GAME INFORMATION
Date: Saturday, Nov. 26
Time: 12:00 p.m. CST
Opponent: Laval Rouge et Or
Location: London, Ont.
Venue: Western Alumni Stadium
Watch: CBC TV
Stream: CBCsports.ca / CBC Gem / CBC Sports on YouTube
Listen: HuskieFAN
The Saskatchewan Huskies are back in the Vanier Cup.
After last season's heartbreaking defeat to the Western Mustangs in last year's Vanier Cup, the focus of the program has been a return to this exact stage — the biggest and brightest stage in Canadian university football. The Huskies accomplished said goal this past weekend, thanks to a 36-19 win over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in the Uteck Bowl.
While the Huskies have been inside the top-four of the U SPORTS Top 10 all year long, since Week 1, the No. 1 ranked team has been those aforementioned Mustangs. Since the season got underway, Western has been favoured to get back to the Vanier — a game they were set to host in their own backyard. But in last Saturday's Mitchell Bowl, the Laval Rouge et Or spoiled those plans and joined the Huskies in punching their ticket to the 57th Vanier Cup with a 27-20 comeback victory over the host Mustangs.
And as fate would have it, that all sets up this — a meeting between the Huskies and Rouge et Or, as two of U SPORTS most historic programs renew a legendary rivalry.
For the first time since the 2006 Vanier Cup, Saskatchewan and Laval will do battle. 16 years after the Rouge et Or broke the Huskies hearts on their home turf, the pair of programs will meet in a national championship, once again.
That frigid November afternoon in 2006 that saw more than 12,000 fans file into Griffiths was the last of three-straight seasons which all saw Laval and Saskatchewan meet on the national stage. In the 2004 Vanier Cup, Huskies lost 7-1 to the Rouge et Or. A year later, Saskatchewan got their revenge with a 29-27 win in the Mitchell Bowl — the program's first-ever win over Laval.
Until last season, 2006 was also the last time the Huskies would reach the Vanier Cup. But Huskies head coach Scott Flory has quickly returned the program into the nation's elite since taking the helm in 2017. Saskatchewan has won three of the last four Hardy Cups — paving the way for a trio of national semifinal appearances. Now, after back-to-back Uteck Bowl victories comes a second-straight Vanier Cup appearance.
But ultimately, it isn't about getting this far just to get this far. There's still work to do — the final hurdle remains.
In the offseason, longtime legendary Huskies head coach Brian Towriss looked back on the 2021 season by saying: "This whole thing kind of parallels what happened from 1987-89. They just keep taking one more step and one more step."
The Huskies are hoping that they can take that next step on Saturday afternoon and win their fourth national championship in program history.
5ish Things:
- This will be the fifth meeting between the Huskies and Rouge et Or and the third in the Vanier Cup.
- Five members of the current Huskies coaching staff played in 2006 Vanier Cup — Braden Suchan, Bret Thompson, Paul Woldu, Tony Michalchuk and Dan Houle.
- Saturday's meeting will be a matchup of a pair of the conference MVP's in Saskatchewan quarterback Mason Nyhus and Laval receiver Kevin Mital.
- The Vanier Cup will feature two of the nation's most prolific passers. Rouge et Or quarterback Arnaud Desjardins and Nyhus were the only two quarterbacks to surpass 300 passing yards-per-game this season. Nyhus tossed for 344.9 yards-per-game, while Desjardins was second to the Regina, Sask. product with 319.4 passing yards-per-game.
- During the regular-season, Saskatchewan and Laval ranked one-two in the nation in yards-per-game. The Huskies mark of 479.4 was just 8.6 more than the Rouge et Or.
- Both programs enter Saturday with matching 10-1 records after 7-1 regular-seasons. Laval's lone loss was to the rival Montreal Carabins back in Week 2. The Rouge et Or ultimately defeated the Carabins in the Dunsmore Cup, which serves as the RSEQ championship, 24-25 — thanks to a game-winning rouge on the game's final play.
- As of Wednesday afternoon, the Saturday forceast for London calls for a high of seven degrees, with wind gusting to 23km/h.
Quotables:
Flory on the Huskies being back in the Vanier Cup:
"It's exciting. This is where we want to be. This is what we envision for ourselves. This is the pinnacle of Canadian university football. It's going to be a great game on Saturday."
Flory on the difference in the team's mindset heading into this season's Vanier Cup:
"I think we've drawn from the experience forsure. We're a different team than we were last year. The guys that got to experience that — they felt that. I think there's an incredible level of our focus within our group. I think that if you just look at our season and how we've been able to win football games and some of the things that we've overcome and just how as a team we have collectively bought in and found a way to win football games, regardless of situation — I'm proud of that. I think that's going to be something that we definitely have to draw on come Saturday."
Flory on the message to the team this week:
"I think we're pretty consistent in the message. Number one — we know this is going to be the most physical and intense football game of the year — it's a national title. Every play is going to have the utmost level of intensity to it. We have to know that and we have to get our minds right for that. It's going to be the most physical game of the year. They're a good group. They're big. They're strong. But so are we and we're gonna give them everything we got. It's just about making sure that we're locked into the moment and making great decisions."
Flory on what he learned from his first Vanier Cup experience as a coach:
"I think a lot of it was the externals. I anticipated it from a media standpoint with all kinds of distractions. It was more from a timing aspect — just those team-type things. I think it was good learning for myself and for our group, just knowing how we can manage our time during the week. The big thing is just being in the moment in the game and feeling the game. I know we got a great game plan for all three phases. To me, it's about executing, feeling in the moment and not being afraid to make those calls."
Flory on what he thinks of when he thinks of a Glen Constantin coached team:
"I think discipline. I think physical. They play tight. They're very sound fundamentally and they're going to be well coached."
Flory on what stood out to him during Laval's win in the Mitchell Bowl:
"Obviously the way that it started wasn't ideal for them, but they were able to stick to it. They stuck to the game plan and they just kept grinding. That's championship football. Nobody's going to lay over for anybody. They're just gonna keep playing and keep playing. They're a great group — and as are we — I think that's why it's going to be an awesome game."
Scouting the Rouge et Or:
Led by head coach Glen Constantin, the Rouge et Or are back in the Vanier Cup for the first time since 2018. Laval holds a 10-2 record in Vanier Cups and has won the Dunsmore Cup 16 times since 1999.
After serving as the team's defensive coordinator, Constantin was promoted to head coach in 2001 — a role he's held ever since. He has won nine Vanier Cups with the Rouge et Or — the most by a head coach in U SPORTS history. In October, Constantin broke Towriss' record for the most all-time wins as a U SPORTS head coach with 197.
Desjardins took a tremendous step forward in his first full season as the Laval starting quarterback, after taking over as the starter's job in October of last season. The Montreal product threw for 20 touchdowns during the regular-season — the most in the country — and only four interceptions. Desjardins didn't have his best game in the Mitchell Bowl, but still threw for 265 yards on 18-28 passing.
His go-to target is Mital, who was the most dominant pass catcher in the nation this season. Mital led U SPORTS in receiving yards, receptions and receiving touchdowns. Mital set the Rouge et Or's all-time leader in career receiving touchdowns earlier this season in just his second-year of eligibility. Western was able to keep him out of the end zone in the Mitchell Bowl, but still led the team with six receptions for 77 yards.
Kalenga Muganda was the engine for the Laval offence in the national semifinal win, racking up 173 yards on 24 carries. It was a breakout game for the Quebec City, Que. product, who had just 242 yards rushing during the regular-season. After scoring five times on the ground during the regular-season, full back David Dallaire punched in two more in the win, continuing the trend of his heavy utilization inside the five-yard line.
Laval had issues with the quarterback-centre exchange in the national semifinal, as each of their first three drives had fumbled snaps — with two of said fumbles being recovered by Western. The miscues helped the Mustangs hop out to a 17-0 first-quarter lead, but the Rouge et Or were able to amend the mistakes and rally off 18 unanswered, before ultimately pulling away in the fourth-quarter.
On the defensive side of the ball, Alec Poirier was a huge factor in the Laval win. Poirier had 17 total tackles in the Mitchell Bowl and kept OUA MVP Keon Edwards in check in the Mustangs ground game. Poirier was named an RSEQ All-Star this season, joining Desjardins, Dallaire and Mital as four of 11 earning conference honours.
