U Sports Football Report (Week 3)
The east coast has always been a place where football has been popular but never big enough to compete with the biggest programs in the country.
In AUS the teams fight it out to get to the Loney Bowl but when they win that title and the champion has to move on to the national playoffs.
At that point, things tend to get ugly as they have rarely had a team who can compete with the likes of Laval, Western and Calgary.
It’s been over a decade since the AUS produced a true contender on the national stage when Saint Mary’s won back-to-back Vanier Cups in 2001 and 2002.
The Huskies last appeared in the Vanier Cup in 2007 and it was the last time that a champion from the AUS made an appearance in the final game of the year.
It has been a rough go the last decade as the teams have looked good but have never been able to get beyond the success in their own conference.
Some of it has to do with the fact that the pool of talent that they have to select from is far smaller than other places.
Although they do get commitments from players outside of the east coast the best of those players often pick bigger programs closer to home.
It leaves them with less talent to choose from meaning they have to do more with less in order to compete.
Even with talented teams the battle in the AUS always seems to be a tough one as these teams are all very close.
They tend to fight between themselves and by the time they get to the national stage they are worn out from a tough season.
Smaller schools with less talent to choose from and a rough season to get through doesn’t usually equal success when it comes to the biggest games of the year.
Yet this year some hope for a successful team may just be finding its way through as the Acadia Axemen are looking as close to a powerhouse as anyone has in the AUS.
There always seems to be one team that comes out on top in the AUS running through mot of the conference but they are never that strong.
They can often find some trouble when they play the other good teams and could lose a game or play a close game.
That is not what is happening so far this year though as the Axemen aren’t just winning games they are dominating games.
The Axemen have played three games so far this year and in those three games, they have yet to score less than 50 points.
Hunter Guenard, a Calgary native who moved across country to play in Wolfville, is having a fantastic season so far.
Last year he had a good season but this season throwing for 1,910 yards, 12 touchdowns and three interceptions.
This year he seems to be dialled in already throwing for 913 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception.
Along with Dale Wright who has the most rushing touchdowns in the country with five along with 323 yards so far and Glodin Mulali who has 317 yards receiving this offence is humming.
Those type of numbers are putting him on pace for a career year and with those numbers, the Axemen are looking like the dominant teams in the rest of the country.
The big three often find themselves on the winning side of massive blowouts where the other team has no shot.
Scoring over 50 points regularly is not something new for those teams as they always bring in a special offence to the national stage.
In the AUS this is a rarity as the best teams usually win games but don’t win games like Acadia has been winning them.
They have taken on the best teams in the conference with their latest win against their long-time rival Saint Mary’s.
In that game against the other team without a loss so far this year ended with a 51-32 win for the Axemen.
That is a good sign for the Axemen especially if they can keep it up through the rest of their season.
Of course, this is still beating AUS teams who are not the best in the country and there is still a lot to prove.
They will be a team to watch though as they run through the conference looking to keep up their scoring pace.
If they can they may just have a shot this year at bringing the conference back to the forefront in the national playoffs.
The Sport Addiction 