CALGARY – The UBC Thunderbirds celebrate Homecoming Weekend Saturday at Thunderbird Stadium as they take on the University of Calgary Dinos in Week 2 of Canada West action – and the Dinos are looking to spoil the party.

Action between the No. 2 Dinos (1-0) and Thunderbirds (0-1) gets underway at 2 p.m. PT (3 p.m. MT), live on CanadaWest.tv in Vancouver.

The Dinos and Thunderbirds have become pretty well-acquainted in recent years, with Saturday's contest set to be their eighth match-up since the start of the 2011 season, including a pair of postseason contests. The Dinos have come out on top every time, though one UBC win in 2011 was forfeited after the season. A year ago, the Dinos won both regular season meetings as well as the conference semi-final – but all three games were tight, and in two of the three Calgary had to come back in the fourth quarter to win the game.

Look for both teams to try to establish the run early, with two of the best backs in the nation set to go head-to-head: UBC's Brandon Deschamps and Calgary's Mercer Timmis. Both had limited output in Week 1 – Deschamps ran for 49 yards, Timmis for 47 – but they were the top two rushers in the nation last season. Timmis, the reigning Canada West MVP, started his season with two touchdowns against Alberta, a year after setting a conference record with 19 majors in 2013.

The teams come into this weekend after seeing opposite results in Week 1: Calgary laid a 71-3 mauling on Alberta last Friday night, while UBC fell 33-23 at Regina to open their campaign.

Here's a look at the two teams:

No. 2 Calgary Dinos (1-0)
Last week: defeated Alberta 71-3. Next week: at Saskatchewan

As expected, the Dinos were dominant in a 71-3 win over Alberta to kick off the 2014 season last week. Blake Nill was able to get his depth players plenty of playing time, after the starters jumped out to a 43-point halftime lead. Andrew Buckley put up great numbers, despite playing just the first half, tossing for 313 yards and three touchdowns before giving way to Eric Dzwilewski and Jimmy Underdahl in the second half.

Brett Blaszko had a great day receiving, hauling in nine passes for 198 yards, including a 65-yard TD bomb in the first half. He was named the Canada West offensive player of the week for his performance. Along with Jake Harty, the two combined for more than 300 receiving yards.

Harty (19), along with offensive line teammates Sukh Chungh (8) and Sean McEwen (14), were on the list of the Top 20 CFL prospects announced by the Canadian Football League this week ahead of next spring's CFL draft. That trio will look to add their names to the long list of Dinos who have made the jump to the pro ranks in recent years – more than any other school in North America.

Defensively, the Dinos put up a solid performance against Alberta, holding them to just 277 yards and three points while intercepting Golden Bear quarterbacks five times. Second-year defensive back Adam Laurensse accounted for two of those five picks on the night by the Calgary defence.

All-Canadian Cyril Iwanegbe made the most of his first crack at the free safety spot, recording 8.5 tackles – eight of which were solos – in the Alberta game.

The Dinos have a short turnaround this week before facing Saskatchewan on the road next Friday night.

UBC Thunderbirds (0-1)
Last week: lost at Regina 33-23; Next week: at Manitoba

Despite leading for much of the game, including part of the third quarter, the Thunderbirds couldn't stop the air attack of the Regina Rams and fell 33-23 last Friday night in Regina to open the season.

UBC's defence gave up 430 passing yards to the Cayman Shutter-led Rams, who scored 17 unanswered points in the second half to take control of the game. The offence, meanwhile, showed flashes but had trouble finishing drives and punching it in, resulting in three field goals from 25 yards or less – points that could have made the difference in the game had they been touchdowns.

Carson Williams completed 17 of 30 passes for 220 yards, one touchdown, and one interception against Regina. He spread out the ball well, with eight receivers hauling in at least one pass and only one – Josh Kronstrom – catching more than two. His six receptions for 60 yards led the way for UBC. On the ground, Williams added 37 yards with his feet, while the Regina defensive front did a good job to take away space for Deschamps, limiting him to just 3.9 yards per carry on 13 tries.

UBC's offence is full of explosive athletes, however, and they'll look to get on track in front of their big Homecoming crowd Saturday afternoon. The Davis brothers, Marcus and Terrell, are two of UBC's top-rated recruits with Terrell transferring north after a stint with Arizona Stats in the Pac-12. Both saw limited action against Regina.

Defensively, last year's conference nominee for the J.P. Metras trophy as the nation's top lineman, Donovan Dale, leads an experienced defensive front that will try to plug the holes and limit Timmis' role in the game. The battle on the trenches between Calgary's offensive line and UBC's defensive front could well decide this one.

UBC heads back on the road next week for the longest in-conference road trip in the nation when they head to Winnipeg to face the Manitoba Bisons on Sept. 20.

-UC-