What to watch for in OUA football playoffs
The OUA regular season wrapped up on Saturday, Oct. 25 but the only real changes happened in the middle of table. McMaster’s football team lost to Ottawa 38-18, but the starters did not play in the second half and this game had no impact on the Marauders finish in the standings. Mac sealed home- field advantage through the playoffs in the previous week.
Now, the team has a quarterfinal bye before facing off against the lowest-remaining seed. Typically, quarterfinals are not worth watching because they usually end in blowouts. However, the developments of young players combined with injuries to major teams make this weekend intriguing.
No. 5 Ottawa Gee-Gees at No. 4 Windsor Lancers – Nov. 1, 1:00 p.m.
The separation between these two is negligible. Ottawa took the nearly eight-hour trip to Windsor in early October and lost 39-29. This looks close on paper, but Ottawa clawed back at the end to make the score look better than it was. Using that game as a predictor for the outcome of this playoff game would be a mistake though, as Ottawa was forced to throw the ball because they faced a 24-1 deficit.
The quarterback for the Gee-Gees, Derek Wendel, is a third-year tosser capable of running the offence efficiently. He is essentially a replacement-level QB, which may be all Ottawa needs.
Their offence is built around running, and Ottawa sits at fifth in the country for rushing yards per game. The Lancers allow 167.9 rushing yards per game.
Windsor is an offence at the other end of the spectrum. Quarterback Austin Kennedy tied the record for most touchdown passes in an OUA career, and he’s fifth in the country for passing yards per game.
He also has the most passing attempts in the country, although other conferences still have a regular season game to play. The Gee-Gees middling pass defence (14th of 27 teams for passing yards allowed per game) cannot afford to concede any early points.
This will be a shoot-out, but if Ottawa gets in a hole early, Wendel will be leaned on heavily to move the ball. That could be too much for his first playoff game.
No. 6 Laurier Golden Hawks at No. 3 Western Mustangs – Nov. 1, 1:00 p.m.
This is a weird one. Western hung 61 points on Laurier, and muzzled their offence until a 14-point fourth quarter. But the Mustangs have been rocked by injuries. Their secondary has seen significant hits, forcing the squad to play multiple defensive backs for the first time in their careers.
Laurier’s running back Dillon Campbell is the most talented player at his position in the OUA, if not the country. He could finish the season with the most rushing yards, playing against a handful of top-ten teams. Campbell averages 7.9 yards per rushing attempt. While Western’s run defence is still strong, Campbell rumbled for 111 rushes on 18 attempts.
Western’s star QB, Will Finch, will not play in this game after suffering a concussion in the final regular season game. This is his second concussion in a month, although Western originally described the first concussion as a “upper body injury” before calling it a “head injury.”
The injury means Stevenson Bone will line-up under centre. He played in the regular season match-up between these two teams, tossing three touchdowns for 285 yards. But his main responsibility will be to hand the ball off to running backs Garrett Sanvido and Yannick Harou. The Mustangs rushed for 431 yards against the Golden Hawks.
Western should win this one, but it could be high-scoring. Laurier’s quarterback James Fracas is young and needs to make quicker decisions with the ball, especially when scrambling.
His deficiencies were on full-display against McMaster, where he went 13-28 for 117 yards. If Fracas can make smart decisions and keep his offence on the field, there could be an upset brewing for the Mustangs.
