CIS Football Report (Week 9)
The CIS regular season is now finished as the CanWest, RSEQ, and AUS conferences played their last games of the season. Now the focus moves to the best part of any CIS football season, the playoffs. Most conferences had been determined already with most playoff spots taken and only a few positions to figure out. Still though the CIS has a way of surprising people and it did just that in the final week of the regular season. The RSEQ had everything figured out as the only battle in the conference was for the top spot as the Laval Rouge et Or and the Montreal Carabins fought it out for the top spot and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The battle was a close one throughout the year as both teams split their own series with one win each. As the Carabins won their game it was up to the Rouge et Or to determine who would take the top spot. Laval left no doubt though as they beat the Concordia Stingers and took the top spot finishing off the last race in the RSEQ conference. It wasn’t this battle in the final week that took the major focus of the conference though as it was at the bottom of the conference that made the most news. As the Bishop’s Gaiters finished off their season they would take a loss against the Montreal Carabins but looked to be head to the playoffs. The season had not ended they way they had wished but they were still in the playoffs with another chance to make the season worth it. Then the news came in that despite their record and the points they learned they would not be in the playoffs this year. As the game finished the CIS handed down punishment for the Gaiters who had disclosed that they had used an ineligible player. The game they used the player in was a game against Concordia which they had originally lost. Then when Concordia disclosed the use of an ineligible player against them the Gaitors took the win with a 1-0 forfeit score. With the punishment form the CIS the game would be a double forfeit meaning that both teams would forfeit creating a 0-0 tie. The tie gave the Gaiters a record of 2-6-1 and putting them into 5th place. Meanwhile the McGill Redmen would have a 2-7 record and would move to fourth place in the RSEQ. On a ride home from a loss to Sherbrooke when they found out that they had been given the playoff spot thanks to infractions made by the Bishop’s Gaiters. McGill would be on their way to the playoffs for the first time since 2006 only weeks after they began planning for next year. It was a strange way to end another strange season where nothing was known until the final whistle. As the RSEQ finished off their season with some drama the rest of the conferences did not follow suit as most saw a relatively quite end to their season. The CanWest conference did not see anything change as the Calgary Dinos finished off their season at the top along with Alberta, Regina, and Saskatchewan. The AUS conference saw the only playoff battle left as the Saint Mary’s Huskies beat the StFX X-Men for the last playoff spot in their conference while Acadia and Mount Allison remained in the top two spots. The OUA had already finished their regular season and their first round of playoffs did not provide much drama either. Western and Queen’s both dominated their games and easily moved on to the semi-finals. Next week will see the semi-finals in every conference as all teams left continue to fight their way to the conference finals and eventually to the national playoffs. Nobody knows who will win but one thing is for sure the most exciting part of the season is about to begin and that means good things for all of the fans.
CIS Top 10:
1. McMaster Marauders (1)
2. Calgary Dinos (2)
3. Laval Rouge et Or (3)
4. Montreal Carabins (4)
5. Guelph Gryphons (5)
6. Queen’s Golden Gaels (6)
7. Western Mustangs (7)
8. Regina Rams (8)
9. Acadia Axemen (9)
10. Manitoba Bison (10)
CIS Standings:
CanWest:
1. y-Calgary Dinos (14)
2. x-Regina Rams (12)
3. x-Saskatchewan Huskies (10)
4. x-Manitoba Bison (8)
5. UBC Thunderbirds (4)
6. Alberta Golden Bears (0)
RSEQ:
1. y-Laval Rouge et Or (16)
2. x-Montreal Carabins (16)
3. x-Sherbrooke Vert et Or (12)
4. x-McGill Redmen (4)
5. Bishop’s Gaiters (5)*
6. Concordia Stingers (3)*
*Concordia and Bishop’s had ineligible playoffs forcing a double forfeit
AUS:
1. y-Acadia Axemen (14)
2. x-Mount Allison Mounties (6)
3. x-Saint Mary’s Huskies (6)
4. StFX X-Men (4)*
*StFX receives a win over Concordia after the Stingers used an ineligible player
x- Clinched Playoff Spot
y- Clinched Conference
b- Clinched First round bye
Key Scores:
Saint Mary’s Huskies 49 – 3 StFX X-Men
– It was the only playoff battle left in the CIS as both teams needed a win to advance to the AUS semi-finals while the loser would be stuck outside and this year was the Huskies year as they dominated the X-Men for the last playoff spot
Laval Rouge et Or 32 – 19 Concordia Stingers
– One of the only battles left in the RSEQ was for first place as the Montreal Carabins needed to win and hope their rivals from Laval would lose but the Rouge et Or disappointed Montreal fans easily taking the win and first place against Concordia
OUA Quarter-Finals:
Western Mustangs 56 – 35 Windsor Lancers
– As the OUA playoffs began the Western Mustangs were looking to get back to the top of the league after a season that was not reflective of their usual teams and they showed that they are a team to watch beating the surprising Lancers easily
Queen’s Golden Gaels 34 – 0 Laurier Golden Hawks
– The Golden Gaels barely missed out on a first round bye but showed that it didn’t matter when they shut out the Hawks at home to move on to the semi-finals and continue their trip back to the Yates Cup
Playoffs:
CanWest Semi-Finals:
Saskatchewan Huskies vs. Regina Rams (November 2nd; 7:00 pm CDT)
– The Huskies were hoping that this season was a resurgence but they will have to settle for a great playoff performance to do so against the Regina Rams who have been one of the best teams in the CanWest all year
Manitoba Bison vs. Calgary Dinos (November 3rd; 5:00 pm MDT)
– The Dinos have once again been the best team in the CanWest conference as they had only been beat once all year as the Bison are hoping to recover from a 78-54 loss against the Dinos in the last game to get the first big upset of the playoffs
OUA Semi-Finals:
Queen’s Golden Gaels vs. Guelph Gryphons (November 3rd; 1:00 pm EDT)
– Queen’s and Guelph fought until the end of the season to earn the first round bye with the Gryphons coming out on top and after the Gaels shutout the Golden Hawks in the Quarter-Finals they are looking for revenge to get to the Yates Cup
Western Mustangs vs. McMaster Marauders (November 3rd; 4:30 pm EDT)
– In a rematch of the Yates Cup final last year the defending champions in McMaster will take on the old guard with roles reversed as the Marauders are now the best team in the nation and Western the underdog both looking for a spot in the Yates Cup
RSEQ Semi-Finals:
McGill Redmen vs. Laval Rouge et Or (November 3rd; 1:00 pm EDT)
– The Redmen barely got in to the playoffs winning the last spot on a technicality but they may not be too happy about it when they take on the best team in the RSEQ the Laval Rouge et Or hoping to get the biggest upset of the playoffs
Sherbrooke Vert et Or vs. Montreal Carabins (November 3rd; 1:00 pm EDT)
– The Montreal Carbains are looking ahead to a rematch with the Laval Rouge et Or in the Dunsmore Cup but that could be dangerous as the Vert et Or stand in their way and could produce a big surprise for the Carabins
AUS Semi-Final:
Mount Allison Mounties vs. Saint Mary’s Huskies (November 3rd; 1:00 pm ADT)
– The Mounties are in an unfamiliar place as they sit in second place at the end of the season and finally have a good chance against the old guard in Saint Mary’s with Acadia waiting in the wings for the winner of this game
The Sport Addiction 
even with the double forfeit Bishops still was given a point for a tie and were on point ahead in the standings for the last spot according to what is printed. Is this a mistake and were neither team awarded any points as to the reason why McGill was to represent in the 4th playoff slot.
No mistake. McGill received the playoff spot based on the record/tiebreaker and not the points. It is a strange way to do it but McGill and Bishop’s both ended with 2 wins meaning they “tied” despite Bishop’s earning the point. With the tie the Redmen won the playoff spot based on point differential.