VANCOUVER – What a difference a week makes.
Seven days ago, the UBC Thunderbirds (1-1) were coming off a tough season opening loss in Calgary, but thanks to a resounding 43-10 defeat over Alberta in the team's home opener, the blue and gold are a rejuvenated and confident bunch heading into this Friday's Homecoming battle against the No. 4 Regina Rams (2-0).
It's only week three, but one thing is clear and that's the fourth-ranked Rams have established themselves as the cream of the Canada West crop after a pair of dominant victories, conceding just 16 combined points against in the process.
From UBC's perspective, it's also clear the T-Birds' locker room is replete with talent and the ability to do some serious damage on the scoreboard.
"Last week it showed the kind of team we can be," said UBC head coach,
Blake Nill. "We just have to put last week behind us and try to be better as we prepare. We have a test like Regina that's going to push us to the limit coming in, but that's why we do this, it's to see what you're made of. The Regina game is going to allow us that opportunity."
"Regina and the University of Saskatchewan have been at the top of our conference for the last couple years, each taking turns winning championships. Coach (Mark) McConkey's done an incredible job with the culture at Regina. They play the game very physically, they play with passion. They understand what their strengths are – this is a very difficult football program to prepare for. My goal is to make sure we go out and we can at least match the emotion that they're going to bring and hopefully we can execute and continue to execute better."
Execution last week against Alberta was exceptional for the T-Birds, on both sides of the ball. A quick start on offence staked out a 14-0 first quarter lead. The team finished the night with 419 total rushing yards, 185 of them from freshman running back
Marvyn Larozar alone.
Defensively, the 'Birds have shutout their opponents in five of the last six quarters, now allowing an average of 83 yards rushing per game, currently the second best run defence in the conference.
But that run defence is about to get a big test as the Rams lead the Canada West with an average of 228 yards per game.
Larozar tops the conference with 296 total rushing yards on the season, but a pair of Rams in Christian Katende and Carter Ashman round out the top three, Regina boasting a true dual threat.
"Given the potential of the Regina run game, we don't want to just watch them move the ball six yards at a time down the field with 12-play possessions," Nill said. "We know what they do, they do it very well and we're going to try to put a stop gap in place to challenge what they do. It remains to be seen, it's always a game of momentum and maybe if we have some big plays early on we'll be feeling good about ourselves, but we can't afford to get behind and be dominated on the line of scrimmage or it'll just turn into a long game."
Limiting Regina's run game will indeed be key to success for UBC with the Rams relying heavily on rushing the ball. Regina has combined for just 335 passing yards through two weeks, splitting quarterback duties between Owen Sieben and Noah Pelletier.
The 'Birds' offence now has a real balanced threat. Second-year pivot
Drew Viotto didn't need to throw the ball a whole lot last week given the success on the ground, but the 2025 conference passing leader has had a solid start to the campaign with 501 yards, two touchdowns and a 63.6 completion percentage.
"I believe we have one of the top quarterback talents in the country here in
Drew Viotto. He's a lot easier to defend when you don't have a dual threat offence. If teams feel they have to load up to play our run game, that's obviously advantageous for our pass game, and vice versa. So, we want to continue to emphasize both the run game and the pass game and be a team that can beat you with both. Again, that just takes repetition, experience and confidence. We're on that track, we just have to continue to understand we have to be better this week."
Posting back-to-back wins over Alberta and Manitoba to open the season, the Rams have won five of their last six regular season contests, their last loss courtesy of UBC in the final week of 2025.
Kickoff for Homecoming 2026 – presented by FIZZ mobile – is set for 6:00 p.m. Friday, September 18 at a sold out Thunderbird Stadium with nearly 8000 fans slated to be in attendance. The game will also be available
live on Canada West TV.
