As a voter on the CIS top 10 football poll I’m tasked with ranking Canada’s elite university programs on a weekly basis. My personal criteria is deciding who would win a neutral-site game based on the teams’ current body of work alone. Here’s the ballot I submitted this week.
1. Western (LW: 1)
The Mustangs have four rushers averaging over 10 yards per carry. All of which would start for 95 percent of the other CIS schools. Their depth on offence is second to none.
2. Calgary (LW: 2)
The Dinos are the most complete team in the CIS as they excel in all three phases—defence, offence and special teams. More impressive than their 642 yards of offence versus Manitoba is the fact they only had one turnover against the Bisons’ ball-hawking D.
3. Laval (LW: 3)
It took overtime for the Rouge et Or to hold off the Sherbrooke Vert et Or. Is this a historically great team finding a way to win or a sign there are cracks in the long-time champions’ armor? Only time will tell.
4. Montreal (LW: 4)
The defending champions unveiled their championship banner at CEPSUM Stadium in style. Montreal got back to their winning ways beating cross-town rival McGill by 40. Their defence is once again their calling card as they’ve given up only 14 points this season.
5. Manitoba (LW: 5)
The Bisons couldn’t repeat their 2014 Hardy Cup upset as they relinquished the lead by giving up 20 fourth-quarter points to Calgary. Still the slim eight-point margin of victory shows that Canada West has more than one team with Vanier Cup potential.
6. Guelph (LW: 7)
Giving up 22 points to York doesn’t concern me as 12 of them were late in the contest when the game was no longer in doubt. However, six turnovers —including five James Roberts interceptions—should worry the Gryphon faithful. The sophomore will have to better protect the football if he is going to keep his starting spot and keep Guelph in the conversation with the country’s elite.
7. Sherbrooke (LW: honourable mention)
Not many teams are going to score 24 points against Laval this year. Sherbrooke showed lots of heart to rally and force overtime against the Rouge et Or. They have a second chance to upset an RSEQ power when they take on Montreal.
8. UBC (LW: 8)
In front of a raucous homecoming crowd of just under 7,000 fans—the largest audience UBC has had since the 1989 Shrum Bowl—the Thunderbirds kicked off the Blake Nill era on campus with a win. If UBC keeps winning the buzz will continue to grow and the crowds will get even bigger.
9. McMaster (LW: 9)
Asher Hastings has started two CIS games and thrown 10 TD passes. Yet the best completion during their big home win over Ottawa, the only OUA team to beat them last year, was not from Hastings’s arm—it came from the foot of Mitchell O’Connor and was carried into the end zone by Danny Vandervoort. It was the one CIS play you had to see this weekend.
10. Alberta (LW: not ranked)
How many had Alberta starting the season 2-0? The program’s first Can West win over Saskatchewan since Sept. 25, 2009, gave them an undefeated record after two games for the first time since 2010. That was also the last time they made the post-season. It’s early, but they are giving themselves a chance to repeat that feat.
Honourable mention: Saskatchewan (LW: 6), Ottawa (LW: honourable mention)
Dropped out: Laurier (LW: 10)