being pushed by Glavic.
"At the Concordia game, Glavic came in late in the game and threw a long pass to a wide open receiver. It was surreal. They had the entire field to drive and the cornerback was nowhere near the SMU receiver.
" His best play was IMHO, the best CIS play I have seen this year. He conceded about 30 yards (and I thought he was toasted) to fight back and gain about 25 yards, setting up a SMU score in OT. He has got the confidence to concede yards and it is great. But if the Acadia D-linemen are smart, they will know he always goes back deeper when hurried and they could use this info for a big sack that would kill a drive."
When Acadia has the ball:
Mattrak: "Acadia is a well coached organization with a smoothly run offence and established system. They like to throw quick passes (one- and three-step drops) and their good aerial game opens up the opposing defense quite a bit. I think their backs' success is the result of a sound passing attack. IMHO, their backs are overrated a bit. Quarterback Chris Judd is a capable signal caller but has shown inconsistencies throughout the season. He has had bad streaks when he simply could not connect while he should have had. Maybe it came from strong pressure but I can’t tell you because Mount A did not put a lot of pressure on him last week.
"While decimated with injuries, they still have depth but are now very thin at O-line."
That depleted line has to block Saint Mary's Brent Shubley, who had four sacks in last week's win over St. FX, to add to the 9 1/2 he posted in the regular season. As sorta predicted at the start of the season, SMU has taken time to develop an identity and "(m)ay be this year's version of the team that has a so-so 4-4 or 5-3 regular season and then finds something that works in the playoffs."
What they've found is a defence, coached by first-year co-ordinator, Mike McLean, that can force punts and turnovers until Sumurah figures out which QB will play and what type of offence they're going to run.
The other question on this side of the ball is the health of Acadia's main man, receiver Ivan Birungi: "Birungi is their biggest weapon and has problems with his hamstring. As we all know, hamstrings are a bitch to heal and take forever. Expect Birungi to start but to be a non-factor (bold statement) or to not be his usual self (less of a bold statement).
"I am sure he is not running at 100% in practice."
Special teams:
Like another Axemen kicker of days gone by, Bob Cameron, Acadia's James Michener doubles as a quarterback. He was 12-of-14 on field goals in the regular season. SMU, however, probably has an edge, since 18-year-old rookie Justin Palardy has experience with overtime (that six-OT epic against Concordia) and has a big leg, with a season long of 48 yards.
Last Jewett Trophy for each: SMU won 1999-2004 inclusive but Acadia broke the streak last year (well, technically St. FX did by beating the Huskies in the semifinal)
Environment Canada gameday forecast: Periods of sun and cloud, high 13C
Sager's Call: SMU 27, Acadia 17
Other championship games: Canada West, Ontario, Quebec
Previous week's picks:
Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, OUA first round & Semifinal Saturday
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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