VANCOUVER – Hosting a playoff game at Thunderbird Stadium for the first time since 2018, the UBC Thunderbirds host the Manitoba Bisons Saturday, November 4 with a berth in next week's Hardy Cup final on the line.
It's a game that features the Canada West's leading offence against a gritty Bisons squad that scratched and clawed their way into the postseason and their first playoff with between UBC since 2015.
"In our conference, every game you win or lose based on how you play. If you don't play your best, you're going to lose, that's how good the football is," said UBC head coach
Blake Nill, emphasizing the need for his team to have an even better performance this week than was seen in last Saturday's impressive road win to close out the regular season. "To go into Edmonton, their type of environment, on the road against a tough, physical team like the Alberta Golden Bears and to have that success is a big step for this program."
That step saw the T-Birds finish the season 6-2 and clinch first place in the Canada West for the first time in 24 years.
The Bisons, meanwhile, were literally seconds away from missing the postseason, only to have a remarkable series of events in Calgary last week that saw a fumble recovered for a touchdown followed by a two point conversion. The Bisons still lost the game by 12 points, one point shy of what Calgary needed to break a tie in the standings.
Finishing 3-5, the Bisons' only meeting with UBC during the regular season came in week three at Thunderbird Stadium where the 'Birds earned a convincing 56-10 victory. But much has changed since that September 16
th afternoon, most notably at Manitoba's quarterback position. Sawyer Thiessen took the bulk of the snaps for the Bisons with starter Jackson Tachinski not dressed. But the veteran pivot is back, having thrown for 216 yards and two touchdowns last week at McMahon Stadium.
"This is a different Manitoba team than we saw in the regular season," Nill agreed. "Coach Dobie is a veteran at this, he knows what it's going to take to get his team to Vancouver and have them prepared to play their best come kickoff. We totally see the potential in the Manitoba program, we understand their strengths, we know their offence is a different one with their starter back so they're going to give us everything we can handle. He'll garner production with his feet. I don't think you can stop his ability to gain yards on the ground. We got to try to limit him, try to keep him in the pocket. That's easier said than done."
While Tachinski will surely give the Bisons' offence confidence heading into Saturday, his counterpart in blue and gold continues to put up remarkable numbers in 2023.
Garrett Rooker finished the regular season with a conference best 2266 yards passing and a 70.23 percent completion rate, the latter of which stands as the fourth highest in a single Canada West season.
UBC's offence as a whole will keep Manitoba's hands full as the T-Birds averaged 484 yards per game, tops in the Canada West and third most in all of U SPORTS. Compare that with the Bisons' defence which allowed an average of 464 yards per game, also the highest number in the conference and third most in the country.
As the season has progressed, Rooker's receiver arsenal has only grown to a dangerous level for any opposition with rookies
Mark Webb and
Cesare Rednour-Bruckman in particular proving their value, each with a pair of touchdowns on the year.
It's been a similar progression in UBC's ground game with
Toluwalope Ayedegbe,
Dane Kapler, and
Lucas Mastrodomenico all contributing in significant ways to augment
Isaiah Knight's new career high of 787 yards rushing.
But all of that gets erased as the playoffs allow for a fresh slate. As the weather cools and gets wetter, the ground game could very well prove to be even more critical to either team's success. Add in the fact Tachinski himself finished the regular season as the conference's fifth leading rusher, the dynamic quarterback will be a challenge for UBC's Canada West leading run defence.
Kickoff for the Hardy Cup semifinal between the T-Birds and Bisons is 1:00 p.m. on Saturday at Thunderbird Stadium.
Tickets are available online now! The game will also be available live on
Canada West TV and SaskTel, where available.
