2008 CIS football season

The 2008 CIS football season began on August 23, 2008, and concluded with the 44th Vanier Cup national championship on November 22 at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, with the Laval Rouge et Or winning their fifth championship. Twenty-seven universities across Canada compete in CIS football, the highest level of amateur play in Canadian football, under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS).

2008 CIS football season
DurationAugust 23, 2008 – October 25, 2008
Hardy Cup championsCalgary Dinos
Yates Cup championsWestern Ontario Mustangs
Dunsmore Cup championsLaval Rouge et Or
Loney Bowl championsSaint Mary's Huskies
Mitchell Bowl championsWestern Ontario Mustangs
Uteck Bowl championsLaval Rouge et Or
Vanier Cup
DateNovember 22, 2008
VenueIvor Wynne Stadium, Hamilton
ChampionsLaval Rouge et Or
CIS football seasons seasons
← 2007
2009 →

Schedule

edit

The regular-season schedule began early with a single Canada West Universities Athletic Association game in week one on Saturday, August 23, between the UBC Thunderbirds and the Simon Fraser Clan at Swangard Stadium in Burnaby. The Ontario University Athletics and remaining CWUAA teams got underway the following week during the Labour Day weekend and the Quebec and Atlantic conferences beginning their matches the week following that.[1]

The regular-season concluded in Week 10 on the weekend of October 24/25 for all but the Ontario conference, who had concluded the previous week and held their conference quarter-finals. All conferences held their semi-finals the weekend of November 1/2, and conference championships the weekend of November 8/9. This year, the National Semi-Finals took place on November 16. The Calgary Dinos, the Hardy Trophy-winning Canada West team travelled to Quebec City to take on the Dunsmore Cup winning Laval Rouge-et-Or of the Quebec conference for the Uteck Bowl and the Atlantic conference's Saint Mary's Huskies Jewett Trophy winners visited the Western Ontario Mustangs, Ontario's Yates Cup winners, in London for the Mitchell Bowl. Finally the Bowl winners, Laval and Western, met for the Vanier Cup national championship on Saturday, November 22, in Hamilton, the day before the Canadian Football League's 96th Grey Cup in Montreal.[1] Laval won the game 44-21 and became the just the twelfth CIS team to finish a season undefeated.[2]

2007 marked the first year that the Vanier Cup and Grey Cup were played on the same weekend but they both took place in Toronto's Rogers Centre as part of the 95th Grey Cup celebrations. Dating back to 1973, previous Vanier Cups had always been played the week following the Grey Cup.[3]

Awards and records

edit

Awards

edit

All-Canadian Team

edit

First Team

edit
Offence
Benoit Groulx, QB, Laval
Michael Giffin, RB, Queen's
Jamall Lee, RB, Bishop's
Julian Feoli Gudino, WR, Laval
Scott Valberg, WR, Queen's
Erik Galas, IR, McGill
Gary Ross, IR, Mount Allison
Louis-David Gagne, C, Laval
Simeon Rottier, OT, Alberta
Steve Myddelton, OT, St. Francis Xavier
Vincent Turgeon, G, Laval
Luc Brodeur-Jourdain, G, Laval
Defence
Étienne Légaré, DT, Laval
Dedrick Sterling, DT, Queen's
Scott McCuaig, DE, British Columbia
Osie Ukwuoma, DE, Queen's
Thaine Carter, LB, Queen's
Andrea Bonaventura, LB, Calgary
Joash Gesse, LB, Montreal
Callan Exeter, FS, Mount Allison
Maxime Bérubé, DB, Laval
James Savoie, DB, Guelph
Hamid Mahmoudi, CB, Montreal
Jeff Zelinski, CB, Saint Mary's
Special Teams
Rob Maver, P, Guelph
Christopher Milo, K, Laval
Jim Allin, RET, Queen's

Second Team

edit
Offence
Danny Brannagan, QB, Queen's
Matt Walter, RB, Calgary
James Green, RB, St. Francis Xavier
Jedd Gardner, WR, Guelph
Nathan Coehoorn, WR, Calgary
Mark Stinson, IR, Toronto
Alain Dorval, IR, Sherbrooke
Kurtis Stolth, C, Manitoba
Scott Evans, OT, Laurier
Bryan Jordan, OT, Saint Mary's
Hubert Buydens, G, Saskatchewan
Vincenzo De Civita, G, Queen's
Defence
Dan Schutte, DT, Saint Mary's
Don Oramasionwu, DT, Manitoba
Mathieu Brossard, DE, Montreal
Marc-Antoine Beaudoin-Cloutier, DE, Laval
John Surla, LB, Western
Henoc Muamba, LB, St. Francis Xavier
James Yurichuk, LB, Bishop's
Matthew Carapella, FS, Western
Corey McNair, DB, Western
Joel Lipinski, DB, Saint Mary's
Jon Krahenbil, CB, Saskatchewan
Anthony DesLauriers, CB, Simon Fraser
Special Teams
Hugh O'Neill, P, Alberta
Rob Maver, K, Guelph
Gary Ross, RET, Mount Allison

The Laval Rouge-et-Or had a record eight first team all-Canadians on offence, defence and special teams.[4]

Career records

edit

27 new top-ten achievements were added to the all-time career record books in 2008 including five new records as running back Daryl Stephenson completed his record career at Windsor and several passing/receiving records were set at McGill.[5]

All-purpose touchdowns[5]
Daryl Stephenson of Windsor completed his CIS career at eighth place all-time with 39 touchdowns.
Mike Giffin of Queen's is close behind tied for ninth with 37 but both are well behind Paul Brule's 1964–1967 record of 51.
Rushing yards[5]
Daryl Stephenson set a new record of 5163 career rushing yards beating Dominic Zagari's 1991–1995 record of 4738.
Jamall Lee of Bishop's reached 4296 yards for fourth place all-time
Joseph Mroué set a mark of 3779 yards to take tenth place during his career at Montreal (2003–06) and Sherbrooke (2008).
Rushing touchdowns[5]
Daryl Stephenson ended his career tied for sixth place with 36 rushing touchdowns behind Paul Brule's record of 49.
Jamall Lee reached eighth place with 35 rushing touchdowns so far since 2005.
Passing yards[5]
Matt Connell of McGill set a new record of 10455 passing yards beating Ben Chapdelaine's 1997–2001 record of 9974.
Josh Sacobie of Ottawa ended up in third place overall with 9885 yards.
Teale Orban of Regina reached fourth place all-time with 9449.
Passing touchdowns[5]
Josh Sacobie was unable to beat Chris Flynn's 1987–1990 all-time record of 87 but still managed to make second place with 79.
Teale Orban made third place with 76.
Matt Connell accomplished a tie for seventh overall with 63.
Dan Brannagan of Queen's tied the eighth overall mark of 62 passing touchdowns.
Passing attempts[5]
Matt Connell set the new record of 1364 pass attempts as well in 2008 passing Greg Vavra's old record of 1200 set between 1979 and 1983.
Teale Orban finished just shy of second place with 1198.
Josh Sacobie made third place with 1111.
Passing completions[5]

The passing completions record book was completely re-written in 2008 as three players beat Greg Vavra's 25-year-old record of 611.

Matt Connell finished in first place with 816 pass completions all-time.
Teale Orban made second place with 685.
Josh Sacobie's 637 completions puts him in third place overall.
Michael Faulds of Western makes it up to eighth place so far with 561 completions since 2005.
Receptions[5]
Erik Galas of McGill helped with those pass completions by setting a new record of 194 receptions beating Andy Fantuz's mark of 189.
Chad Goldie was able to tie for sixth place all-time by catching 173 in his career at Regina.
Receiving touchdowns[5]
Ivan Birungi finished his CIS career at second place all-time with 33 receiving touchdowns in his time split between Acadia and Ottawa missing Andy Fantuz's record of 41.
Scott Valberg of Queen's is tied for eighth with 23.
Interceptions[5]
Matt Carapella of Western was able to steal a tie for second place in career interceptions with 21 missing Bob Coffin's 1970–1974 record of 24.
Field goals[5]
Shawn McIsaac of UBC kicked up to fourth place in the career record book with 63 field goals behind all-time record holder Frank Jagas's 70 set between 1990 and 1994.

Results

edit

Regular season standings

edit

Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points

Canada West
Team GP W L PF PA Pts
Saskatchewan 8 6 2 217 83 12
Calgary 8 5 3 146 127 10
Regina 8 5 3 163 179 10
Simon Fraser 8 5 3 125 129 10
Manitoba 8 3 5 127 163 6
UBC 8 2 6 117 160 4
Alberta 8 2 6 140 194 4
Ontario
Team GP W L PF PA Pts
Queen's 8 8 0 374 116 16
Western 8 7 1 363 133 14
Laurier 8 6 2 235 191 12
Guelph 8 4 4 239 167 8
Ottawa 8 4 4 297 187 8
McMaster 8 4 4 230 198 8
Windsor 8 3 5 189 254 6
Toronto 8 2 6 168 272 4
Waterloo 8 2 6 147 285 4
York 8 0 8 32 471 0
Quebec
Team GP W L PF PA Pts
Laval 8 8 0 337 60 16
Concordia 8 5 3 228 180 10
Sherbrooke 8 5 3 190 153 10
Montreal 8 5 3 273 138 10
Bishop's 8 3 5 170 255 6
McGill 8 0 8 131 413 0
Atlantic
Team GP W L PF PA Pts
Saint Mary's 8 7 1 259 168 14
StFX 8 4 4 186 205 8
Mount Allison 8 2 6 189 272 4
Acadia 8 1 7 120 239 2

Teams in bold have earned playoff berths.

Top 10

edit
FRC-CIS Top 10 Rankings
01[6] 02[7] 03[8] 04[9] 05[10] 06[11] 07[12] 08[13] 09[14]
Acadia Axemen NR 16 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Alberta Golden Bears 12 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Bishop's Gaiters 10 12 NR 14 9 NR NR 12 NR
Calgary Dinos 14 9 9 10 6 6 4 4 6
Concordia Stingers 9 7 7 9 8 7 5 9 9
Guelph Gryphons NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Laurier Golden Hawks 6 10 NR NR 14 10 10 8 7
Laval Rouge et Or 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Manitoba Bisons 2 8 NR 13 NR NR 12 NR NR
McGill Redmen NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
McMaster Marauders NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Montreal Carabins 13 11 10 NR 12 12 11 10 10
Mount Allison Mounties NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Ottawa Gee-Gees 8 6 5 5 7 13 NR NR NR
Queen's Golden Gaels 7 5 4 4 2 2 2 2 2
Regina Rams 11 NR 13 NR 13 11 NR NR NR
Saint Mary's Huskies 3 3 3 3 3 3 7 6 5
Saskatchewan Huskies 4 2 6 6 4 4 6 5 4
Sherbrooke Vert et Or NR 15 12 8 11 9 9 11 NR
Simon Fraser Clan NR NR 8 7 10 8 8 7 8
St. Francis Xavier X-Men 15 NR NR 11 NR NR NR NR NR
Toronto Varsity Blues NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
UBC Thunderbirds NR 14 11 12 NR NR NR NR NR
Waterloo Warriors NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR
Western Mustangs 5 4 2 2 5 5 3 3 3
Windsor Lancers NR 13 NR NR 15 NR NR NR NR
York Lions NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

Ranks in italics are teams not ranked in the top 10 poll but received votes. NR = Not Ranked, received no votes.

Championships

edit

The Vanier Cup is played between the champions of the Mitchell Bowl and the Uteck Bowl, the national semi-final games. In 2008, according to the rotating schedule, the winners of the Atlantic conference Loney Bowl meet the Ontario conference's Yates Cup champion for the Mitchell Bowl. The winners of the Canada West conference Hardy Trophy travel to the Dunsmore Cup Quebec championship team for the Uteck Bowl.[15]

The Canada West play-offs start with the top four placed teams from the regular season, with the top placed team hosting the fourth place and the second place team hosting the third placed. The winners of those semi-finals then compete for the Hardy Cup championship who then travels to the Quebec champion for a national semi-final game.[16]

The Quebec play-offs similarly play-off the top four placed teams with the Dunsmore Cup champions moving on to host the Uteck Bowl against the Canada West champions.[17]

The Ontario conference started out with the top six placed teams from the regular season. The third placed team hosted the sixth place team and the fourth placed team hosted the team in fifth place. The winners then took on the top two placed teams in the conference semi-finals and the semi-final champions compete for the Yates Cup. According to the rotating CIS Bowl schedule, the Ontario champions, in 2008, host the Atlantic conference champions for the Mitchell Bowl national semi-final game.[18]

In the Atlantic conference play-offs, the second place St. Francis Xavier X-Men defeated the third placed Mount Allison Mounties to move on to face the first place Saint Mary's Huskies at the Loney Bowl for the Jewett Trophy. Saint Mary's victory means that they then travel to the Ontario champion Western Ontario Mustangs to meet in the Mitchell Bowl.[19]

The 2008 Uteck Bowl saw the number one ranked Laval Rouge-et-Or dominate the sixth-ranked Calgary Dinos with a 59 to 10 win. With the win, Laval continues their streak of winning all four Bowl games played at PEPS Stadium and hope to continue their record of being undefeated in all four previous appearances at the Vanier Cup.[20]

At home at TD Waterhouse Stadium, the number three ranked Western Ontario Mustangs defeated the number five ranked Saint Mary's Huskies to win the Mitchell Bowl with a score of 28 to 12. Western lost in the 2007 Mitchell Bowl to Manitoba Bisons and last won a Vanier Cup in 1994.

Vanier Cup

edit

The 44th Vanier Cup marked Western's 12th appearance at the Vanier, the most by any team. They also hold the record for the number of Vanier Cup wins with 6.[21] It was Laval's fifth appearance at the Vanier during their ten-year history, having won each of their previous appearances. 2008 also marked the first Vanier Cup game to feature both a Quebec university and an Ontario university. Laval won the game 44-21 and gained their fifth championship since 1999 to become the just the twelfth CIS team to finish a season undefeated.[2]

Laval's victory completed their season without a single loss, the twelfth perfect season in Canadian university history, and puts them tied for second among Canadian universities with five Vanier Cups. Only Western has more with six national championships. It also marked Glen Constantin's fourth Vanier Cup victory as head coach, tying the record set by Calgary's Peter Connellan.[2]

The attendance at Ivor Wynne was 13,873 with light snow and a temperature of −4 °C (25 °F). The attendance at the 2007 Vanier was 26,787 at the Roger's Centre during the 95th Grey Cup weekend. The 2006 Vanier Cup was sold-out with 12,567 in Saskatoon's Griffiths Stadium and the 2005 cup at Ivor Wynne had 16,827 spectators.[2]

Though there were no bids by the deadline to host the 2009 Vanier Cup, Constantin said Laval does intend to do so. Canadian Interuniversity Sport intended to discuss the issue during its December 1–2 board meetings.[2]

Scoring summary

edit
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Laval Rouge et Or 3 24 14 3 44
Western Ontario Mustangs 0 7 7 7 21

[22]

First Quarter
Lav - FG Milo 33 12:25
Second Quarter
Lav - FG Milo 27 3:18
Lav - TD Hernandez-Sanchez 2 run (Milo kick) 7:17
Lav - TD Feoli Gudino 74 punt return (Milo kick) 8:50
UWO - TD Trevail 14 pass from Faulds (Wheeler kick) 11:36
Lav - TD Feoli Gudino 82 pass from Groulx (Milo kick) 12:27
Third Quarter
Lav - TD Bouvette 92 pass from Groulx (Milo kick) 4:05
UWO - TD Bellamy 23 pass from Faulds (Wheeler kick) 6:58
Lav - TD Levesque 63 rush (Milo kick) 12:01
Fourth Quarter
UWO - TD Riva 9 pass from Faulds (Wheeler kick) 0:17
Lav - FG Milo 37 11:50
Notes

Playoff bracket

edit
Conference Quarter-finals Conference Semi-finals Conference Championships National Semi-finals 44th Vanier Cup
Simon Fraser Clan 40
Saskatchewan Huskies 30
Simon Fraser Clan 21
Calgary Dinos 44
Regina Rams 17
Calgary Dinos 24
Calgary Dinos 10
Laval Rouge-et-Or 59
Sherbrooke Vert-et-Or 20
Concordia Stingers 41
Concordia Stingers 17
Laval Rouge-et-Or 27
Montreal Carabins 7
Laval Rouge-et-Or 32
Laval Rouge-et-Or 44
Western Ontario Mustangs 21
Mount Allison Mounties 12
St. Francis Xavier X-Men 52
St. Francis Xavier X-Men 27
Saint Mary's Huskies 29
Saint Mary's Huskies 12
Ottawa Gee-Gees 42 Western Ontario Mustangs 28
Guelph Gryphons 37 Ottawa Gee-Gees 23
Queen's Golden Gaels 13
Ottawa Gee-Gees 17
McMaster Marauders 0 Western Ontario Mustangs 31
Laurier Golden Hawks 29 Laurier Golden Hawks 28
Western Ontario Mustangs 36

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Football kicks off 2008-09 CIS season this Saturday". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2008-10-26.[dead link]
  2. ^ a b c d e "Laval Capture Vanier Cup to Complete Perfect Season". The Sports Network. 2008-11-22. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
  3. ^ "Canadian Interuniversity Sport". TSN.ca. 2005-11-16. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  4. ^ a b Grossman, David (2008-11-20). "Laval pivot wins Hec Crighton". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "CIS RECORD WATCH / RECORDS DE SIC SOUS LES PROJECTEURS". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. 2008-10-25. Archived from the original on September 18, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  6. ^ Top 10 Mitsubishi (#1): Laval débute en tête pour une 4e saison de suite[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ Top 10 Mitsubishi (#2): Le Rouge et Or choix unanime[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Top 10 Mitsubishi (#3): Le Rouge et Or dominant dans les Maritimes[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Top 10 Mitsubishi (#4): Milo et le Rouge et Or parfaits[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ Top 10 Mitsubishi (#5): Rouge et Or, Gaels et Huskies toujours invaincus[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ Top 10 Mitsubishi (#6): Rouge et Or, Gaels et Huskies toujours parfaits[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ Top 10 Mitsubishi (#7): Le Rouge et Or et Queen's ne ralentissent pas[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ Top 10 Mitsubishi (#8): Le Rouge et Or assuré de la première place au Québec[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ Top 10 Mitsubishi (#9): Le Rouge et Or domine le dernier scrutin[permanent dead link]
  15. ^ "Road to the Cup". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Archived from the original on 21 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  16. ^ "Getting to the Desjardins Vanier Cup from Canada West". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  17. ^ "Getting to the Desjardins Vanier Cup from the QUFL". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  18. ^ "Getting to the Desjardins Vanier Cup from the OUA". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  19. ^ "Getting to the Desjardins Vanier Cup from the AUS". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Archived from the original on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  20. ^ "Uteck Bowl: Laval dominates Calgary, advances to Vanier Cup". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. 2008-11-16. Retrieved 2008-11-17.[dead link]
  21. ^ "Mitchell Bowl: Western wins Mitchell Bowl, to face No. 1 Laval in Vanier Cup". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. 2008-11-16. Retrieved 2008-11-17.[dead link]
  22. ^ "Laval downs Western 44-21, wins fifth Vanier Cup". Canadian Interuniversity Sport. 2008-11-22. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-30.