CALGARY – The University of Calgary Dinos begin the defence of their three consecutive Canada West Hardy Cup titles Friday night against a familiar opponent – familiar, at least, when it comes to the playoffs.

For the third time in four years, the Dinos host the Regina Rams in a Canada West semi-final at McMahon Stadium. The winner advances to next Friday's Hardy Cup game on TSN, with the Canada West champion earning the right to host the Mitchell Bowl – the CIS national semi-final – against the Quebec conference champion. Kickoff goes at 7 p.m. Friday night at McMahon Stadium, live on Shaw TV (Channel 10 Calgary) and qr77.com.

GAME NOTES (.pdf)

The Dinos have teamed up with the Calgary Stampeders to provide a great weekend of football in Calgary. Fans with a ticket to Saturday's Stamps game against Winnipeg can show that ticket at the gate Friday night for free admission to the Dinos-Rams game. As well, members of the University of Calgary community will be able to enter to win a trip for two to the Vanier Cup Nov. 25 in Vancouver.

In the most recent series of playoff meetings, the Dinos have had the Rams' number, taking a 40-33 win last season along with a 24-17 victory in 2008. However, both of the home playoff losses in the Dinos' history – just two losses in 16 games – came at the hands of the Regina Rams: a 39-17 loss in 2002, and a 33-32 defeat in 2000.

Regina was the only Canada West team that did not appear at McMahon this year, with the lone Dinos-Rams contest taking place Sept. 16 at Mosaic Stadium – a 51-1 Calgary victory. That extended the Dinos' win streak over the Rams to eight games overall, including the two playoff games, dating back to October 2007. Regina's last win at McMahon Stadium came all the way back on Oct. 4, 2003.

The conference semi-final will feature the top two running backs in Canada West this season in Regina's Adrian Charles (911 yards) and Calgary's Steven Lumbala (898 yards). While Charles won the rushing title by 13 yards over Lumbala, the third-year Calgary tailback had just 111 carries on the season for an impressive 8.1 average while Charles was handed the ball 175 times over the course of the season. The Dinos' strength was – yet again – the run game this year, racking up 2,120 yards in eight games – but Friday night will also feature a match-up of the top two defences in Canada West. In other words, don't expect a repeat of the 51-1 score.

UBC (6-2), by virtue of its win over Calgary last week, earned home field advantage for the first round and hosts the Saskatchewan Huskies (5-3) Saturday in the other Canada West semi-final at Thunderbird Stadium.

The Dinos have joined the Calgary Stampeders, the Edmonton Eskimos, and various other football organizations in Alberta to honour the Grande Prairie High School Warriors, who suffered a tragedy Oct. 22 when four players were killed and another seriously injured in an automobile accident. The Dinos will wear the black and orange 'W' logo of the Warriors on their helmets for the remainder of the season.

Here's a look at the two teams battling Friday night for a berth in the Hardy Cup:

No. 2 Calgary Dinos (7-1)
Last week: lost to UBC 36-23

Their hopes for an undefeated season having been dashed last week in a game that had no bearing on the standings for them, the Dinos reboot for what Blake Nill calls the 'real season' and will enjoy home field advantage all the way through the Mitchell Bowl.

Last week's 36-23 loss at UBC, the only blemish on the season for the 7-1, No. 2-ranked Dinos, saw flashes of brilliance from the offence followed by stretches of mistake-filled football. The three touchdown drives by Calgary in the first half were as good as any on the season, culminating in scores by Chris Dobko, Richard Snyder, and Eric Dzwilewski.

In addition to the exploits of the Lumbala-Walter-Woodson rushing machine that has made most of the offensive waves for the Dinos this season, Chris Dobko has emerged as the go-to receiver in Canada West. He finished the season with 56 receptions, the best single-season total by any receiver in the conference since Don Blair's 1995 Hec Crighton-winning season. UBC's Jordan Grieve was the only player in the conference with more receiving yards (768) than Dobko's 676, an no other receiver came close to Dobko's eight touchdowns on the season.

Three of those Dobko scores came Week 3 against the Regina Rams.

Calgary's defence, anchored by linebackers Sam Hurl and Jordan Verdone, was the best in the conference against the run, allowing just 117 yards per game along the ground. The trailed only Regina in total yards allowed – and that by just two yards over the course of the entire season. Calgary will remain without the services of Michael Lau, the fifth-year cornerback who suffered a leg injury Week 7 against Manitoba and is out indefinitely.

Regina Rams (3-5)
Last week: defeated Manitoba 31-22

The Rams were predicted to finish first in Canada West this year in a pre-season poll of the conference coaches, but an injury to fifth-year starting quarterback Marc Mueller in the first week of the season changed their fortunes and Regina hit the low point of its season in Week 3 when the Dinos won the lone game between the two teams 51-1 at Mosaic Stadium. Since then, the Rams have gone 3-2, with two of those wins coming against the Manitoba – including the winner-take-all 31-22 victory to close Winnipeg's University Stadium last week.

The Rams' struggles came mostly on the offensive side of the ball, where they went through several quarterbacks before finally settling on converted receiver Zach Oleynik, a southpaw who took the reins Week 4 against Alberta and started every game from that point on. He finished a respectable 90-for-16 for 1,172 yards and eight touchdowns on the year, leading the Rams to a 3-2 record in his five starts.

Regina's run game starts and ends with Charles, who led the team in rushing by more than 800 yards. But the Rams have a talented, speedy receiving corps that can make things happen after they've caught the ball, and they'll give a challenge to the Calgary defence in the form of Jared Janotta (502 yards), Mark McConkey (335), and Brenden Owens (297).

The Rams defence is big and athletic, led by lineman Akiem Hicks, the conference's sacks leader with 6.5. Regina as a team led the way with 23 sacks on the season, three better than the Dinos. They will face a challenge in the Calgary offence, which averaged 499 yards per game on the season, but it's a challenge they've faced before: in a perfect example of how statistics don't always tell the whole story, Calgary scored 51 points against the Rams despite having their lowest offensive output of the season at just 387 yards – the only time the Dinos were held to under 400 yards on the season.

Chris Bodnar, Regina's punter, could be the best in the country and had a sensational season, making a solid impact on special teams for the Rams. His 44.6-yard average was easily the best in Canada West, and it was capped off by an 83-yard bomb for his season-long.

-UC-