CALGARY – The banged up University of Calgary Dinos (0-3) return home and kickoff the weekend with a Friday night showdown against the defending Canada West champion Saskatchewan Huskies.

The contest is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start from McMahon Stadium.

HEADLINES

• This is the first of two meetings between Calgary and Saskatchewan this season. The Dinos will make the return trip to Griffiths Stadium on Oct. 21.
• Last season, the Huskies opened and closed one of their best seasons in program history with wins over the Dinos. They kicked off the year with an emphatic 44-5 win at McMahon before capping the year with a 24-1 victory at home.
• The Huskies have had by far the most success of any conference opponent against the Dinos, with five wins in their last seven games.
• Calgary still owns a 62-42-1 conference record over Saskatchewan all-time in the head-to-head series.

Calgary Dinos (0-3)
Next week: at Manitoba

• Calgary has been hit hard by the injury bug thus far this year. Last year's leading rusher Matthieu Clarke has yet to see the field after suffering an injury in camp. Starting quarterback Dom Britton was knocked out of the game late in Week 2 and missed last week's contest, as did starting linebacker Daniel Flanagan. In all, the Dinos were without six of their regular starters last week at Regina.
• Despite all the changes to the lineup, one bright spot of late has been the big plays from Gob Deng. The second-year wideout came into the season with one rushing touchdown and has three receiving scores in the last two weeks. Deng has scores of 7, 76 and 85 yards, quickly establishing himself as one of the biggest homerun threats in the conference.
• It has been a tough start for the Dinos, who are looking to avoid back-to-back 0-4 starts to the year. The slow starts the past two seasons are incredibly rare, as they have started 0-3 just six times in program history - three of which were the first three years of the program (1964-66).
• The Dinos have a rare Sunday contest next week, heading to Manitoba to take on the Bisons Oct. 1 from IG Field.

Saskatchewan Huskies (2-1)
Next week: vs. UBC

• A season ago, the Huskies went 7-1 in conference play - their best regular season mark since 2009. They claimed their 21st Hardy Cup and advanced to their second-straight Vanier Cup game before falling to Laval.
• Saskatchewan enters Friday's game ranked fifth in the most recent national poll despite suffering a 26-22 loss to Alberta last week - snapping a 19-game home winning streak.
• Second-year QB Anton Amundrud leads the nation through the first three weeks in passing yards per game, averaging 323.3 yards through the air. The Lloydminster, Alta. product also third in TD passes with nine, thus far.
• Saskatchewan returns home next weekend for a showdown with No. 7 UBC. The Huskies and Thunderbirds are scheduled to meet just once in 2023. Next Friday's (Sept. 29) contest is set for a 7 p.m. kick from Griffiths Stadium.

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