VANCOUVER – Saturday afternoon at Edmonton's Foote Field doesn't only feature a battle between the top two teams in the Canada West to close out the regular season, it's a critical final week matchup with home field advantage on the line.
Fresh off a come-from-behind, bounce back win at home over the Regina Rams, the No. 10 ranked UBC Thunderbirds (5-2) visit the No. 6 Alberta Golden Bears (6-1) in a potential playoff preview.
"We both understand the value of hosting playoffs at home, it's a one game winner take all and I'm sure you're going to see the best of Canada West Football Saturday at Foote Field," said UBC head coach
Blake Nill who's looking to guide his team to their first home playoff berth since 2018. "This is a game where you got to put everything on the line. I expect Alberta to do the same, it's going to be a good football game."
The only loss the Bears have suffered this season came at the hands of the T-Birds in week four's 54-37 UBC Homecoming win. Since then, the Bears have rattled off three straight victories by a combined 104-72 margin. The T-Birds, meanwhile, dropped back-to-back road contests in weeks five and six, but got back in the win column last week against the Rams with a 31-20 win to finish the regular season a perfect 4-0 at home.
"We have to keep momentum from the second half of last week," Nill insisted. "We certainly did go through a period there, we might have gone through eight quarters where we weren't at our best. Then we got a little taste of what we're capable of. Hopefully that's going to translate into a quicker start for us on Saturday and we'll see where it takes us."
That second half dominance last Saturday saw the T-Birds outscore the Rams 21-3 while limiting Regina to just 117 yards.
Third-year quarterback
Garrett Rooker had a tremendous game under centre, throwing for 346 yards and three touchdowns, earning Canada West Offensive Player of the Week. Now with 2099 passing yards on the season, the Houston, Texas native has already fought his way into the UBC top ten single season record books. His 70.4 percent completion rate currently stands as the third best in Canada West history, just ahead of former T-Bird Michael O'Connor's 70.25 percent rate in 2018.
"We're going to try to put him in a position to start fast this week," said Nill of his star quarterback. "We know what he's capable of, he knows what he needs to do, I think everything's good there."
Perhaps the biggest question Saturday will be which team's outstanding running game can out-perform the other.
Alberta running back Matthew Peterson has put up an MVP type season thus far with over 1000 yards rushing and four touchdowns. But the conference rushing leader left last week's Alberta win over Manitoba in the second quarter and did not return as his status for the regular season finale remains in question.
UBC's
Isaiah Knight returned to the lineup last week and was back to his usual self, putting up 128 yards and his fifth touchdown of the season. Knight's 659 yards on the ground and 834 all-purpose yards are second only to Peterson in both categories.
But in Peterson's absence last week, Ope Oshinubi finished the game with a whopping 192 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns. Needless to say, regardless of who carries the ball for the Bears, UBC's Canada West leading run defence is going to have their hands full.
A win Saturday would see the 'Birds finish first in the conference for the first time since 1999 while giving them home field advantage throughout the Hardy Cup playoffs. Depending on the result of Saturday's matchup between the Huskies and Rams, a UBC loss to Alberta would see the team finish either second or third meaning the only guarantee of a home playoff game is a week eight victory.
"It's a big deal," Nill said. "It certainly doesn't guarantee you anything but it creates a lot of comfort and a lot less stress when you're not dealing with moving a football team on short notice."
Kickoff for the 2023 regular season finale is 12:00 p.m. PT at Edmonton's Foote Field. The game will be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
