VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds will host a playoff game for the first time since 1999 next weekend thanks to their 36-23 upset of the CIS No. 1 Calgary Dinos at Thunderbird Stadium on Saturday.
Fourth-year quarterback
Billy Greene connected on 23 of 42 pass attempts for 421 yards and four touchdowns while also leading the 'Birds with 60 rushing yards
He got the T-Birds out of the starting gate in a hurry, chucking a 50-yard bomb over the middle to a wide open
Mitch Shuster for a touchdown on the second play from scrimmage.
The 'Birds quickly made it a 14-0 lead, and after Calgary charged back to take the lead 21-17 in the second quarter, another long touchdown heave from Greene - this time a 29-yarder to
David Scott - gave UBC the lead for good.
The Thunderbirds held the high-octane Dinos offence scoreless in the second half, ending their bid for a perfect season.
"The focus for our guys was to make sure they know we can beat them," said UBC head coach
Shawn Olson. "Sometimes when you're 7-0 and rolling through the competition it's important to know you're not infallible, and it's important for us to know we can hang with them. We've talked about it all year since training camp that we can hang with the best if we play well."
And play well they did.
Though the Dinos used rushing leader Steven Lumbala only sparingly in the contest, limiting him to just six carries all in the first half, the other two thirds of their three-headed rushing monster were bottled up well by the T-Birds in the second half.
Lumbala ran wild for 81 yards on those six carries in the opening half, but Matt Walter and Anthony Woodson were held to 70 yards on 19 carries in the game.
The T-Bird rushing game wasn't much better, with
Brandon Deschamps and
Sam Adu combining for 47 yards on 15 carries, but the aerial attack that gave UBC a quick start proved too much for the Dinos to handle.
"We usually come out of the game pretty strong in most games, and then sometimes have a lull in the second quarter," said Olson. "We game planned some stuff and thought we could make some matchup problems for them, and it worked out. Billy played awesome. That was the best game I've seen him play since I've been here. He was very efficient and there was a real confidence about him today."
The win puts UBC at 6-2 to finish the regular season, setting them up to host the Saskatchewan Huskies next Saturday in their first home playoff game since 1999.
"I don't know if [playing at home] will make that much of a difference to be honest," said Olson. "We're comfortable being a road team, and since I've been here we've probably been better over those two season on the road than at home, but this year we've been very good at home so it is nice. The biggest thing to me though is now we will be playing on Saturday, so we get an extra day to get our guys healthy again and hopefully have a full squad."
The Dinos fall to 7-1, but still have home field advantage locked up throughout the playoffs.
Eric Dzwilewski was 16 for 27 for 184 yards and two touchdown tosses to Chris Dobko and Richard Snyder. Dzwilewski also ran for 33 yards and Calgary's third touchdown.
David Scott led UBC in the receiving game with 77 yards and a touchdown.
Spencer Betts also added three grabs for 47 yards and a score.
UBC linebacker
Adam Konar led the team with seven tackles.
Playoff football returns to UBC on Saturday, November 5th at Thunderbird Stadium. The T-Birds host the Saskatchewan Huskies, while the Calgary Dinos get the Regina Cougars at home to begin the postseason.
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