For the third time in the last four years, the UBC Thunderbirds take on the Saskatchewan Huskies in a playoff battle as the two Canada West rivals are set for a Hardy Cup semifinal showdown Saturday afternoon at Thunderbird Stadium.
Looking for a berth in the Hardy Cup Final for a third straight year, the T-Birds need to shake off what was a disappointing end to the regular season and be prepared to face a Huskies squad that has won four consecutive games.
"We expect nothing different from Saskatchewan but a physical game with lots of skill, they're a high-energy program," said UBC head coach
Blake Nill who carries a 9-5 conference playoff record with UBC into Saturday. "These are guys who play the game the right way and we're preparing for a very physical, close football game."
The Huskies' last loss came at the hands of the T-Birds in their only regular season meeting, a 38-24 week four result at Thunderbird Stadium. As it turns out, that win proved crucial for UBC to clinch a home playoff berth with both teams finishing the campaign with a 5-3 record.
"Being at home, the biggest advantage obviously is you don't have to travel and go through the organizational effort of getting the team from one location to another," said Nill. "But once the game's on the field, it really means nothing. You have to show up and be prepared to do everything necessary to win the game."
While the Huskies have every reason to feel confident taking their win streak out west, the 'Birds had plenty of game film to go over after a week eight 51-38 loss at Manitoba in which the Bisons racked up 436 yards of rushing, well over double what UBC had been allowing per game.
The T-Birds know they have the personnel to take care of business in all aspects of the game with a goal of getting back to the Vanier Cup for a second straight season. But it all starts with Saturday afternoon and a commitment to play a full 60 minute effort, something Nill feels has yet to happen in 2024.
"I've been fairly consistent with my message all year that our locker room has to take a bigger role in the mental preparation of this program…I believe we can be a very good football team, I don't even know if we've done that for a whole game this year. My hope is that we're going to have a good week of prep, three good, solid preparation days and then put our best effort on the field when it matters the most."
UBC's greatest success on offence has been via a well-balanced, ground first focus. Led by
Isaiah Knight's 914 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, UBC's rushing game averaged 156.5 yards per game, nearly identical to Saskatchewan's 158 average. The Huskies primary running back, Ryker Frank, edged Knight to close out the year with a conference leading 952 yards along with 10 touchdowns.
Offensively, both teams match up extremely closely, especially comparing their top weapons. Quarterback
Garrett Rooker finished his fourth season with the blue and gold with 2,265 yards passing, one shy of his total from 2023 and just ten yards back of Huskies pivot Anton Amundrud.
Amundrud's favourite target, Daniel Wiebe, led the conference with 807 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. Contrast that with UBC's deep receiver core which saw three T-Birds finish the year in the top eight, led by
Sam Davenport's 618 yards. All told, Saturday's game features six of the top nine receivers in the conference.
"We need to go out and utilize the entire field, we have the ability to do that," Nill added. "We're still built on a run game, we have to establish our run game and hopefully our offence can dictate and help the defence out a bit with ball possession. They're a good group and all year they've managed to move the football and score when necessary. There's a lot on their shoulders again this week."
The last playoff meeting between the 'Birds and Huskies was the 2022 Hardy Cup Final where UBC fell 23-8 in Saskatoon. The year prior, Saskatchewan also ended UBC's season in what was the two teams' most recent semifinal matchup. The last home playoff game between the two was back in 2019 where the Huskies advanced to the Hardy Cup Final with a 31-28 overtime heartbreaker for the 'Birds.
It has been a full 48 years since the Thunderbirds earned a post-season win over the Huskies, that victory coming in the 1976 Hardy Cup where UBC downed Saskatchewan 36-10 at Thunderbird Stadium. The chance to reverse that history begins with kickoff at 1 p.m. Saturday, November 2.
Tickets are available now and the game will also be available live on
Canada West TV.
