VANCOUVER – It's do or die time for the UBC Thunderbirds (2-5) who close out the 2025 Canada West regular season Friday afternoon in Regina.
A win for the T-Birds and they'll punch their ticket to the post-season, but a loss would see the blue and gold miss the Hardy Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2019.
The task itself is simple, but it's a mammoth one as the No. 7 Rams (6-1) themselves will be hungry for a fourth straight win which would give them a shot at finishing first overall in the conference with home field advantage throughout the post-season.
"Regina has a lot to play for, we're aware of that. We're aware of the talent they have and the physicality they bring. We're preparing to bring our best to match up to that," said UBC head coach,
Blake Nill, who has guided his squad to the playoffs in eight of his previous nine seasons at the helm. "We've got to find a way to play the game for 60 minutes, eliminate the mistakes that have hurt us all year and find a way to just have our best effort compared to the previous seven games. We've had moments when we look like a team that can compete with anyone and then we've had other moments where our youth shows, we make mistakes and ultimately it costs us."
The good news for the T-Birds is those competitive moments have been more and more frequent the last two weeks in particular. The bad news is, there's no more room for error given the stakes Friday afternoon in the Queen City.
Despite dropping each of their last two games, the T-Birds out-produced both the Bisons in week six and Saskatchewan last Friday, limiting the high-flying Huskies to just 307 total yards of offence.
Throwing for a combined 776 yards the last two weeks,
Drew Viotto is rounding into form, the 'Canadian Cannon' living up to his moniker while helping lead the offence to clear progress.
UBC's defence, however, is once again facing the conference's leading rusher, Marshall Erichsen, who torched the T-Birds for 196 yards in week four's 37-20 loss to the Rams.
"Coach (Noah) Cantor, Coach (Shomari) Williams and Coach (Dom) Termansen have simplified the defence which has helped a lot. You're seeing the kids play faster and they're more aware of their assignments," Nill said, along with similar praise for his offence.
"Drew (Viotto) is becoming more comfortable at every practice, every rep. But (as with the defence), you got a new staff who are finding out what they have to work with and how they can achieve the highest level of success on the field. It's just paying your dues. This whole year has been about learning, about a group of individuals coming together and learning how to win football games."
The challenge now is putting all of these improvements together while dealing with the added pressure of having their backs up against the wall, facing one of the top teams in the country.
"I've been reminding my athletes about scenarios throughout my career where we've come in as large underdogs and able to have success because of the buy-in from the players on the field. I've had experience with those over the course of my career and we have that in us, we just have to reach down deep and try to find the necessary emotion to get it done."
"I've told them over and over the last month or so, we'll start winning when you get tired of losing. When losing actually hurts, that's when we'll start winning and I'm hoping that happens here."
Kickoff for UBC's must-win final contest of the regular season is set for 12:00 p.m. PT Friday, October 24 at Regina's Leibel Field. The game will be streamed live on
Canada West TV.
