CALGARY – Bye week is in the books, and as the snow starts to fly, the games get more important in Canada West football.

Friday night, the fifth-ranked University of Calgary Dinos (4-1) play host to a Manitoba Bisons team fighting for its playoff life at 2-3 in the Shaw TV Game of the Week. Kickoff goes just after 7 p.m. MT on Shaw and CanadaWest.tv.

It's Engineers Do Football night at McMahon Stadium, with the Dinos welcoming students from the Schulich School of Engineering. Several local minor football teams will also be in attendance at Friday night's contest. Additionally, $1 from each ticket sold Friday will support the Dinos Football team's fundraising goal for the Kids Cancer Care Foundation's 'Shave Your Lid for a Kid' campaign.

The Bisons are currently in the middle of a three-game road trip thanks to the NHL taking over Investors Group Field for the Heritage Classic a week from Sunday, and enter the game after a quadruple-overtime 53-50 loss at UBC before the bye. The Dinos, meanwhile, have the other side of that schedule: Friday marks the second of three consecutive games at McMahon Stadium, where they hold a sparkling 48-5 record (.906) since the start of the 2008 season – and one of those losses came by forfeit. Both teams stay in the province next week: the Dinos host Saskatchewan, while the Bisons will visit Alberta.

GAME NOTES (.pdf)

HEADLINES

• Second meeting between the teams in 2016, with Calgary taking the season-opener 23-14 in a defensive struggle in Winnipeg
• The Dinos have won two straight against the Bisons, along with nine of their last 10 regular season meetings. The Bisons' last regular season win at McMahon Stadium came back in 2005, though Manitoba did upset Calgary in the 2014 Hardy Cup at McMahon.
• It'll be strength against strength, with Manitoba boasting the conference's most potent offence at 525 yards and 36.4 points per game against the Dinos' Canada West-best defence of 381 yards and 17.6 points allowed per game
• The game will feature the top four tacklers in Canada West, with Manitoba's DJ Lalama and Bami Adewale sandwiching Dinos Boston Rowe and Micah Teitz on the leaderboard

No. 5 Calgary Dinos (4-1)
Before bye: defeated Alberta 50-15
Next week: host Saskatchewan

• The bye came at the best possible time for the Dinos, who will look to get some healthy bodies back in the lineup. The offensive line and receiving corps, in particular, have seen injuries throughout the season, and the bye provided an opportunity for an extra week to heal up.
• The Dinos continue to boast the top defence in the conference, allowing less than 400 total yards per game and just 88 points through the first five contests. Calgary has allowed fewer than 20 points in all but one game on the year – the 32-27 loss at Regina
• The offence, despite missing several contributors, broke free against the Golden Bears, scoring a season-high 50 points and 614 offensive yards. The Alberta game was both the Dinos' best passing and best rushing game of the season to this point
• Calgary's run game trails Alberta by just six yards for the conference lead, averaging nearly 190 yards per game. Jeshrun Antwi had a breakout game against the Golden Bears, racking up 100 yards on 10 carries, including a 54-yard TD explosion
• Jimmy Underdahl had a career-best 371 passing yards against Alberta. On the year he is 120-184 for 1615 yards and six TDs.
• A win would move the Dinos one step closer to home field for at least the first round of the playoffs heading into the final two weeks of the season
• Calgary wraps up the home schedule next Saturday against the Saskatchewan Huskies (1 p.m. MT) before concluding the regular season at UBC in Vancouver Oct. 29.

Manitoba Bisons
Before bye: lost 53-50 (OT) at UBC
Next week: at Alberta

• The Bisons enter the game tied with Saskatchewan for the fourth and final playoff spot at 2-3, though the Bisons own the tiebreaker by virtue of their 38-17 home win in Week 4.
• Manitoba went toe-to-toe with the UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver two weeks ago, before ultimately falling 53-50 when the T-Birds responded to a Bisons field goal with a touchdown in the fourth mini-game. Manitoba gave up 715 yards in total offence in that one
• QB Theo Deezar joins Regina's Noah Picton as the conference's resident gunslingers, throwing for more than 400 yards twice on the year. His lowest passing total, 278 yards, came against the Dinos in Week 1
• Alex Christie (60.2 yards per game) and Cam Fox (25.4) lead the rushing attack for the Bisons, while the quartet of Riley Harrison, Jesse Walker, Trysten Dyce, and Shai Ross have each recorded more than 20 catches on the season. Walker has the best yards-per-game average on the team at 91.3. Ross, meanwhile, is the Canada West leader in all-purpose yards, with 304 kick return yards to his credit
• Manitoba stays on the road at Alberta next weekend before wrapping up the season at home to Regina on Oct. 29.

-UC-