The University of Regina Rams can secure their hold on second place in Canada West football Saturday, and maybe even do better than that, in their first game at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium this season.
At 3-1 and coming off a loss to the U of S Huskies, the Rams face a 2-2 Bisons squad that is riding high. After starting the year with back-to-back losses and a 17-0 halftime deficit to Saskatchewan in week three, Manitoba fought back to beat the high-powered Huskies and rolled up another win over Alberta last week.
The Rams are still learning how to live with success. Gone are the days of the program sneaking up on others after their Cinderella run last fall that won them the Hardy Cup started with a major upset playoff win over these same Bisons, something U of R head coach Mark McConkey expects Manitoba’s veteran cast of characters to remember.
“You Always remember that game. I still remember UBC ending our season in 2018, 2017 and 2022. You never forget those games when you get eliminated,” McConkey said.
“They’ve had it on their mind all offseason and at the end of the day, they’re a good team and it’s just another week for us. You don’t slide down the radar as much when you end up being the Hardy Cup champions from the previous year.”
A Ram loss would put them in a spot behind the Bisons in the standings as both teams would be tied with Manitoba carrying the tiebreaker since the two sides won’t meet again in the regular season.
Both teams have a lot of holdovers from last year when they split their two meetings in Winnipeg from the regular season and playoffs. Regina linebacker Chopper Hippe remembers both battles being tough and Manitoba star quarterback Jackson Tachinski, the reigning Canada West player of the year, being a dual threat with his arm and mobility.
“He’s an exceptional player. Even at the (CFL) combine this year, he was able to do both as a quarterback and receiver so he’s a great athlete and he’s smart. He knows where to roll out to when he needs to and how to create that extra distance on those plays,” Hippe said. "We really just need to keep him in the pocket and try to beat his arm there.”
“That O-line group does a really good job. They all kind of came out of junior a couple of years ago and they’ve built a culture on they way they do things.”
It’s the U of R’s first game at Mosaic Stadium this season after playing three of four on the road and their home opener at Leibel Field and this will have a different look from the past where the Rams will switch sidelines with the visitors so that the crowd will sit behind the road team’s bench instead of Regina’s. It’s worked well in their games played at Leibel Field dating back to last season and even in last November’s Mitchell Bowl against Laval.
“Our players wanted to put the visiting team on the side of the stands so we’re away from it and not distracted by it and then the fans hopefully can get on their bench a little bit and maybe distract them,” McConkey said. “We’ll see how it goes for the next two weekends.”
The Rams could end the weekend as high as first place atop the conference or as low as falling into a logjam that could see the weekend finish with as many as five of the six teams tied at 3-2 with only three games left. The U of R Rams are ranked 6th in Canada, trailing only the U of S Huskies in Canada West who are 5th. The Bisons are the only other team in the west to receive any votes in the ranking.
Saturday’s forecast calls for perfect football weather with a mix of sun and cloud and afternoon high of 24 degrees celsius with very little wind. The Rams against Bisons will be broadcast live in the 620 CKRM 2 feed available at www.620ckrm.com with the pregame show at 1:45 and kickoff at 2:00.
