U Sports Football Report (National Bowls)
U Sports is one step closer to naming a champion as the Uteck Bowl and Mitchell Bowl determined the two teams heading to Hamilton to compete for the ultimate prize.
For all of the changes in the last few years in football, this year things seemed a lot more familiar.
The dominant teams that had ruled the CIS were all back to claim another title after a few years where new teams continued to make appearances.
This was the year where the dominant teams came back although not all of them had the easiest road in the new landscape.
Of course, there is always one conference left out when talking about dominant teams as the AUS hasn’t had a truly dominant team on the national stage since Saint Mary’s won back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002.
Since then the AUS has seen a lot of rotation on top but none of the top teams seems to be able to compete with the other conferences when it comes to the national games.
This year things got a little tougher for the conference after the Huskies were removed from the Loney Bowl for violating eligibility rules.
Then the day after it was decided that the Acadia Axemen would head straight to the Uteck Bowl a judge ruled that the game would have to be played.
Saint Mary’s was given another chance despite their issues with an ineligible player but it also made things a lot tougher for a conference that has not had success on the big stage.
The game would be played on Tuesday given the winner three days to prepare for the Western Mustangs.
The Mustangs had beat Laurier for the Yates Cup in very convincing fashion putting up 72 points in the championship game.
It was going to be a tough test for any team to beat the Mustangs but for a smaller conference that struggles against the other conferences throughout the country to be given only three days to try to figure out what the Golden Hawks had all season to figure out is setting them up for failure.
The Axemen took the win on Tuesday in a double overtime game as they officially got back to the Uteck Bowl.
As much as they wanted to take their momentum into the game they just didn’t have it against the much stronger Western team.
The Mustangs got on the team from down east immediately leaving them with no breathing room from the opening kickoff.
The Axemen were simply outmatched and taking an 81-3 loss and ending their season with a poor performance.
Western is clearly one of the best teams in the country and it seems pretty clear that Acadia didn’t stand much of a chance.
They might have been able to do somewhat better with a full week to prepare but unfortunately, they didn’t have that and they came into a game completely overwhelmed.
It just continued the pattern of the east coast teams not doing well on the national stage.
It is not a great thing to see and many U Sports fans hope to see them come back at some point but they have a lot of work to do.
There is talent in the conference but for some reason, that talent just isn’t enough to compete with the teams that simply have a bigger pool to pick from.
So the AUS is once again eliminated as Western walked to the Vanier Cup looking to take their 13th Vanier Cup.
Their twelve titles are the most by any program as they are one of the best in the country but they haven’t been able to get back to the top for a long time.
1994 was the last Vanier Cup win for the program leaving them as one of the most legendary franchises with not much of a recent history to go off of.
Meanwhile, in the Mitchell Bowl, two of the more recent great teams faced off with the Laval Rouge et Or ending in a very familiar spot.
Although the Mustangs have the history the Rouge et Or have the recent success taking 10 Vanier Cups since 1999 including a last year’s championship.
This year Hamilton will be getting a truly special game as it might not have the parity that makes this game fund but it will have two of the best programs in all of U Sports Football facing off for superiority.
It is a true clash of the Titans this year but only one team can end on top to prove that they are the better program after a season where not many could beat either team.
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