SASKATOON — After trailing at halftime, the No. 2 University of Saskatchewan Huskies flipped the script and shutout the No. 9 Manitoba Bisons in the final two quarters and finished with a 43-22 victory on Friday night at Griffiths Stadium in Nutrien Park.
While the score line indicated it was smooth sailing yet again for the undefeated Huskies, that certainly wasn't the case in the game's opening half. Ted Kubongo opened up the game with a bang, returning the game's opening kickoff 102 yards to the house, but after that, the Huskies struggled to find their footing offensively. The home side trailed by three at halftime and were penalized 14 times for 123 yards in the opening two quarters.
"It's good to win. That's a good football team," said Flory, when asked about the win. "I just told the team 'I'm proud of how we responded. I'm not happy with what happened in the first half. Not only with the decisions that were made on the field — we just got to be smarter and better as a team."
The Huskies were noticeably smarter in the second half — only committing one penalty for 10 yards in the final 30 minutes. The Huskies outscored the Bisons 24-0 in the second half to move to 5-0. The Huskies victory also checked off a number of boxes — 14-straight wins on home turf, the fifth 5-0 start in program history and the fourth-straight win over a Top 10 ranked team.
"We settled down and we came out in the second half and played the way we should play — the way we expect to play," said Flory.
Earlier in the week, Huskies head coach Scott Flory was asked the biggest difference between these two teams compared to the Huskies and Bisons teams that squared off last November in the 2021 Hardy Cup. Perhaps his answer should have been Ted Kubongo, as the transfer from the University of Maine was a driving force in the Saskatchewan win.
Kubongo racked up 121 yards on the ground, 37 through the air and three touchdowns — including aforementioned 102-yard kickoff return on the game's opening play, which overtook Errol Brown's 95-yard return back from back in 1992 as the program's longest kick return of all time.
"Since he's shown up he's been a consummate professional and teammate. He's a fantastic young man. But not only that, we saw his skill set and what he can provide to this football team — just putting him in multiple situations. He's lead blocking. He's taking the ball out of the backfield. He's catching passes. That's the skill set that he has — I'm really proud of him here tonight. He had a hell of a game here tonight," said Flory.
Kubongo helped the Huskies remain in top spot in the conference with the win, while the Bisons fell back below the .500 mark to 2-3.
Mason Nyhus continued to provide offensive dominance on Friday night. The fifth-year quarterback threw for 315 yards and two touchdowns — including a four-yard feed to Martensville product Kody Gutek for his first-career touchdown as a Huskie.
After hitting the 100-yard mark for the first-time in his Huskies career last week, Caleb Morin fell just shy of the century mark tonight. Morin finished with two receptions for a team-leading 97 yards. Ethan Watson had their other major for the Huskies — a four-yard scamper on a quarterback keeper.
Lane Novak led the Saskatchewan defence with 10.5 total tackles, while Nick Wiebe chipped in six total tackles of his own and a sack of Bisons quarterback Des Catellier.
Catellier threw for 191 yards and a touchdown on 16-34 passing on the night — with 98 of those 191 yards going to Brendt Adams who led Manitoba in receiving.
The Saskatchewan win marked four-straight over Manitoba, with their last loss coming in 2019's season opener in Winnipeg.
In recognition of Nationally Truth and Reconciliation Day, the Huskies wore custom star blanket inspired decals on their helmets, residential school survivors participated in the pregame coin toss, Indigenous dancers performed at halftime and orange-themed fireworks were set alight post game.
Next up for both teams is the conference-wide Thanksgiving-week bye. After that, the Huskies will once again be back in the familiar confines of Griffiths Stadium. Saskatchewan is set to play host to the visiting Regina Rams in their second match up of the regular season and the U-Prairie Challenge. The Huskies had the upper hand on the Rams earlier this season in Regina with an 11-10 victory. Kick off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Oct. 15 in Saskatoon. Tickets available now at HuskieTickets.com.
Meanwhile, the Bisons will be on the road once again — this time to Vancouver. Manitoba will take on a UBC Thunderbirds team fresh off a season-altering win over the Calgary Dinos — meaning both the TBirds and Bisons sit at 2-3 and in a fight for the postseason. Kick off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on Oct. 15 at Thunderbird Stadium.
