VANCOUVER – It may only be week three of the Canada West football season, but the 1-1 UBC Thunderbirds face the 0-2 Manitoba Bisons Friday in what could be a very consequential matchup at Winnipeg's IG Field.

Both teams are coming off disappointing losses – the T-Birds having dropped a 29-10 decision in Saskatchewan, the Bisons losing 34-11 at Alberta – and both now are facing the prospect of falling behind the leader pack in the eight game regular season standings.

"I feel we need to have a strong game there, it's another big road trip for us, I always believe you need to go .500 on the road in this conference and this is an opportunity for us to go in there and face a very good football team with a lot of potential," said UBC Head Coach Blake Nill. "I look at it as an opportunity for us to raise our game to another level. I think we've had a good week of practice, we just need to get it done when it counts."



After an impressive fourth quarter comeback win over the Golden Bears in week one, the T-Birds offence struggled to gain traction last week in Saskatchewan while allowing the Huskies to put up 475 total yards. Despite the shortcomings on both sides of the ball against the number-two ranked Huskies, UBC still boasts a tremendously potent offence including the conference's leading rusher in Isaiah Knight who's averaging more than 100 yards per game on the ground.

"The first thing I saw, there were times we played very well against one of the top teams in the country," said Nill of his impressions on watching game tape from last Friday. "We ran the ball well at times, we protected well, we threw the ball well, and then there's times where we looked out of place. So, it's the inconsistency that we've been working on all week here. I think we can still play with most teams in the country, we just have to be able to do it for 60 minutes a game."

Defensively, UBC second-year linebacker Ryan Baker leads the Canada West with 20 total tackles while defensive back Keijaun Johnson had eight last week alone. But the issue for the T-Birds is trying to keep the defence off the field a bit more.



"We have to control the football. Our program has been built with the ideology that we're going to be a run emphasis team and that's so we can control the clock. I think where we get in trouble, and it was seen last week, is when we're not successful on first down, we have to do that."

The Bisons have faced their own troubles through the first two weeks of the season with a -33 point differential. Facing the prospect of an 0-3 start, there's little doubt Manitoba – ranked second in the pre-season coaches poll – is going to be desperate to get in the win column. The 'Birds will need to be wary of veteran Bisons quarterback Des Catellier and his favourite target, AK Gassama, who enters Friday with 218 receiving yards, the second highest total in the conference.



This week's visit to Winnipeg is the first for UBC since 2019 which also marked the only loss to the Bisons in their last seven meetings. The T-Birds earned a 26-24 week four win over Manitoba at home last year, their only matchup with the Bisons in 2021. Friday night is the first leg of a two-game head-to-head series this season with Manitoba heading to Vancouver on October 15.

Kickoff for this all-important week three battle is set for 5:00 p.m. PT at IG Field in Winnipeg. The game will be streamed live on Canada West TV.