CALGARY – The third-ranked University of Calgary Dinos host the Regina Rams Saturday afternoon at McMahon Stadium looking to lock up at least second place in Canada West and a home playoff date in Shaw TV's Game of the Week. (1 p.m., Shaw TV, The FAN 960, www.fan960.com).

GAME NOTES (.pdf)

It's Enterprise Seniors' Day presented by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and fifth-year Dinos players QB Deke Junior, DB Matt Grohn, LB Chase Moore, and DL Andrew Obrecht will be recognized before the final regular season home game of their CIS careers.

It's the second meeting of the season between the two sides after the Dinos' 41-15 victory at Mosaic Stadium back in Week 3. Calgary (5-1) sits tied with Saskatchewan (5-1) atop the conference standings and needs one win in its last two games to clinch a home playoff berth, while the Rams (3-3) are in a dogfight with the Alberta Golden Bears and Manitoba Bisons (both 3-3) for the final two playoff positions.

The Canada West playoff picture got a little murkier Wednesday with the announcement that Simon Fraser will forfeit its first two wins of the season due to an ineligible player. Manitoba's record instantly improved to 3-3 from 2-4 after the Bisons will get credited for a victory in their Week 2 contest at Simon Fraser.

The Dinos and Rams have quickly become familiar with each other, playing a late regular season game in 2008 before meeting in last season's conference semi-final, with the Dinos winning both en route to their conference title. Calgary will look to extend its overall streak against the Rams to four games in Saturday's match-up, which could very likely be a first-round playoff preview.

Saturday's contest will see the top two quarterbacks in Canada West in Regina's Marc Mueller (123-222-1576, 262.7 yards/game) and Calgary's Erik Glavic (91-138-1517, 252.8 yards/game)

The game will be seen live across Western Canada on Shaw TV, with kickoff at 1:07 p.m. Here's a look at the two teams:

No. 3 Calgary Dinos (5-1)
Last week: bye
Next week: @ Alberta

The last team in Canada West to receive a bye, the Dinos got a badly-needed week off after reeling off five straight victories following their season-opening overtime loss at Saskatchewan. Re-focused and ready for the stretch drive, Calgary has its sights set on a 7-1 record, which hasn't happened since 1988.

In their last game action, a 35-24 home win over Manitoba, the Dinos shot out to a 23-0 lead but trailed 24-23 heading into the fourth quarter after being bitten by the turnover bug, but a big kickoff return by Anthony Parker led to Nathan Coehoorn's second touchdown of the game to put the Dinos up to stay early in the final period.

Following a week to recover from the grind of the Canada West season, the Dinos will look to improve their execution and limit turnovers against a Rams team desperate for wins and hoping to head to the post-season.

Offensively, the Dinos continue to be in a class by themselves in Canada West, sitting number one in every team offensive category on the books. Calgary leads the nation in rushing with nearly 290 yards per game – a 40-yard-per-game lead across CIS, and a more than 100-yard advantage in the conference – with just two games to play.

Running back Matt Walter returns to the lineup after sitting out most of the second half against the Bisons and sits just 123 yards shy of 1,000 on the season. The last time he took on the Rams, Walter exploded for a career high 259 yards and will look for more of the same this time around.

Walter is tied with Anthony Parker for the conference lead in touchdowns with eight. Parker is the leading receiver in the nation at 108 yards per game.

Despite the offensive juggernaut that the Erik Glavic-led Dinos offence has become, the Calgary defence has tended to let teams stick around and make things interesting. The Dinos have allowed the third-most points per game (23) and the most passing yards per game (273). Their run defence is tops in the conference and second only to Laval nationally, but the Dinos need to find a way to limit the pass attack of the Rams, who sit just behind Calgary in total passing on the season.

Calgary closes the season with a Halloween tilt in Edmonton against the Golden Bears. Even with two wins in their final two games, however, the Dinos will need help to finish first because Saskatchewan holds the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to their overtime victory in Saskatoon to open the season.

Regina Rams (3-3)
Last week: lost 33-22 @ Alberta
Next week: vs. Saskatchewan

With two games against the top two teams in the conference to end the season, the Rams face an uphill battle to get into the post-season. Luckily for them, one of the teams they're fighting, the Alberta Golden Bears, faces exactly the same schedule.

After opening the season 1-2, the Rams got back-to-back wins over B.C. opponents to climb back above the .500 mark before last weekend's road loss in Edmonton. Despite trailing by just two points at the half, the Rams couldn't find the scoreboard in the second 30 minutes until there were just 26 ticks left on the clock, falling 33-22 to the Golden Bears and creating a quagmire behind the Dinos and Huskies in the Canada West playoff race.

The Rams' offence is pass-heavy – 260 yards per game (2nd in Canada West) – and run-light, sitting with a conference-worst 102.2 yards per game. Mueller's 1,576-yard passing performance so far this season is the conference's best, and he sits second only to Glavic in total offence. Jordan Sisco is the third-ranked receiver in the conference, with Brenden Owens and Mark McConkey also cracking the top 10.

Regina features all-star linebacker Brandon Ganne, who sits second in the conference with 39.5 tackles on the season after a monster 10-tackle performance in a losing cause last weekend in Edmonton, while placekicker Perri Scarcelli leads the conference in scoring with 56 points.

The Rams return home to close the season against the Saskatchewan Huskies next Friday night at Regina's Mosaic Stadium, a game the Dinos will certainly be keeping an eye on.

-UC-