CALGARY – The Canada West football standings feature a pair of logjams, one at the top and one at the bottom, with just two points separating the two. A four-way tie for fourth place sees Alberta, Regina, Manitoba, and UBC deadlocked with 1-2 records and two points, while the Saskatchewan Huskies (2-0) join the Calgary Dinos and the Simon Fraser Clan (both 2-1) in a three-way tie for top spot.

Week 4 of the 2009 season will go a long way toward breaking these ties, and the marquee match-up of the weekend features the Clan visiting McMahon Stadium to take on the No. 4 Dinos in a rematch of the 2008 Hardy Cup final, which Calgary won 44-21.

GAME NOTES (.pdf)

Clan head coach Dave Johnson made sure his team stayed on the field after that one to watch the Dinos raise the Hardy Cup for the 10th time in school history, and that memory will certainly provide motivation to Simon Fraser entering the game – motivation that will be compounded by the Clan's first loss of the season last weekend, a 28-16 setback at home to the Alberta Golden Bears.

The conference championship game a year ago was revenge for the Dinos after losing the lone conference battle with the Clan 20-3 at a sloppy Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, B.C. last September. Once again, Calgary and Simon Fraser face off just once in conference play this season.

Here's a look at the match-up this weekend as the top-ranked Calgary offence faces the number-one SFU defence, while the Clan offence, which sits at number two in the conference, takes on the similarly second-ranked Dinos defence:

No. 4 Calgary Dinos (2-1)
Last week: won 41-15 @ Regina
Next week: @ UBC, Saturday, Oct. 3, 3 p.m. MT

The fourth-ranked Dinos finally got a breakout performance on the road last Friday night when they soundly defeated the Rams 41-15 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. Back over the .500 mark for the season, head coach Blake Nill looks to even his Canada West league record at .500. Since joining the Dinos in 2006, Nill has posted a 13-14 record heading into this tilt with Simon Fraser.

The Erik Glavic-led Dinos offence has put on a clinic in the past two games, racking up nearly 1,200 yards combined against Alberta and Regina in the teams' two victories. In particular, the Calgary running game has been virtually unstoppable, with Matt Walter earning the conference player of the week honour with a 259-yard explosion in Regina. The Dinos are averaging more than 70 yards per game better along the ground than their nearest opponent – the Simon Fraser Clan – and rank first or second in every offensive category in Canada West.

Walter's big game vaulted him into the number two position in the nation in total rushing yards, with 506 after just three games. Teammate Anthony Parker leads the nation in receiving yards with 379, an average of better than 125 per game.

Turnovers – nine of them – killed the Dinos in their conference loss at SFU last season, but the Dinos have an even giveaway-takeaway ratio so far this season. Ball security will be paramount against the Clan, which leads Canada West with a plus-three in the turnover category.

The Dinos face another B.C. opponent next week when they make their first trip to UBC since September 2006 to face the Thunderbirds on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Simon Fraser Clan (2-1)
Last week: lost 28-16 vs. Alberta
Next week: vs. Saskatchewan, 7 p.m. PT

The Clan opened the season with a pair of convincing wins over UBC and Manitoba before falling back to earth at the hands of the Alberta Golden Bears, who had given the Dinos all they could handle a week earlier. The loss dropped SFU from No. 7 to just out of the UFRC-CIS Top 10 this week.

Saturday marks the beginning of a very tough three-week stretch for the Clan. After facing No. 4 Calgary, Simon Fraser hosts No. 3 Saskatchewan next weekend before heading to Regina to face the Rams – and the Clan's playoff destiny could well be determined over the next three weeks.

Simon Fraser's offensive strength is its running game which, while not quite at the running-back-by-committee level it was in 2008, still features a variety of threats. Gabe Ephard leads the way with 74 yards per game, with Brandon Halverson adding 44 and quarterback Bernd Dittrich 39. Dittrich and his pivot counterpart in Saturday's contest, Erik Glavic, are the two top rushing quarterbacks in Canada West this season.

SFU's running game will be put to the test against Calgary's run defence, which ranks tops in the league as the only side to have allowed fewer than 100 yards per game.

The 2008 game at Swangard was a field position battle in terrible conditions, and the Clan will hope to benefit from good field position again Saturday with the return of returner Jeff Thompson. A native of St. Louis, Mo., Thompson leads the league in both punt and kickoff return average and will provide a challenge to Calgary's cover teams after missing the Manitoba game with a sprained MCL.

-UC-