Tuesday, December 09, 2008

CIS Corner: Ready for some football, in about nine months

The Ottawa Gee-Gees will have a Yates Cup rematch, at home against Western, in their season opener. (The OUA football schedule was released today.)

The glass-half-full take on Queen's schedule, given the way it's gone down the past two seasons, is that they play two tough games at the end of the regular season, Western and Laurier in Weeks 7 and 8. It did not escape notice that the week before the Western game (Oct. 17 in Kingston), the Mustangs have a Thursday night game vs. York, while Queen's and Waterloo are the only teams playing a Saturday game that week.

Western ends up getting two extra days of R&R, but as back-to-back winners of a trophy no self-respecting Queen'sperson cares about, they shouldn't really need it, eh. Meantime, the Gaels get penalized because some slack school doesn't have lights on their field (neither does Queen's, but that's neither here nor there).

Quickly, here's the schedules for the Gee-Gees and Queen's Golden Gaels :

Golden Gaels (who don't play U of T next season)
  • Mon., Sept. 7 vs. Guelph
  • Sat., Sept. 12 vs. McMaster
  • Sat. Sept. 19 at Ottawa
  • Sat., Sept. 26 vs. York
  • Sat., Oct. 3 at Windsor
  • Sat., Oct. 10 at Waterloo
  • Sat., Oct. 17 vs. Western
  • Sat., Oct. 24 at Laurier
The Waterloo game is the only contest on Thanksgiving weekend that's actually scheduled for Saturday. Three games are on Thursday, with one Friday. On one level, it's good teams are trying to get fans out, but on the other hand, it gives one team extra rest for the following week. Western will have two more days to prepare for Queen's, since it plays on the Thursday at U of T.

Gee-Gees (miss McMaster)
  • Sun., Sept. 6 vs. Western
  • Sat., Sept. 12 at Waterloo
  • Sat., Sept. 19 vs. Queen's
  • Fri., Sept. 25 at U of T
  • Sat., Oct. 3 at Laurier
  • Fri., Oct. 9 vs. Guelph
  • Sat.., Oct. 17 at York
  • Sat., Oct. 24 vs. Windsor
It seems like a decent schedule for Ottawa, with two home games that will draw a crowd.

Gaels release 2009 football schedule
(Kingston Whig-Standard)

3 comments:

Duane Rollins said...

Since we are taking over... ;)

Laurier @ Toronto
Laurier @ Western
Waterloo @ Laurier
Laurier @ McMaster
Ottawa @ Laurier
Windsor @ Laurier
Laurier @ Guelph
Queen @ Laurier

The Hawks miss York, which kind of sucks and kinda doesn't for a top team. Bad habits are hard to break and all that (vs. free win). I'm not crazy that Western is so early again. And, it looks like they've made the Waterloo game homecoming, which is a bit shortsighted as it is a game that attracts big numbers anyway. I like ending with Queen's.

Anonymous said...

I like the fact Ottawa will skip U of T next year.
I would have liked it even more if the Gee Gees could have bypassed York.
If I could have it my way, I would have Queen's and Western play Ottawa twice in a home and home series
More killer, less filler.

Anonymous said...

Sorry my bad, it's Queen's that misses U of T.
Still like the idea of home and home with rivals, though