CALGARY – Who would've thunk it?
Week five of the 2008 CIS football season is upon us, and a first-place showdown is on the schedule – but it doesn't involve a team from the provinces of Saskatchewan or Manitoba. No, this week's first place showdown pits the No. 8 Simon Fraser Clan against the No. 9 Calgary Dinos – two teams that are ranked in the CIS Top Ten for the first time since 2004.
Along with the Toronto Varsity Blues, the Clan has been the surprise of the CIS season so far – first snapping a 25-game losing streak in the season opener against UBC and following that up with a monumental upset of No. 2 Saskatchewan last weekend at B.C. Place. Austrian quarterback Bernd Dittrich has emerged as the number-three passer in Canada West early in the season, while receiver Jeff Biles sits atop the conference leaderboard in receiving yards.
Simon Fraser's 27-17 upset of Saskatchewan demonstrated the parity of Canada West this season, and one would be hard-pressed to explain the conference standings in week five. There's a four-way tie for first place with the Clan and the Dinos joined by UBC and Saskatchewan at 2-1, while Regina – a team picked by many as an early-season favourite – languishes in the basement at 0-2. UBC, who lost to the Clan in the first week of the season, has wins over Alberta – who handed SFU its only loss – and the defending Vanier Cup champion Manitoba Bisons, while Saskatchewan looked very ordinary in the loss to SFU after dominating both Calgary and Regina in their first two contests. Confused yet?
And so, pending the outcome of Friday night's UBC-Regina game in Vancouver, the winner of Saturday's Clan-Dinos match-up could emerge in sole possession of the conference lead heading into week six.
The Dinos enter the weekend on a two-game win streak, dropping both Manitoba and Alberta at home, and will look to become just the second road team to earn a victory on the year. After an impressive offensive showing in a 37-17 defeat of Manitoba, the Dinos' offence struggled mightily against Alberta and needed a 16-point fourth quarter to escape with a 17-11 victory.
Calgary's only touchdown of the game came courtesy of defensive back #Brett Ferguson,# who returned his first of three interceptions of the fourth quarter back 52 yards for the major. For his efforts, Ferguson was named the Canada West and CIS defensive player of the week. His three picks were part of a 10-turnover effort put forth by the Dinos defence last week, including six interceptions, three fumbles, and one turnover on downs. The defence has been solid all season, boasting a league-high turnover margin of +8, and they will need to be sharp against the Clan's Canada West-leading rushing offence.
On the offensive side of the football, running back Matt Walter was finally able to establish a running game for the Dinos against Alberta, racking up 153 yards in relief of the injured Anthony Woodson. It was the first 100-yard rushing game of the season for the Dinos, who had 11 of them between Woodson and Walter in 2007, and Walter now sits second in the conference rushing race.
Deke Junior has become the go-to guy for the Dinos at quarterback and leads the conference in passing yardage with 648 – already a better total than any Calgary pivot had in the entire 2007 season – and completion percentage (70.0). He is also leads Canada West starting quarterbacks with just one interception thrown on 80 attempts. Receiver Anthony Parker, who missed the second half of the Alberta game, will return to the line-up as the Dinos make the trip west.
The Dinos lead the all-time series with SFU 5-3 and are riding a four-game winning streak into this contest at Swangard. Calgary easily took both games last season, winning by a combined score of 106-17 – though Saturday's game has the makings of being much closer.
Kickoff between the Dinos and Clan goes at 2 p.m. MT Saturday, and you can catch all the action with Dave Rowe and Tony Spoletini on The FAN 960 and fan960.com.
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